North Carolina’s First Four victory Tuesday night—after sneaking into the NCAA tournament as the last team selected—only partially makes up for what has been a rough basketball season for the ACC.
The conference placed four schools in the men’s draw, its lowest total in over a decade. Three coaches stepped down, adding to the group of now-seven likely Hall of Fame coaches retired since 2021. And while teams battled it out on the basketball court, conference lawyers were in courts of their own, fighting lawsuits from Florida State and Clemson—the league’s two most valuable members—who were looking to leave for greener pastures.
As college sports continues its rapid professionalization, the ACC is in a difficult spot. Financially, it is falling behind the two richest conferences, the Big Ten and SEC, trying to keep members (and expand) while preserving its status near the top of the NCAA’s power structure. The ACC’s settlement with FSU and Clemson, announced earlier this month, may keep the league intact until 2036 when its current media contract expires, but the entire industry will be turned on its head before then.
Success in football and men’s basketball is paramount to keeping pace in college sports. Sportico recently asked Jay Bilas, a former Duke star and one of ESPN’s most prominent college basketball experts, for his thoughts on how the ACC could reverse its recent trend. He suggested a few changes, all built around establishing a set of minimum standards that might lift the entire league.
“If I was in charge, I would have a spending floor,” Bilas said in an interview. “If you’re not spending X amount of dollars, then whatever you spend under that, you have to give to the other teams in the league.”
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Bilas added that ACC schools should not be allowed to schedule “substandard teams” for its non-conference games, since it harms everyone in the league for metrics used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee. He also said the league “should be able to consult on coaching hires,” which is common in some other conferences.
“You’re a member of a league, the league should be able to mandate how you do things,” Bilas said, “Especially when there are significant repercussions on the rest of the league if you underperform.”
A representative for the ACC didn’t respond to an email seeking comment on whether the conference has considered spending floors. The American Athletic Conference earlier this month became the first league to issue a mandate—its teams, minus Army and Navy, will have to spend $10 million in additional benefits for athletes in the next three years. Failure to do so, according to American commissioner Tim Pernetti, could jeopardize a school’s membership. The Pac-12 is reportedly considering something similar.
ACC teams spent an average of $13.5 million on men’s basketball in 2022-23, according to data submitted annually to the Department of Education, the most of any conference. That said the gap is tightening. From 2017-18 to 2022-23, ACC teams reported a 20% increase in spending—the smallest increase among the major conferences and below the rate of inflation. The Big Ten’s spending jumped 21% in the span, followed by 30% in the Big 12, 33% in the SEC and 36% in the Pac-12.
This ACC basketball season wasn’t all bad. Duke received a No. 1 seed and is the tournament’s co-favorite. The Blue Devils are also a No. 2 seed in the women’s draw.
That said, volume matters. Conferences are compensated directly for each team they place in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament (and starting this year, the women’s tournament too). The payout structure is complex, but in simple terms: for every game an ACC team plays during the men’s tournament this year prior to the final, the league will receive about $2 million, paid over six years. That money is distributed back to schools. North Carolina’s surprise selection was worth about $2 million, and that will increase for each successive game played by the Tar Heels, Duke, Louisville and Clemson (including UNC’s win Tuesday).
The SEC, on the other hand, placed a record 14 teams in the tournament. The Big Ten was next with eight teams, followed by the Big 12 with seven and the Big East with five.
With assistance from Lev Akabas.
