AMELIA ISLAND — Commissioner Jim Phillips wrapped up the ACC's spring meetings with a press conference where he discussed "a seismic shift" in college athletics as well as the lawsuits with FSU and Clemson that he admitted are "disruptive" and "harmful."
We'll add some quotes and the full video with Phillips is below:
(2:20 mark, on the challenges of college athletics) "This is a seismic shift in college athletics. It’s not a matter of if it’s going to happen. It’s happening now. It just didn’t start in the last few months. It has started over the last several years. The reality is the ACC continues to be at the forefront of this change with other conferences and other leaders. We’re navigating these things together as best we can. I don’t think anybody really knows where this thing is ultimately going to end but certainly feel great about where the ACC is positioned now and into the future. And we will continue to be a major contributor to the destination of where college athletics goes."
(3:10 mark, on the FSU and Clemson lawsuits) "I know you want to talk about Florida State and Clemson. It’s natural, I get it. I stand by every word that I’ve said before in previous settings. It’s difficult, it’s disruptive, it’s harmful. But that’s the world we live in. And they have the ability to do the things that they’re doing. And we’ll let the legal folks handle it. Because that’s the right thing to do. It has changed one iota about how we’ve interacted with them, how we’ve treated them, certainly how we’ve treated the student-athletes. And it shouldn’t. it just shouldn’t. because I think you have to be professional enough to understand these things happen and it warrants classy, professional and respectful treatment in return."
(5:20 mark, on House vs. NCAA litigation) “I can’t comment on it. … We’ve got really good information. The idea is should we settle now or should we not? And I think that’s a decision for each of the boards across the country, conference boards, as well as the NCAA. We have met with the plaintiffs’ attorneys multiple times. Not just recently but over the course of the last 18 months.”
(10:25 mark, on success initiatives) "We’re going to implement the most dynamic conference revenue distribution of all the peer conferences with success initiatives. That’s something that we’ve been working on for 18 months. You perform well on the field, you’re going to get rewarded in a greater growth mode financially. We needed to do that. As I look over the last several years, the full distribution, the dollars that equated to that, the dollars in success initiatives, the dollars that came out of expansion, we remain and deliver the third-highest gross revenue distribution among all conferences. That’s important. We’re not standing still. We’re trying to address that gap.”
(13:40 mark, on the ACC-ESPN contract) “The contract runs through ’36. We’re working internally with them on a piece of the contract. I can’t go into the details on it. But the partnership is not going away or going to be affected in a negative light or in a negative way at all. It’s a look in and we’re handling some of what that particular element of the contract states.”
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