The ACC's federal tax return showed revenue increased more than 30% for the '14-15 school year "for the third time in four years," according to David Teel of the Hampton Roads DAILY PRESS. The ACC reported $403.13M in revenue, a bump of more than $100M from the previous year's $302.3M. Fueling the increase was the debut of the CFP in '14-15 and Maryland's $31.4M exit fee. The windfalls translated to a 35.8% "spike in distributions to member schools." The amounts ranged from $27.61M to Florida State to $23.96M to Syracuse, with an average full share of $26.2M, up from $19.3M in '13-14 and "more than double just four years ago." The ACC led all Power Five conferences "in percentage of revenue distributed to members." Just as the ACC "stands in the middle among the power five" in overall distributions, so does Commissioner John Swofford's pay. He made $2.7M in salary and bonuses, behind the Pac-12's Larry Scott's $4.1M and former SEC Commissioner Mike Slive's $3.7M. The Big Ten's Jim Delany and Big 12's Bob Bowlsby were at $2.6M (DAILYPRESS.com, 5/28). CBSSPORTS.com's Jon Solomon noted the ACC spent about $2.2M in legal fees last year, with $1.75M paid to Greensboro-based Smith Moore Leatherwood and $451,000 on Atlanta-based Appel Law. The total legal fees "were down about $100,000" from '13-14. The conference spent $625,000 with Wasserman -- the agency "exploring the possibility of an ACC Network with ESPN." Swofford earlier this month said that the ACC "remains in 'quality discussions' with ESPN" on a potential net. Swofford "would not comment on a report that ESPN must pay" the ACC $45M "if an ACC Network is not in place by July 1" (CBSSPORTS.com, 5/27).
