David Teel @DavidTeelatDP 5h5 hours ago
#ACC's latest tax return shows commitment to channel, third revenue bump of at least 30% in last four years.
ACC tax return shows commitment to channel project, 33-percent revenue increase
From the article:
Tax season was as encouraging for the
ACC as its football and men’s basketball seasons, with the league’s federal return showing revenue increased more than 30 percent for the third time in four years.
Moreover, the return released Friday confirms how aggressively the ACC is exploring a new media package with
ESPN.
Since the league’s additions of
Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Louisville and
Notre Dame, commissioner John Swofford has been cautiously optimistic about the ACC teaming with television partner ESPN on a dedicated channel/platform(s). Dean Jordan of Los Angeles-based Wasserman Media Group has been advising the conference on the project, and this most recent tax return shows the ACC paid Wasserman $624,704 during 2014-15, the first such payment to appear on the league’s recent Form 990s.
That expense, or investment, was more than offset by the ACC’s 33.4-percent revenue increase. The conference reported $403,126,767 in revenue, a bump of more than $100 million from the previous year’s $302,306,749.
Fueling the increase: The College Football Playoff’s 2014 debut, and Maryland’s $31.4 million exit fee – the Terps departed the ACC for the Big Ten. Courtesy of the CFP, the ACC’s bowl revenue nearly doubled, from $48.8 million to $94.2 million. Its television money increased modestly from $197.2 million to $217.9 million.
The windfalls translated to a 35.8-percent spike in distributions to member schools. The amounts ranged from $27.61 million to
Florida State to $23.96 million to Syracuse, with an average full share of $26.2 million, up from 2013-14’s $19.3 million and more than double just four years ago (see chart below).
