Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC PROFITS: Revenue CLIMBS, Big 12 TRAILS Behind, Is The Conference Finding STABILITY?

Episode Date: May 25, 2026

ACC shatters revenue records as financial power shifts in college sports. Can Clemson, Florida State, and Miami anchor the conference’s future, or is instability still looming beneath the surface? Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs break down the ACC’s $826.5 million haul and surging TV revenue, comparing payouts and stability with the Big 12, SEC, and Big Ten. From the unique ACC success initiative to ongoing legal battles over grant of rights, the hosts raise pressing questions about conference cohesion. Plus, with talk swirling about a 24-team College Football Playoff and the SEC eyeing pivotal changes, how will traditional revenue streams like conference championship games adapt? The episode also spotlights nine ACC baseball teams entering NCAA regionals, with North Carolina, Florida State, and Georgia Tech vying for Omaha. Can powerful defenses or explosive bats carry an ACC team to the College World Series title? Get strategic insights and bold predictions on the ACC’s evolving national standing. Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast   RugietGet 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnhlRugiet. Performance medicine for men. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game.   FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The numbers are in, and the ACC once again produced record revenues in 2024 and 2025. What does it mean for the member institutions and what does it mean for the stability inside that power for? You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. He's Kenton Gibbs from Locked on Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Locked on Cain. and today's episode of Lockdown ACC is brought to you by Fanduel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins.

Head to fendual.com to get started. On this loaded episode, yeah, nine ACC programs have made it to the NCAA regionals in baseball. So we got baseball postseason getting underway later on this week. Will there be a 2014 college football playoff in the near future? SEC meetings start this week in Destin, Florida. And ultimately, Greg Sankey, the SEC commissioner, probably holds the keys to this. But Kenton, let's talk revenue. So, you know, I guess the tax returns are public record.

So for that 2024, June 2024 to June 2025 academic year, the ACC, KG once again found ways to increase their revenues. ACC's revenue jumped from $487 million the previous year to $588.8 million. So more than $100 million revenue jump from $2324 to $2425. And I got to say, Kenton, I think you've been the one to say this before. I know, like I've been critical of adding Cal and Stanford, but I think adding that footprint of the West Coast to the ACC network had something to do with these revenues going up.

Cousin Cal, Cal, Gorilla, how you doing? Cousin Stanford, out there in Palo Alto, some of the best Asian foods you'll ever eat. I'll do. And SMU. Texas, I should mention as well as another part of this. Down there in Dallas, you know. It's not the D, but they call it the Big D.

You know, the D is Detroit. But Dallas, down there at SMU, how you doing? We're glad to have you. We're so glad to have you. How glad are we to have you? Dono, here's an interesting fun fact about this, okay? Donald Redolph, our tax return to what we got and all at and how far we are above the Big 12. But here's the most interesting thing about this.

Between us and the Big 12, there is a $216 million chasm. Okay. Now, if you added $2,000. million to the ACC, that would bring you up to $1,026 million, which means the gap between the SEC or the ACC and the Big 12 in terms of finances is nearly as big as that between the SEC and the That's right. Let me give you one more number before you continue because the one that I gave was just the TV revenue, the total revenue in its annual 990 tax filings this month. The ACC reported total revenue about $826.5 million.

The number that I gave you before, 588 was just TV revenue. So that's a six straight year of record revenue. Well, as you alluded to, the Big 12 reported. $610.9 million compared to the ACC's $826.5 million. So again, this is not SEC and the Big 10 money. They both crossed the billion mark. But like you mentioned, the ACC is closer to them than the Big 12. It's to us.

And on top of that, when you look at the distributions to all of our member teams, we're looking at $42.8 million, not including Notre Dame, Cal and SMU, but we're looking at 37.9 for the Big 12. And here's the most interesting part about that, because some people say, when you're cooking the books, if you aren't counting Notre Dame or Cal or Stanford or SMU, Notre Dame, we know why that's different. We know they get to keep their football money. We know that that's different.

But even if you include Cal, Stanford, and SMU, these are the teams that are off the books for the Big 12. BYU, Houston, UCF, and Cincinnati. I didn't realize all that. Oh, it's good context. So again, your mark is the showman. I have told people all along, you know, for those who've seen the Wizard of Oz or the Wiz with Richard Tric. Did you ever see the greatest showman with Hugh Jackman?

Yeah, yeah. Great, Your Mark, he is Hugh Jackman in real life. Well, Hugh Jackman is Hugh Jackman in real life, but he's the character in real life. Yeah, he's got everybody fooled. But as a former Big 12 Radford once said that Wolf of Wall Street, it's a weasel, it's a wazza, it's Fugazi, it doesn't exist. This perceived world where the Big 12 is above up. Now, are we still having to close the gap on the SEC and the Big Ten? Absolutely.

