WEDNESDAY UPDATES
5:15 p.m. -- We just had about 30 minutes with Commissioner Jim Phillips, and he answered questions about a bunch of topics. Here are some notes in the order he discussed them.
* Football Scheduling -- They didn't make a final decision on scrapping divisions and going to the 3-5-5 model. That would likely be the direction if a change is made, but Phillips said they want to get more input from ESPN before making a decision. They don't know how much of a change in revenue there would be if they do it, so sounds like ESPN will get back to them on that. There's a chance they could just stay with the current model. He said they still have time before they have to decide since it would be for the 2023 season.
* NIL, pay for play and tampering -- He thought the NCAA announcement on Monday was good, and he believes them when they say they will begin enforcing things. Ultimately, he believes they need federal legislation, but the impression they got from Congress is that's not something they're going to get involved with right now. So it's up to the NCAA and conferences to work on coming up with a level playing field across the country.
* Future of the NCAA -- He sits on the transformation committee, and he thinks the future of the NCAA will be a slimmed-down organization, with more power and responsibility being passed on down to the conferences.
* On the revenue gap -- He said they're expecting a "nice bump" in their next payment from ESPN because it will be a full year with Comcast on board. He said that will help close the gap for this year. As for down the road, he's talking with ESPN about some significant sponsorship opportunities that will bring in more revenue. He also is going to hire for a new position, Chief Revenue Officer, whose job it will be to identify new revenue opportunities. He talked a little more, and I'll do a story on it, but he didn't offer any concrete info on how they can shrink the gap going forward.
* On the idea of the Power 5 breaking away from NCAA -- He doesn't see that in the next 5 to 10 years. He thinks there are too many binding contracts involved, including the NCAA Basketball Tournament, which "feeds a lot of mouths." He did say there needs to be more consideration of "alternative models" for the sport of football. Does football need to be managed differently than all the other sports? He seemed to be inclined to feel that way, but mostly wants it to be considered during all of this current upheaval. One option would be the CFP overseeing football on the FBS level, and the NCAA handling everything else.
* On College Football Playoff expansion -- He said they're working to come up with answers on player safety concerns and other issues that led to expansion talks stalling earlier this year. He sounded optimistic that there will be some progress there moving forward. Didn't sound like it's a dead issue.
* On the conference's commitment to football -- Said he is seeing schools investing more in coaching hires and facilities, and he said the ACC Network is putting much more effort and money into its football programming.
* On the home of the ACC -- They are looking at Greensboro and two other cities (believed to be Orlando and Charlotte, although he wouldn't confirm.) He said they will make a decision in the next few weeks.
* On future sites for the Basketball Tournament -- Said they are looking at some new cities as well as cities they've been to in the past. But haven't made any final decisions past the ones that have already been announced.
----
1:50 p.m. -- The football coaches are tied 7-7 on whether to scrap divisions and go to a 3-5-5 scheduling format, but it sounds like the ADs want to make the change. And they ultimately have the vote, so we'll see if that's what they do.
Sounds like the coaches are still pushing for more direction from the ACC and NCAA on what to do about pay for play and tampering. If there is not going to be enforcement, then say that ... and everyone can just do what they want. But if there is going to be enhancement, coaches want to know that too. So they can tell people to act accordingly. It doesn't sound like the coaches are leaving here feeling good about enforcement. So unless the NCAA does something soon -- or gives the conferences power to do their own enforcement -- then Wild West will only get more wild.
The football coaches apparently are in favor of a new deadline of Feb. 1 for players who want to transfer in conference. That would follow what the SEC is doing.
It also sounds like they're in favor of doing away with the 25-player limit in annual new scholarships.
We'll be talking to Commissioner Phillips around 4 p.m..
8:30 a.m. -- Good morning. Will be heading back over the meetings shortly. Today is the last big day of meetings, and many of the groups (football coaches, ADs, faculty representatives, etc.) will come together and try to reach consensus on issues, such as scheduling. The conference could also come out with recommendations to the NCAA about transfer portal topics (dates where it's open and closed, like with the recruiting season), NIL or other issues. We'll see.
