College Football HQ

SEC chief doubts ACC's new revenue model: 'It just hasn't worked'

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey isn't confident the ACC's new revenue-sharing model, designed to appease its bigger football brands, will work as intended.

James Parks

While the ACC hopes it can please Clemson and Florida State, and other high earners, with its new revenue-sharing plan, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey casts some doubt on the plan.
While the ACC hopes it can please Clemson and Florida State, and other high earners, with its new revenue-sharing plan, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey casts some doubt on the plan. / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The peace between Clemson and Florida State and the ACC should keep those schools in the conference going forward, but the deal came with an interesting twist.

In future, the ACC will take 60 percent of its media revenue based off a five-year rolling average and distribute more money to its higher-performing schools.

That’s not something SEC commissioner Greg Sankey thinks will work in the long run.

“There’s a history of unequal revenue sharing, and those conferences, it just hasn’t worked well for a long-term solution,” Sankey said, via The Post and Courier.

“In fact, the conferences that have chosen to do so have generally, either they don’t exist at a high level, or they’ve gone a different direction.”

The ACC’s new deal comes in the wake of a settlement it reached with Florida State and Clemson, both of which sued the conference to challenge its early exit fee, ostensibly with an eye towards potentially leaving the league and earning more money somewhere else.

Instead, the conference drafted a new revenue-sharing model that it hopes will appease its rebellious members.

But it’s not something the SEC is looking into doing itself.

“I’m sure that what others have done will introduce the conversation,” Sankey said.

“I would hope we’re careful and responsible in how we do that. They made the decision for their purposes. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it fits our purposes or our values.”

More: SEC would want UNC, Virginia over Clemson, FSU, Paul Finebaum warns

(Sankey)

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James Parks
JAMES PARKS

James Parks is the founder and publisher of College Football HQ. He previously covered football for 247Sports and CBS Interactive. College Football HQ joined the Sports Illustrated Fannation Network in 2022.

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