ACC revenue, average distributions to members rise in first year as coast-to-coast league

The addition of three new schools, far beyond the Atlantic Coast Conference’s traditional footprint, helped the league set a new revenue record and pushed distribution to its long-term members higher.

The ACC generated $826.5 million from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, its first academic year with California, Stanford and SMU as league members, according to tax documents released Friday. In the previous year, as a 15-member league, the ACC reported $711.3 million in revenue. 

The 16% increase marked the sixth consecutive year the league has grown its revenue since the launch of the ACC Network.

“The league is strong,” Commissioner Jim Phillips said earlier this month at the ACC Spring Meetings in Amelia Island, Florida. “The league is well-positioned. The league is healthy. It’s thriving. It’s flourishing. It’s helping lead nationally, and we’re embracing creativity and innovation and we’ve had a progressive mindset.”

Phillips pushed hard for the western expansion, which league presidents and chancellors voted for in September 2023 over the objections of North Carolina, Clemson and Florida State. Randy Woodson, NC State’s chancellor at the time, voted yes after previously being opposed to expansion plans. Phillips said at the time the expansion would help the ACC in multiple ways.

Television rights revenue was the main catalyst in the most recent increase, growing from $487 million to $588.8 million due to ESPN payments for the additional teams and growth from new markets for the ACC Network.

The league distributed $736.6 million to its 18 schools. The ACC introduced unequal revenue distribution among its legacy members for the first time, with teams qualifying for success initiatives based on football achievements. Thirteen of the 17 football-playing members received a success initiative share, which stemmed from participation in the College Football Playoff, other bowl games and finishes in the CFP Top 25.

Clemson, which qualified for the College Football Playoff in 2024, led all schools with $55.1 million. Duke received $48.2 million, North Carolina earned $47.9 million and NC State got $46.6 million from the league. The average distribution among the 14 holdover football-playing institutions was $47.1 million and each received at least $42.8 million. The per-school distribution was up slightly from 2023-24, when it was just under $45 million.

Notre Dame, a member in all sports except football, received $18.1 million in 2024-25.

New members Cal and Stanford received $22.9 million and $19.5 million, respectively. SMU, which reached the College Football Playoff, received $17 million. Cal and Stanford agreed to accept partial shares of the league’s television rights payouts, while SMU agreed to receive nothing from the media rights early in its membership.

The per-school distributions will be further impacted in the 2025-26 reporting year by men’s and women’s basketball success initiatives (based on 2024-25 results) and viewership initiatives.

The ACC is third among the Power 4 conferences in revenue and average per-school distribution. All four leagues — ACC, Southeastern Conference, Big Ten and Big 12 — set records for revenue in 2024-25, the first year after a massive round of realignment swelled their ranks and gutted the Pac-12, as its schools moved to the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC. The SEC added two schools from the Big 12.

The 18-member Big Ten had $1.47 billion in revenue and distributed a minimum of $76 million to each of its holdover members. Ohio State received more than $91 million, tops in the league. 

The 16-team SEC had $1.11 billion in revenue and distributed a minimum of $70.3 million to each of its holdover members. Georgia received more than $74.5 million, the highest in the conference.

The 16-member Big 12 had $610.9 million in revenue and distributed a minimum of $37.9 million to its holdover schools and Pac-12 newcomers, but not its new schools from other conferences. Arizona State received $43 million, No. 1 in the league.

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips made more than $4.6 million. The other three Power 4 commissioners were paid between $4.5 million and $5.6 million.

The ACC spent at least $8.3 million on legal services during the fiscal year, down from the previous year when legal services were at least $12.3 million. The ACC reached a settlement with league members Florida State and Clemson that ended long-running legal cases in three states in March 2025.

The settlement, which established an exit fee for members wishing to leave the league and changed revenue distribution formulas, has seemingly calmed unrest in the league for now. The major conferences have been occupied with other challenges to college athletics, including direct revenue sharing with athletes, expanding the postseason in men's and women's basketball and, perhaps, football, eligibility challenges and intense lobbying efforts in Congress that have thus far failed to produce successful legislation. Many expect conference realignment or consolidation to become a major issue before the end of the decade.