ESPN also is going to be part of some meetings today, and we will definitely be asking Commissioner Jim Phillips what -- if anything -- can be done to narrow the revenue gap with the SEC and Big Ten. Phillips is scheduled to meet with the media late this afternoon, so we will have updates on that right here. And maybe a separate thread, with stories coming afterward.
TUESDAY UPDATES
3:40 p.m. -- Just talked with Michael Alford again. He said they expect to break ground on the standalone football facility this summer and that it will take about 18 months to construct. Said fundraising continues to be strong and just received a 7-figure commitment today. ... Alford also talked about several other topics, and I'll come back with some of those later.
Miami A.D. Dan Radakovich said the league seems close to recommending a change to scrapping football divisions and moving to a 3-5-5 scheduling model. That would mean each school would have 3 permanent ACC opponents, then 5 others would rotate on for two years, then the other 5 would rotate on for two years. That way each school would get to play every school in the conference home and away once every four years. He said they'll be showing it to ESPN folks tomorrow.
If that model moves forward, Alford said his biggest recommendation is that Miami and Clemson stay in the 3 permanent schools. It didn't sound like he's pushing for Georgia Tech to be the third.
2:20 p.m. -- Posted it as a separate thread, but here is the full video with Norvell. Will have a couple stories coming from it as well.
1 p.m. — ND basketball coach Mike Brey just spoke with a group of us for about 30 minutes and was really great about the state of college sports. He talked about the Miami situation and how concerned he was when he saw what they were announcing an NIL deal for a transfer upon commitment. Said they have to figure out a way to get it out of recruiting, but he’s still a big proponent of NIL overall.
Brey also said he doesn’t think a move to making athletes employees is happening any time soon, nor does he think the Power 5 breaking off from the NCAA is imminent. Instead he thinks the enforcement part of the NCAA could be moving to the conference level. Will have much more coming soon.
Noon -- The second days of meetings are going on here at the hotel. Norvell said he's going to have more time to speak today ... probably around 1 p.m. So we should have some good stuff coming then. Hoping to talk some team stuff along with the conference/NCAA issues. Also plan to talk more with Alford and others in the FSU contingent, along with some admins and coaches from other schools.
7:45 a.m. -- Here's my story on FSU's reaction to NIL enforcement and issues with tampering.
FSU's Norvell, Alford share thoughts on NCAA's NIL enforcement
MONDAY UPDATES
11 p.m. -- Hey, here's a video I did with Aslan wrapping up the first day.
One of the things we talked about was the announcement from the NCAA on Monday about enforcing rules on NIL deals that are used as inducements in recruiting and tampering. From talking to ADs and coaches here, the sense I get is no one is super confident that the NCAA is going to rein this in. But the schools are pushing the NCAA to do something. And if the NCAA can't, then the schools will have to decide what to do next. While no one is necessarily saying this will be the final straw that makes the big football schools break away from the NCAA, you can definitely see that scenario. Coaches and ADs are very eager to see some measures put in place to limit the rogue NIL deals.
I spoke with Norvell, Alford and others about that topic. I'll be posting a story on that soon.
On the scheduling/divisions stuff, which I wrote about here, it's good to just hear the ACC actually looking at this topic after seemingly refusing to address it for years. They didn't officially release the models they're looking at, but my guess is they'll decide something by Wednesday and release it then. We'll see.
They're also discussing transfer portal guidelines, such as creating windows when players can and can't enter the portal, but I don't know if the conference is going to take an official stand on that this week or just discuss it.
The meetings go on again tomorrow and Wednesday. So I will definitely have more throughout the day tomorrow.
----
Warchant's Ira Schoffel is in Amelia Island this week to report on the ACC Meetings. There are plenty of topics that will be discussed including NIL, conference revenue gap, transfer portal, the potential elimination of conference divisions and more. Keep it here for the latest updates. Ira will also be a regular on this week's Wake Up Warchant and Jeff Cameron Show for regular updates from the ACC Meetings.
Updates from Monday, May 9:
Story from Ira at the ACC Meetings on the possible elimination of the ACC divisions and what that could mean to scheduling:
floridastate.rivals.com
Video with the Warchant.com staff discussing some of the issues that should be at the heart of this week's ACC Meetings:
Interesting tweet from ESPN's Pete Thamel on the potential of conference divisions being eliminated as early as 2023.
