CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The official announcement of an ACC Network made waves across the college football landscape on Thursday. Count Florida State head football coach Jimbo Fisher among those is who is excited about the new venture.
In an interview Friday with “Wake Up Warchant,” Warchant.com’s morning radio show, FSU’s seventh-year head coach said he is looking forward to the additional exposure it will bring both to the conference and his football program.
“When you are little, ‘Who’s winning and who’s on TV?’” Fisher said. “When you are 6 to 15 or 14, that’s kind of who you migrate to. The more you are out there, the more you are seen and the better it’s going to be for us.”
When it comes to the financial benefits, it’s difficult to quantify what having an all-digital network the next three years will mean to the conference and its member schools. ESPN President John Skipper was purposefully evasive on Thursday when asked about any financial details surrounding his company’s new venture with the ACC.
Commissioner John Swofford and others affiliated with the conference also failed to drop any hints on what additional revenue the network could generate. But there are at least some general estimates of what a full-fledged television network could bring to the conference when it launches in 2019.
USA Today reported on Friday that the television network “will likely add between $5 million and $8 million to each school’s budget.” That compares favorably with the SEC Network, which was estimated to bring in approximately $6.8 million per school for 2014-15.
“I’m excited we’ve got a network started and get some more funds in there,” Fisher said. “It’s going to take money, and we have to have that if you want to be in the elite programs and continue to recruit at high levels and do the things you have to do.”
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While clearly encouraged by the news of a conference network and the potential benefits, Fisher stressed that more revenue is needed to keep up with the competition -- especially with the heavyweights in the SEC and Big 10.
“We have to understand what’s going on in the landscape of our business because we aren’t just talking about winning an ACC championship, we are talking about a national championship,” he said. “When we go to schedule and compete against these guys, you can’t take a knife to a gun fight. And you have to be ready to battle.”
Fisher said he would like to see more of an investment in keeping and adding football support staff in areas like nutrition and academics. He says these personnel are essential to a program’s success and are greatly undervalued.
“There are a ton of things that people don’t think are very important that as critical as getting good players,” Fisher said. “You have to have good players because that’s the ingredients for the cake. But if you don’t have flour and sugar, that cake won’t taste right. All these things, people don’t think about that.
“If you don’t, don’t make a mistake because it will make a difference. Hopefully we are committed to doing it, which I think we are, and we have to continue to do it.”
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