CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- After years of speculation and consternation, the Atlantic Coast Conference and ESPN finally officially announced on Thursday the creation of an ACC Network.
The new network will not be distributed to cable and satellite providers until 2019, but ESPN will begin offering an expanded menu of conference games in football, basketball and other sports as soon as this August on its digital platforms (ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app).
While no financial details were released, ACC, ESPN and Florida State officials expressed confidence that the revenues will be similar to those created by the highly profitable SEC and Big Ten networks.
“Our expectation is it will certainly keep the ACC in the higher echelon of Power 5 conferences,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford said.
The digital network, now called “ACC Network Extra,” will broadcast 600 conference games each year, with that total escalating to 900 a year by 2019. The linear network, which will be carried by cable and satellite providers, will feature an additional 450 live events -- that list includes 40 regular-season football games, more than 150 men’s and women’s basketball games, more than 200 other regular-season contests and tournament games from the ACC’s 27-sponsored sports.
The conference also has extended its exclusive Grant of Rights agreement with ESPN through the 2035-36 school year, which makes it nearly impossible for any member school to leave the conference over the next 20 years.
“You’ve got to have stability in your conference, and you’ve got to have financial stability,” Swofford said. “And you have to have exposure in today’s world. This agreement covers all of that.”
Now that the deal is in place, Warchant takes a look at Five Key Questions on the minds of many Florida State fans, including how much money will be generated and why the network won't launch for another three years.
1. How much new money will this bring in to Florida State each year? And will it keep ACC schools competitive with the other Power 5 conferences, specifically the SEC and Big Ten?
The answer to the first question is unknown right now. The key factor in determining the revenue generated will be how much distribution (and accompanying subscriber fees) ESPN is able to acquire for the new channel. The reason the Pac-12’s network has struggled, for example, is that it hasn’t had the same widespread distribution as the SEC or Big Ten.
But because this network will be owned by ESPN, conference officials believe the ACC network will be widely distributed and highly profitable.
“We know that we’re going to be in the upper echelon of networks, along with the Big Ten and the SEC,” FSU athletics director Stan Wilcox told Warchant.com. “And we know what numbers they’ve been hitting in the past. So we’re able to kind of project off of that. We’re very optimistic that we’re going to be doing just as good or even better than both of those leagues.”