Absolutely. There's no doubt about that. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you, oh, yeah, there's no gap to be closed and everything is fine because of objectively speaking, when you look at those payouts, yes, we're paying out 42.8. And that's what everybody gets. That doesn't include what Miami made from the success initiative and all those things, right, of going to the national championship, what Duke made from going to. And that's not even on the books yet, Kenton.

That'll be the numbers that come out for next year. So actually, for this past year, Clemson was the top earner because they got into the playoff. Thank you for correcting me there. But this doesn't even include the difference in what Clemson got, which again, is a unique setup for the ACC. That's a unique setup for the, no other conference can give you that. No other conference says, hey, Georgia, when you make the playoff, that's all Georgia's money. Hey, Ohio State, when you make a run, it's all your money. Michigan, you want to win a natty, all that nanny money is yours.

Nobody offers that except the ACC. Yeah. We have done so much to keep the member institutes happy here. And again, I give Jim Phillips his lashings when he deserves him, but I also must give him adulation when he has done good things. And in this instance where we see year over year record after record after record after record, in terms of ACC revenue, I must admit this is a hell of a job by the conference. Great job. Way to show up. Way to show out. Way to do what needs to be done.

To get, once again, even if we can't get up there with Big Ten and SEC right now, way to at least be the best of the tier that we're in by a country mile. Does this, do you feel like the conference is more stable, though, or how many concerns do you still have? Because, again, we can pump our chess about the ACC annually out-earning the Big 12th, right? It's happening every year. It's going to keep happening for the next few years. But do we still feel like the ACC is fragile? Because one thing the Big 12 doesn't have is they didn't have member institutions suing them over their grant of rights within the past couple of years like the ACC did, right?

Where you clearly had an unhappy Florida State, an unhappy Clemson. I don't know how much happier they are. I think they should be happier with the settlements of those lawsuits, though. Do you feel like the ACC, we're in a financial? more healthy place than the Big 12, but are we as stable as the Big 12? Well, see, and this is, you know, this is a moment where it's clear

that you've been paid by the Big Drake Toll lobby to throw this question at me. He's very convincing. When you watch his episodes, you think, forget about the SEC, forget about the Big 10, it's all about the Big 12. And here's the thing about that, right?

The reality of it is this. The Big 12 heavy hitters have already gone. We are still, in relationship with our heavy hitters. When you think about who's the heaviest hitting brand still in the Big 12 right now, what would you say across all sports, when you say this brand elevates your conference, who are you looking at? I mean, probably Texas Tech with the way they're spending on football right now

and they should win that conference easily, Utah, BYU in there. All right. Now notice I said heavy hitters. What has Utah or BYU ever done? in any sport outside of football. BYU makes a great crumble cookie. Makes a great crumble cookie. Now, I don't know about y'all, okay?

I'm a fan of sweets just as much as anybody else. I'm not a big crumble guy, but I'm a fan of sweets just about it's just much. You know, I don't know if I've ever had a crumble, full disclosure. I don't think I've ever had one. You ain't miss it much. You ain't missed not much.

But with that in mind, that is nothing on the field, on the court, on the ice, on the diamond, on anything. And again, this is not me going out of my way to say, hey, these guys are terrible. Look at how bad they are. This is just the objective truth.

When you look at the ACC, you have multiple powerhouses in multiple sports. Multiple sports. Oh, well, Florida State and Clemson aren't as good as they used to be. Miami just went to a national championship. Oh, well, Miami. is your only good football team and you know basketball is down over there really because last time i checked duke's down year most teams would kill for oh yeah if you told me that hey half of the

big 12 will have duke's down year as their basketball three quarters of it will have their down year as their best year they'd sign up for it in a heartbeat they'd be sprinting down the aisle saying give me that down year give it here i'll take it Give me a one seed in my down year. Give it to me. I need it. Put it in my hand like it's my. Like it belongs to me.

So, you know, this is a situation where, again, we look around. And of course, the Tar Heels, that story is they are in basketball. They may be my rival, but I can't deny. Eric Jordan is the guy when it comes to basketball and college basketball and all that. And he played there. They've got a long-storied history of being really good at college basketball. And that doesn't even mention the new guys that are coming along and being phenomenal, like your boy, Jay, over there at Miami.

