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If the ACC privatized its athletic departments, no school would have to leave.
Here is the Rubik’s Cube of realignment in college athletics. Let’s take the ACC because, frankly, that’s the only league I care about.
Clemson and Florida State want to bolt and make more money from athletics than either school is getting right now. The latest projections for future football TV rights fees are that the ACC will distribute $40 million per year per member while the Big Ten and SEC are estimating at least $70 million.
But it seems like those mega-leagues don’t want Clemson and FSU for various reasons. What do the Tigers and Seminoles bring to the SEC?
Football teams that would challenge Georgia and Alabama on the field and small TV markets that would not increase the TV rights per school? The SEC already has South Carolina and Florida, with bigger fan bases than Clemson and FSU in those states. And Disney/ESPN doesn’t have unlimited cash it once did.
Have you seen anything from SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey saying, “We can’t wait till they get here?”
Comparatively, the Big Ten doesn’t want them because they are not members of the AAU (Association of American Universities). The B1G covets UNC and Virginia (both are in the AAU) and new TV markets in the Tar Heel State and The Commonwealth, where there is no Big Ten presence.
So while they sue the ACC to get out, Clemson and FSU are learning it may cost them each $500-600 million to leave without invites from the SEC and B1G, where coaches, ADs and presidents don’t want them for reasons stated above.
That is why you are reading code words like “we’ll see how it plays out.”
So where else could ACC schools get the money to be competitive in NIL, coaching salaries, recruiting budgets and facilities? Why not privatize?
For example, instead of going back to the same donors and alumni they hit up for everything else, could UNC sell a majority stake in its athletic department to private equity that would make them whole financially and attract investors that could turn the venture into a profitable win-win?
Meanwhile, the UNC Board of Trustees chair is pushing departure to the Big Ten, which would mean the end of the ACC we have loved for 70 years, all for the extra money it would bring while putting little thought into the negatives and unintended consequences.
Thinking out of the box, there are other ways to do it without jeopardizing the rest of their varsity (and women’s) sports and lose unrivaled assets like the Carolina-Duke basketball home and home series, which would be forever altered by realignment.
Right now, everyone seems trapped in their own Rubik’s Cube with no way to solve the puzzle.
Featured image via Associated Press/Karl B. DeBlaker
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
