Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua called the school’s relationship with the ACC “very good and healthy” months after a dispute over the conference backing Miami over ND for the CFP, according to David Hale of ESPN.com. Bevacqua said that he has had “numerous conversations” with ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips that “have helped heal any wounds.” Hale noted ND, which is in the ACC for all sports except football, had been ranked ahead of conference member Miami in every CFP release until the final top 25, despite Miami’s head-to-head win in Week 1. In the run-up to the committee’s final verdict, the ACC backed Miami as a playoff team, “noting the on-field result as a point of context.” Phillips “specifically avoided direct critiques of Notre Dame,” but the ACC Network re-aired the Week 1 matchup several times -- something ND administrators saw as a “slight against their school.” The ACC’s spring meetings kicked off Monday, and Bevacqua said that “there were no hard feelings,” and he “felt good about the mutual commitment between the conference and school” (ESPN.com, 5/11).
FUTURE IN QUESTION? In Raleigh, Shelby Swanson wrote the ACC is “facing a different relationship question altogether.” Swanson: “OK. We stayed together. So now what are we?” The conference is “experimenting with uneven revenue distribution tied to television value and postseason success.” It is “planning to stage football games in places like Toronto and Dublin and Rio de Janeiro in pursuit of larger audiences.” Swanson: “Can the ACC generate enough football value to keep pace with the SEC and Big Ten? Can basketball maintain its place as part of the league’s identity while football increasingly drives revenue discussions? And after reshaping its financial model to appease its biggest brands, does the conference feel more unified a year later?” Those questions -- and “many more -- will shape the backdrop of this week’s meetings.” Duke’s multiyear streaming agreement with Amazon “underscores the growing pressure on schools and conferences to create new revenue streams.” While ACC schools remain tied to the conference’s long-term ESPN agreement, Duke’s partnership with Amazon “represents a potentially significant evolution in how powerful brands may attempt to leverage streaming and independent distribution opportunities moving forward” (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 5/11).