That's not even mentioning a lot of these teams that we saw as like a, huh, SMU plays basketball, and all of a sudden they're a bubble team out of nowhere. That's not even mentioning the likes of, you know, multiple teams that we have in these terms that we don't even think of like a Louisville who's won a national championship not too long ago. a Syracuse, who we all know is going to be better under Jerry McNamara. So the reality of this thing is the ACC has heavy hitters in every sport. And when you talk about, are we as stable as the Big 12? I would objectively say, no, with the caveat of we may be less stable because there's

speculation about whether or not our big timers are going to leave. but speculation about your big time is leaving and your big time is already being out the door two different things. It's a really good point. All right, so, Kenton, I'm getting a little worried with SEC meeting starting this week that there may be capitulation

and that they may give in to what everybody else wants, and that's a 20, well, everybody else except the fans, mind you. Everybody who stands to make a buck from expanding the college football playoff wants it and Greg Sanky said something to Paul Finebaum that makes me a little concerned that the SEC is going to cave under pressure. You want to keep it locked right here.

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episodes discord chat access with other listeners and hosts so many other great benefits, go to Lockdownpodcast.com slash everydayer to become an all-access every day or today. Thank you for making Lockdown ACC your first listen. So, you know, what the SEC decides is going to affect the ACC-Kenton in terms of the college football playoff because the Big Ten desperately wants a 2014 playoff so their TV partner Fox can get some games, which will make them more money. The ACC and Big 12 want a 2014 playoff so more of their teams can get in and make more money.

The SEC has been resisting a 2014 playoff because they make more money by keeping their conference championship game, which is worth $80 million annually. But something in this comment, courtesy of On3Sports.com, but it was said on the Paul Feinbaum show, something that SEC Commissioner Greg Sanky said, Kenton, makes me feel like he might cave, even though Sanky and ESPN don't want 24 teams because then, you know, the SEC loses money and ESPN loses additional games potentially to Fox.

So Greg Sanky told Feinbaum over the weekend at the SEC baseball tournament, quote, what you will hear next week, now that's this week at the SEC meetings. What you will hear next week is a lot of our coaches, a lot of our athletic directors, and probably some others think 24 is the right direction, he said. What we've said is that could ultimately be the proper direction. We just don't think you leap to that without information. And research and understanding the marketplace informs that decision. So, Kent, in my translation to that comment, there was a lot of word salad there,

I think Greg Sanky realizes if enough people want this, I can't stand in their way. Well, that's a good translation. but let me try another translation here. I think that translation means we got to find a way to still get our scrilla while going to 24. Yeah, fair. That's what it sounds like to me.

It sounds like to me, I think that you are 90% there and that he knows if everybody wants to accept you and you have not won the last three, you're looking at a situation where the last time that the SEC was in the national championship, it has been quite some time. Like that, that cannot be argued.

That cannot be, oh, well, who's the team? Who's the ones that are, they haven't been there in three years? They haven't been. Why is that important to know if you're the champs, you could make an argument for take our ball and go home, even if everybody else doesn't like it? But if you ain't even been, last time, y'all went, to a national championship,

we had a different man in office. That's a different situation. Now all of a sudden, it gets a little dicey. Now all of a sudden, you got to sit there and know that we're one of the many. So I think that Greg Sanky knows everybody wants what they want,

which is against what we want, and we're going to have to go along with what they want, but we have to at least save this off until research, i.e., how can we recoup losing the 80 from the championship, how can we recoup that 80 comes to mind? How can we hold this off to hold on to that 80, even if it's just for this year,

even if it's just for the next two year? How long can we feasibly do this thing in our way to not lose money? I think that's what it is more than anything else. And I'm trying to think, like, How would you recoup revenue that gets taken away by no conference championship game? I feel like the answer might be you schedule or you have your members schedule more of those big opening week kickoff games. I think that's probably the way to do it because I think we're going to need more of those because, you know, obviously the playoff gets bigger.

That gets more profitable in a way for the postseason. But you're also, you're killing a lot of the bowl games, you know, that we're already dead. getting kicked over and turned over. They're even deader than they were before. Conference championship games go away. So I feel like opening weekend games, to me, are going to become an even bigger thing, and it's been trending that way for a few years now.

So I think you schedule more big-time matchups versus the Big Ten versus the big brands in the ACC. If there are any big brands in the Big 12, you book some of those matchups opening week. I think that's how you recoup some of this. And that's absolutely an avenue that can be looked at. But Greg Sanky is smart enough to know that he's not smart enough to come up with that answer on the spot. And he does?

Maybe. And here's the thing. Maybe, maybe your perspective is right. Just book bigger games, isn't it? Maybe he knows that my perspective is right. And he's like, we're going to get rolled over about this thing. There is no way to recoup the 80. Let's hold on to the 80 for two more years.

Let's just hold on to the 80 for two more years and then let them have at it. But right now, we've got to put our foot down, a defender blind and said because that's going to be 80 divided by all of y'all that money's coming out from y'all. Yeah, that's right. Give me that break. Give it. Give it. Everybody.

