Inside The Numbers: New ACC Revenue Distribution Model

With the new ACC revenue model, schools will earn more for success in football and men’s basketball. (Jon Fleming)

On May 24, the ACC announced its board of directors endorsed a “success incentive initiative” that will begin in the 2024-25 academic year. What does it mean? Let’s dive inside the numbers.

Current Revenue Breakdown

Unequal sharing of revenue was a big topic at the ACC spring meetings in Amelia Island, Fla. in May, in many ways due to the (current) inability to escape from the league’s grant of rights that runs through 2036.

However, the bit of revenue that’s going to be altered is just a small portion of an athletic department’s overall operating budget. Revenue comes from a number of areas, but the largest piece of the puzzle is media rights.

According to the Tech Sideline financial report on Virginia Tech athletics from the 2018-19 fiscal year — we’re using pre-COVID numbers for this — 28.4% of the department’s total revenue came from media rights ($27.51 million of $96.78 million). That’s a large chunk.

...