If you’ve seen one circus performance, you’ve seen them all. You have tamed (sort of) wild animals, acrobats on the trapeze, jugglers, and even clowns — which I loathe entirely. They creep me out.
Perhaps my hatred of clowns explains why ACC Media Days doesn’t exactly move the needle. Nobody told me the circus was in Charlotte, North Carolina, but thanks to the ringleader, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, I was clued in on Monday.
The first thing I noticed was the ACC’s tagline for the week, which reads, “Toughest Non-Conference Schedule in the Country.”
It may as well have said, “Step Right Up to the Greatest Show on Earth. Tickets are just five dollars!”
Candidly, the fact that somebody thought that was a good idea is embarrassing. Instead of promoting the conference and celebrating the additions of three new teams, you decide to hang your hat on the games you are playing against other conferences. What sense does that make?
And as bad as that was, things got worse when Phillips started flapping his gums about Florida State and Clemson right off the bat.
The ACC Commissioner said that he would fight lawsuits with Clemson and Florida State “for as long as it takes” and that “I can state that we will fight to protect the ACC and our members for as long as it takes.”
“We are confident in this league and that it will remain a premier conference in college athletics for the long term future. These disputes continue to be extremely damaging, disruptive, and incredibly harmful to the league.”
That’s certainly one way to kick off ACC media days by calling out your two biggest brands in your own conference. I am not sure if I have seen that done before but welcome to 2024.
Not long after that comment, Phillips mentioned that the league is “one of the top three conferences” in generating revenue and that they “fully expect that will remain in the years to come.”
That’s one hell of a take there, Jim. As hard as he may try, you can’t simply manifest the ACC into being a top-three conference just by saying that’s the case.
The ACC’s foundation has major stability concerns, and when you’re stuck in five pending lawsuits with your two biggest schools, it’s safe to assume there are some internal issues.
To say that Florida State and Clemson want out of the ACC would be an understatement — and adding Cal, Stanford, and SMU isn’t going to offset their departure when they find a way of leaving.
Sure, SMU bought their way in, but does anyone in Berkeley or Palo Alto actually care about college football? I have legitimately seen more people in the stands at Texas high school football games than at Cal and Stanford.
The moment that Phillips claimed the ACC is a top-three conference, he became a meme.
You can deny it all you want, Jim, but just like George Kliavkoff last year, all eyes are on you.
Be it now or later, the ACC appears to be on a downward trend and, in all likelihood, is headed for dissolution. When will that happen? That’s anyone’s guess, but there’s a notable date coming up in the next few months when we get a closer look at some potential answers.
The ACC’s current television contract with ESPN reportedly contains a unilateral option for the TV network in 2027 that must be exercised by February 2025 in order to extend the deal to 2036. Who knows what will happen, but for now, things seem to be fine in the ACC.
Well, at least for today, Jim.
