As Jim Phillips begins his tenure as the ACC’s fifth commissioner, he has plenty of questions to answer and issues to address. Known as a consensus builder and an energetic administrator who adheres to his principles, he’ll have to rely on those qualities in his leadership of the conference’s 15 schools.
Following John Swofford’s 24-year tenure, Phillips also will lean into a desire to find creative solutions to the challenges that face the ACC, namely the revenue race that the league is losing to the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12, a matter that he said that conference leaders have spoken with him about and something that he said will be a focus.
Phillips, who took office in February after a successful 13-year tenure as athletic director at Northwestern, affirmed the league’s commitment to its partnership with ESPN and the ACC Network, launched in August 2019.
“But you have to see what types of things can be done in order to generate additional revenue, both television and then ancillary-wise,” he said in an interview with the AJC. “Maybe it’s taking our product to different places, maybe it’s creating events. Maybe it’s scheduling differently with the schools that we have right now. So there’s not one direct path forward from a revenue standpoint. I think there’s multiple ways.”
That could mean playing games internationally – as the Pac-12 has done in playing basketball in China – or creating more events like the ACC/Big Ten Challenge or expanding league schedules. (Tech is familiar with overseas trips, with the men’s basketball team having traveled to China to play UCLA in November 2017 and the football team playing Boston College in Ireland in September 2016.)
“All of those things,” Phillips said. “And in the end, the schools will decide what we do and don’t do, but it’s important for us to provide options, show them opportunities for them to consider. Those types of things, I think, will stimulate the conversation about what is the best path forward from a resource standpoint.”
To that end, Phillips wants to have a conversation about the two-division structure used for football and, for that matter, about the length of the league schedule, now at eight games. The divisions have been static since they were formed in 2005, save the addition of Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Louisville and exit of Maryland.
Coaches, media and fans have often proposed various changes, whether it’s abolishing the permanent cross-division partner (Tech’s is Clemson), reshuffling the divisions, allowing two teams from the same division to play in the championship game or putting all of the teams in one division.
Phillips said that that the league’s athletic directors have to bring the matter forward, but that it could be addressed through an examination of the TV contract and a consideration of the inventory of games. And he also wants to learn the factors that led to the present structure.
“It’s like life, right?” Phillips said. “You make a decision based on the facts you know at that time. But when the facts change, you should have the ability to also change with that, potentially.”
Another topic of interest to Atlanta: The return of the ACC basketball tournament to the city. The event was last held in Atlanta in 2012. Tournament sites are scheduled through 2024. Phillips said that the league’s members will decide, but “absolutely the door is open on that possibility.”
Regarding the possibility of Notre Dame joining the conference for football (he worked there 2000-04 as an associate AD), he was careful in his words. He said it was clear that if the Fighting Irish ever decide to join a conference for football, it would be the ACC. At the same time, he pointed out that the matter is complex, not just involving the school and the ACC, but also agreements with the College Football Playoff and television rights holders.
“It’s not a simple formula,” he said, “and at the heart of it is, is Notre Dame’s very steadfast commitment towards being an independent, and that’s something that’s been in the fabric of the place from its very existence.”
Phillips also is aware of the frustration of fans that Comcast, which has a large presence in Atlanta, does not carry the ACC Network. The fans are further perturbed that Fox Sports South, which also carries ACC football and baseball, has been dropped by a number of cable providers and streaming services, including some that the ACC urged fans to switch to when the ACC Network launched.
“I get it,” Phillips said. “We’re in a world where we pay for convenience. We want to see the teams and we want to make it as easy as possible. So that will absolutely be a priority as we go forward.”
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