Expansion paid off handsomely for the ACC. The conference's newly renegotiated media contract with ESPN -- announced today -- will pay $3.6B over the next 15 years, an average of $240M per year, according to industry sources. That's just shy of the record $250M deal the Pac-12 negotiated with Fox and ESPN.
The ACC's new deal was the byproduct of conference expansion from 12 to 14 teams with the addition of Syracuse and Pittsburgh last year. The league's 14 teams beginning next season will receive an average of $17.14M, a sharp 32.9% increase over the $12.9M each of the first 12 schools received under the terms of the previous deal with ESPN, which was in its first year. The renegotiation was prompted by a clause in the contract that permitted the conference to go back to the table if its number of teams changed by two or more.
In addition, ESPN picked up four more years to take the deal out to '26-27; three Friday night ACC football games, including a Thanksgiving Friday game; and the right to sell title sponsorship to the ACC basketball tournament. Two of those Friday football games will be at Boston College and Syracuse.