Come on. That's where the money's going to come from. So ultimately, I look at this thing, man, and I'm saying, I hear Sankey's words and I hear the words of not just a capitulation and an understanding that I'm going to have to give in. But it seems like a how do I still at least make it a. appear like I got what I wanted while we can picture it. Right. That's a great point. Well, when do we come back, Kenton?

We have nine ACCC baseball teams headed to the baseball postseason. Three of them are hosting regionals coming up. You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Lockdown ACC. Thank you for making Lockdown ACC your first listen. Make sure for your next listen you check out our other shows. Kenton Gibbs does an awesome job on Lockdown. Wolfpack talking all things NC State with his co-host, Grayson Boone.

I host Locked on Cains talking all things Miami. All right, so Kenton, let's take a look at the nine ACC programs that are headed to the regionals. Boston College gets in. They earned the number two seed in the Athens, Georgia Regional. They'll open up the tournament against three-seed Liberty this Friday. Florida State gets in. They're hosting a regional, number one seed in the Tallahassee Regional.

They're the 10-seat overall. They're going to open their tournament against four seed St. John's on Friday at 3 p.m. Georgia Tech, which, I mean, Kent, to be Georgia Tech looks like a team that can win the damn thing. Like, they can go all the way. They look so good. They had such a good year. Georgia Tech, of course, is hosting a regional, the Atlanta regional. They're the number two overall seed in the NCAA tournament.

They're going to open up against four seed UIC on Friday at noon. That'll be on ACC Network. My Miami Hurricanes get in as a two-seed in the Gainesville Regional. They'll open up the tournament against three-seed Troy on Friday at 6 p.m. That'll be on ACC Network. It always seems like for Miami baseball, like for as much as Miami football punishes the Florida Gators. Florida Gators baseball seems to always punish Miami. It always seems to go through Gainesville for them.

But moving on, North Carolina, they will host their Chapel Hill Regional number one seed. They're the fifth overall seed in the first. NCAA tournament. They will open against four-seed VCU on Friday at 5 p.m. That'll be on ESPN Plus. NC State, congratulations to your Wolfpack. Three-seed in the Auburn Regional. They're going to open up against two-seed UCF on Friday at 6 p.m.

on ESPNU. Virginia gets in two-seed in the Hattiesburg Regional, and they're going to open up against three-seat Jacksonville State. Friday at 7 p.m. on ESPN Plus. Virginia Tech is a two-seat in the Los Angeles Regional. They're going to open against three-seat Cal Poly Friday at 8 p.m. And Wake Forest, two-seat in the Morgantown Regional. They're going to open against three-seat Kentucky on Friday at noon on ESPN 2.

So, I mean, Georgia Tech, Kenton, I think, could go all. I mean, I'd like to see my hurricanes go all the way if they can get consistent pitching and a few less errors. They have the bats to get there. Georgia Tech, I think, is complete. North Carolina looks good. Who do you think you win the whole thing? I mean, you know, see, and this is how I know. This is how I know that Alex Donald has been paid off.

He is a compromised agent of chaos because now I got a big up UNC. They are a team that is as defensively sound as they come this year. You know, you talk about asking for a few less errors. You can't ask for that from that defense. You know, you may ask for more pop out of their bats at times, absolutely, because they've been getting it done with small ball, for a majority of the year, but you cannot make an argument

that that team is not extremely sound defensively. You cannot make an argument that they don't have the pitching staff to get through a postseason run. You cannot make an argument that Georgia Tech is the only team in the ACC that has a shot at going to Omaha and taking the whole thing home

while the Diamond Hills are playing the way to play. So as you can see, as you can see, Alex Donno is a paid agency. of chaos that made me say things that make it be excommunicated from the city of Raleigh where I live. I'm on the Belichick payroll. Wow. Wow. I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. See, now I got to watch Belichick Petrino and you when it comes to the co-eth. I'm watching all of you now. I'm watching. Petrino sent me my own motorcycle. See? See? And that's why.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you're an everydayer, just know. Alex Donno is on the Belichick payroll. He's on the Drake Toll payroll. He's got so much more money. Don't ask why his backdrop is nice with mine because he's on everybody's payroll while I can't be bought. It's good to be bought and paid for. It looks good.

It looks fun over there. I ain't go out to you. We're partying out here at Florida. Huge, huge shout out to Kenton Gibbs. Make sure you follow him on X at TJF underscore Kenton and check him out on Locked on Wolfpack. You can check me out maybe on Locked on Tar Heels.

No, Isaac Shea does a good enough job there. You could check me out on Locked on Cains and at Alex Dono on X. And we'll talk to you next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the number one sports podcast network, the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.