5:15 p.m. -- We just had about 30 minutes with Commissioner Jim Phillips, and he answered questions about a bunch of topics. Here are some notes in the order he discussed them.
* Football Scheduling -- They didn't make a final decision on scrapping divisions and going to the 3-5-5 model. That would likely be the direction if a change is made, but Phillips said they want to get more input from ESPN before making a decision. They don't know how much of a change in revenue there would be if they do it, so sounds like ESPN will get back to them on that. There's a chance they could just stay with the current model. He said they still have time before they have to decide since it would be for the 2023 season.
* NIL, pay for play and tampering -- He thought the NCAA announcement on Monday was good, and he believes them when they say they will begin enforcing things. Ultimately, he believes they need federal legislation, but the impression they got from Congress is that's not something they're going to get involved with right now. So it's up to the NCAA and conferences to work on coming up with a level playing field across the country.
* Future of the NCAA -- He sits on the transformation committee, and he thinks the future of the NCAA will be a slimmed-down organization, with more power and responsibility being passed on down to the conferences.
* On the revenue gap -- He said they're expecting a "nice bump" in their next payment from ESPN because it will be a full year with Comcast on board. He said that will help close the gap for this year. As for down the road, he's talking with ESPN about some significant sponsorship opportunities that will bring in more revenue. He also is going to hire for a new position, Chief Revenue Officer, whose job it will be to identify new revenue opportunities. He talked a little more, and I'll do a story on it, but he didn't offer any concrete info on how they can shrink the gap going forward.
* On the idea of the Power 5 breaking away from NCAA -- He doesn't see that in the next 5 to 10 years. He thinks there are too many binding contracts involved, including the NCAA Basketball Tournament, which "feeds a lot of mouths." He did say there needs to be more consideration of "alternative models" for the sport of football. Does football need to be managed differently than all the other sports? He seemed to be inclined to feel that way, but mostly wants it to be considered during all of this current upheaval. One option would be the CFP overseeing football on the FBS level, and the NCAA handling everything else.
* On College Football Playoff expansion -- He said they're working to come up with answers on player safety concerns and other issues that led to expansion talks stalling earlier this year. He sounded optimistic that there will be some progress there moving forward. Didn't sound like it's a dead issue.
* On the conference's commitment to football -- Said he is seeing schools investing more in coaching hires and facilities, and he said the ACC Network is putting much more effort and money into its football programming.
* On the home of the ACC -- They are looking at Greensboro and two other cities (believed to be Orlando and Charlotte, although he wouldn't confirm.) He said they will make a decision in the next few weeks.
* On future sites for the Basketball Tournament -- Said they are looking at some new cities as well as cities they've been to in the past. But haven't made any final decisions past the ones that have already been announced.
----
1:50 p.m. -- The football coaches are tied 7-7 on whether to scrap divisions and go to a 3-5-5 scheduling format, but it sounds like the ADs want to make the change. And they ultimately have the vote, so we'll see if that's what they do.
Sounds like the coaches are still pushing for more direction from the ACC and NCAA on what to do about pay for play and tampering. If there is not going to be enforcement, then say that ... and everyone can just do what they want. But if there is going to be enhancement, coaches want to know that too. So they can tell people to act accordingly. It doesn't sound like the coaches are leaving here feeling good about enforcement. So unless the NCAA does something soon -- or gives the conferences power to do their own enforcement -- then Wild West will only get more wild.
The football coaches apparently are in favor of a new deadline of Feb. 1 for players who want to transfer in conference. That would follow what the SEC is doing.
It also sounds like they're in favor of doing away with the 25-player limit in annual new scholarships.
We'll be talking to Commissioner Phillips around 4 p.m..
8:30 a.m. -- Good morning. Will be heading back over the meetings shortly. Today is the last big day of meetings, and many of the groups (football coaches, ADs, faculty representatives, etc.) will come together and try to reach consensus on issues, such as scheduling. The conference could also come out with recommendations to the NCAA about transfer portal topics (dates where it's open and closed, like with the recruiting season), NIL or other issues. We'll see.
