SMU is among three teams which are going to join the ACC this year. It is yet another school which leaves the Group of Five conferences and heads to the Power Four.
Here’s a look at SMU’s situation and what it means for the college football realignment landscape.
Cal, Stanford, And SMU Moving To The ACC
ACC school presidents voted in 2023 to add SMU, Stanford, and Cal to the conference for this year. All three schools reportedly won’t receive full ACC revenue shares for nine years.
SMU will likely have to pay more than $10 million to the AAC as an exit fee, according to CBS, as SMU intends to leave in 27 or fewer months.
AAC commissioner Mike Aresco had contingency plans if SMU were to leave, as the league is now adding Army.
Clemson & FSU’s ACC Lawsuits
After the Pac-12 imploded, some have begun to wonder if the same would happen to the ACC.
Clemson and Florida State have both sued the ACC in recent months over matters related to the league’s grant of rights.
Florida State has reportedly expressed frustration with the ACC’s media deal for months, saying FSU isn’t making enough to keep up with SEC and Big Ten programs also seeking to win national championships.
For example, the nine FBS leagues recently signed off on a six-year College Football Playoff arrangement through 2031 that would give the Big Ten and SEC nearly twice as much money as the ACC and Big 12.
Florida State has argued the ACC has mismanaged its TV agreement with ESPN, The Athletic reported. FSU is also seeking for a court in Florida to rule whether the ACC’s grant of rights is legitimate.
Clemson is questioning the legitimacy of the ACC’s grant of rights when it comes to a school leaving the conference.
Sports media experts have argued Clemson and Florida State’s cases against the ACC aren’t very strong, which could prevent the conference from dissolving anytime soon. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t impossible.
Those schools could come up with the financial means to separate from the ACC, or perhaps all parties involved come to an amicable solution which means those two programs can seek a new conference.
But if that did happen, the ACC would be losing arguably its two most valuable members when it comes to college football. And like what happened with the Pac-12, some big-name schools leaving could lead to several others wanting out as well.
A judge reportedly decided this week to grant a temporary restraining order against North Carolina’s board of trustees. That means the board can’t go over things like finances or conference realignment in a closed session.
For the sake of the Group of Five, if the ACC were to completely dissolve, it’s not impossible some programs are left behind by the power leagues. Perhaps the AAC or the Sun Belt figure out an arrangement with leftover ACC teams.
SMU Football Fundraising
SMU announced it raised $100 million in just seven days to help support its transition to the ACC.
That money will prove critical because of the funds it’s losing out on as the athletic department makes the transition to its new league. The program also publicized that media coverage of the ACC move produced over $163 million in advertising revenue in a mere three days.
“This is an unprecedented financial commitment from a core group of donors who have understood from the beginning that moving to the ACC will be transformational for our university on both athletic and academic levels,” SMU President R. Gerald Turner said in a press release. “While there is still much work to be done, the ability to rally this kind of support in just one short week demonstrates that SMU and Dallas recognize the excellence of this opportunity and are stepping up to support it.”
SMU-ACC Football Record
SMU is 16-18 against the teams which are currently in the ACC.
Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, N.C. State, North Carolina, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest were the teams in the ACC last year.
Some of those schools have reportedly shared disinterest in adding other schools. Florida State, for example, has expressed frustration about the ACC’s media deal and a possible desire to go to another conference.
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What Conference Was SMU In?
SMU has been a member of the AAC since 2013 but has long been regarded as another team which might go to the Power Four.
SMU, which was previously in Conference USA, positioned itself as the next G5 school to move on after Houston, UCF, and Cincinnati went to the Big 12 last year.
SMU ended the 2023 season 11-3 overall after winning the AAC Championship against Tulane and losing to Boston College in the Fenway Bowl.
ACC Media Deal
The ACC’s media deal netted each program about $40 million in 2021-22, according to Yahoo Sports. The deal is set to expire in 2036.
In comparison, the media deals for the Big Ten and SEC both give over $50 million to each school.
AAC Media Deal
The AAC and ESPN agreed to a 12-year contract worth about $1 billion, via USA Today. The deal began in 2019 and was to pay each program just less than $7 million per year when it was made.
NCAA To Pay College Football Players
The NCAA, along with the Power Four leagues, agreed recently to let schools pay athletes directly. This obviously affects SMU.
This is in the wake of the NCAA’s settlement in federal antitrust cases which will lead to former college athletes being paid after they weren’t able to profit off of their names, images, and likenesses while in college. This will reportedly result in the governing body of college sports paying about $2.7 billion over 10 years to past and current athletes, per ESPN.
The NCAA will pay for nearly half of it. Of that remaining half, 60% will be paid by non-Power Four conferences and their programs.
