The ACC’s football media days, known as the ACC Football Kickoff, start on Tuesday in Charlotte.
Considering the current tension surrounding the ACC and its member institutions, it’s bound to be three days of uneasiness.
Since the SEC and Big Ten added premier programs from two rival leagues, the Big 12 and Pac-12, schools from the ACC have been constantly reminded of the gap in television money between the ACC, the SEC and Big Ten.
It’s a gap that is only going to grow significantly before the albatross also known as the ACC’s grant of media rights that bind the schools to the conference through their TV money expires in another 13 years.
That’s right, 13 years, a baker’s dozen.
This self-imposed limitation doesn’t sit very well with many schools in the conference, and as expected there’s plenty of backroom meetings taking place.
Reportedly, multiple schools have been exploring ways to exit the conference and just how to strategically do this.
A few months ago, it was reported that seven schools had been working to find solutions to the huge disparity in revenue, but all paths led nowhere. The only way to make more money was to break the grant of rights contract.
Thus, the birth of The Magnificent Seven, seven member institutions that have explored ways to bolt the ACC for greener pastures. Lately Notre Dame has been linked to the group, which would then create an Elite Eight, more than half the conference, and a foot in the door to ending the GOR.
For the first time since May, leaders from all the athletics departments in the conference will be meeting with the press, and you can bet the farm there will be plenty of questions about not only the future of the ACC, but about the future of some of the institutions in the ACC.
Adding to this friction is the latest distraction regarding the latest news that the recent hazing scandal at Northwestern has now reached the ACC.
Current conference commissioner Jim Phillips, who was the athletics director at Northwestern from 2008-2021, is listed as a defendant in a recent lawsuit.
An unnamed football player alleges that Northwestern leadership was negligent in not regulating the environment in which the hazing occurred.
Phillips was the AD at Northwestern at the time the hazing in this lawsuit is alleged to have occurred.
While the current revenue gap is clearly not on Phillips – that blunder rests squarely on former commissioner John Swofford – Phillips is feeling the heat because of his inability to improve the current dire status of the league.
So, the Northwestern lawsuit is just another distraction the league is facing.
Usually, these media days are simply a social event for the gathered media. The respective coaches are tight-lipped, and the questions are so vanilla you could decorate a cake with them.
Think: slow-pitch softball lobs.
But this upcoming week, things might just get interesting.
Will a coach from The Magnificent Seven start talking about the revenue gap? How about a coach from the other schools venting about how the conference is tearing itself down?
How about Phillips?
What if a member of the media earns his paycheck and throws a high and tight fastball to Phillips regarding his role in the Northwestern lawsuit, or his inability to reduce the revenue gap?
I’ve witnessed Phillips in this venue. He can stumble.
The question is, how prepared will he be?
This could get interesting.
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