ESPN also is going to be part of some meetings today, and we will definitely be asking Commissioner Jim Phillips what -- if anything -- can be done to narrow the revenue gap with the SEC and Big Ten. Phillips is scheduled to meet with the media late this afternoon, so we will have updates on that right here. And maybe a separate thread, with stories coming afterward.
TUESDAY UPDATES
3:40 p.m. -- Just talked with Michael Alford again. He said they expect to break ground on the standalone football facility this summer and that it will take about 18 months to construct. Said fundraising continues to be strong and just received a 7-figure commitment today. ... Alford also talked about several other topics, and I'll come back with some of those later.
Miami A.D. Dan Radakovich said the league seems close to recommending a change to scrapping football divisions and moving to a 3-5-5 scheduling model. That would mean each school would have 3 permanent ACC opponents, then 5 others would rotate on for two years, then the other 5 would rotate on for two years. That way each school would get to play every school in the conference home and away once every four years. He said they'll be showing it to ESPN folks tomorrow.
If that model moves forward, Alford said his biggest recommendation is that Miami and Clemson stay in the 3 permanent schools. It didn't sound like he's pushing for Georgia Tech to be the third.
2:20 p.m. -- Posted it as a separate thread, but here is the full video with Norvell. Will have a couple stories coming from it as well.
1 p.m. — ND basketball coach Mike Brey just spoke with a group of us for about 30 minutes and was really great about the state of college sports. He talked about the Miami situation and how concerned he was when he saw what they were announcing an NIL deal for a transfer upon commitment. Said they have to figure out a way to get it out of recruiting, but he’s still a big proponent of NIL overall.
Brey also said he doesn’t think a move to making athletes employees is happening any time soon, nor does he think the Power 5 breaking off from the NCAA is imminent. Instead he thinks the enforcement part of the NCAA could be moving to the conference level. Will have much more coming soon.
Noon -- The second days of meetings are going on here at the hotel. Norvell said he's going to have more time to speak today ... probably around 1 p.m. So we should have some good stuff coming then. Hoping to talk some team stuff along with the conference/NCAA issues. Also plan to talk more with Alford and others in the FSU contingent, along with some admins and coaches from other schools.
7:45 a.m. -- Here's my story on FSU's reaction to NIL enforcement and issues with tampering.
FSU's Norvell, Alford share thoughts on NCAA's NIL enforcement
MONDAY UPDATES
11 p.m. -- Hey, here's a video I did with Aslan wrapping up the first day.
One of the things we talked about was the announcement from the NCAA on Monday about enforcing rules on NIL deals that are used as inducements in recruiting and tampering. From talking to ADs and coaches here, the sense I get is no one is super confident that the NCAA is going to rein this in. But the schools are pushing the NCAA to do something. And if the NCAA can't, then the schools will have to decide what to do next. While no one is necessarily saying this will be the final straw that makes the big football schools break away from the NCAA, you can definitely see that scenario. Coaches and ADs are very eager to see some measures put in place to limit the rogue NIL deals.
I spoke with Norvell, Alford and others about that topic. I'll be posting a story on that soon.
On the scheduling/divisions stuff, which I wrote about here, it's good to just hear the ACC actually looking at this topic after seemingly refusing to address it for years. They didn't officially release the models they're looking at, but my guess is they'll decide something by Wednesday and release it then. We'll see.
They're also discussing transfer portal guidelines, such as creating windows when players can and can't enter the portal, but I don't know if the conference is going to take an official stand on that this week or just discuss it.
The meetings go on again tomorrow and Wednesday. So I will definitely have more throughout the day tomorrow.
----
Warchant's Ira Schoffel is in Amelia Island this week to report on the ACC Meetings. There are plenty of topics that will be discussed including NIL, conference revenue gap, transfer portal, the potential elimination of conference divisions and more. Keep it here for the latest updates. Ira will also be a regular on this week's Wake Up Warchant and Jeff Cameron Show for regular updates from the ACC Meetings.
Updates from Monday, May 9:
Story from Ira at the ACC Meetings on the possible elimination of the ACC divisions and what that could mean to scheduling:
ACC examines scrapping divisions, revamping football scheduling
ACC football division format and scheduling is a hot topic at the ACC spring meetings, which started Monday.
Interesting tweet from ESPN's Pete Thamel on the potential of conference divisions being eliminated as early as 2023.
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