By Anya Pelshaw on SwimSwam
As the new world order is shaping up in college athletics, one metric to define how the conferences fall in the pecking order is how the conferences distribute revenue within based on how much revenue they earn, social media followings, and competitive success, especially in “revenue” sports.
Conference Revenue Distribution
Conference affiliation has a direct relationship with NCAA financials as conferences distribute their revenues evenly between schools. One example of how this has caused some friction is in the ACC as Florida State and Clemson pursued a legal battle with the ACC as they felt they deserved a larger slice of the revenue pie. The conference’s grant of rights continues through 2036 and both schools were looking to leave the conference but the legal battled was settled this past week.
Under the settlement, the exit fee to leave the ACC has been greatly reduced. Florida State’s attorney’s estimated it could cost about $700 million to leave the conference. With the settlement, that exit fee has been reduced to $165 million beginning next year, with a reduction of $18 million per year until it stays at $75 million from 2030 onwards.
Social Media Followings
Social media is a huge driver of success and can be an indication of fan interest. With fan interest comes ticket sales and viewership (larger media deals), bringing in larger revenue. Out of the Power 4, the SEC is by far ahead of the Big 12, Big Ten, and ACC with 762K followers on Instagram. The Big 12 has the second highest with 344K while the Big Ten (243K) and ACC (163K) have less.
Competitive Success
Future competitive success is likely to be a key factor going forward. The SEC has been known to be a powerhouse football conference, fueled by programs such as Alabama and had Texas join the conference with realignment this past offseason. The ACC on the other hand has been more known for its success in the basketball scene, fueled by schools such as UNC and Duke.
The College Football Playoff is one way that competitive success can impact conference order due to revenue. Teams that made the playoff earned the conference $4 million each, teams in the quarter finals earned another $4 million for the conference, teams in the semifinals earned an additional $6 million for the conference, and the final two teams earned another $6 million for the conference.
Although the ACC was represented by Clemson and SMU in the expanded College Football Playoff, neither school made it past the first round, meaning the ACC only earned $8 million total, compared to the $46 million earned by the Big Ten, primarily from Ohio State making it all the way to the title game. The Big Ten distributed its payout evenly between all schools in the conference, earning each school $2.8 million each, while the ACC allowed Clemson and SMU to keep their payouts in full.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: A New World Order: How Conferences May Fall In The Pecking Order