The Atlantic Coast Conference's tax returns for 2016-17 were finally released to USA Today and other media outlets on Friday afternoon. Those documents show the ACC's average distribution to its member schools for this cycle -- $26.6 million -- was again last among the Power Five conferences.
The $26.6 million average represents a $2.7 million per school increase from the $23.9 million reported for 2015-16. However, the modest increase is almost completely due to the $27 million-plus distribution from the Orange Bowl. During the prior year, the ACC did not receive a distribution from the Orange Bowl since it was part of the College Football Playoff.
For all intents and purposes, member school haven't seen much increase in revenue since 2014-15.
During this same three-year period, the SEC has seen its per-member distribution increase $8.2 million. Meanwhile, the Big 12 has grown $11 million. The Big Ten and the Pac-12 have seen modest increases of $4.6 million and $5.8 million, respectively (see table below). However, the Big Ten is expected to see a massive increase in the next cycle when its new television deal kicks in. In fact, there are some estimates that the conference's distributions will increase to over $50 million per school.
