The league’s annual football preview event begins Tuesday in Charlotte with an address from Commissioner Jim Phillips. Duke, North Carolina and NC State coaches and players meet with the media Thursday.
The ACC gathers this week for its annual football preview and, for the first time in nearly two years, the conference isn’t engaged in lawsuits with its two biggest football brands.
The league, Florida State and Clemson resolved their various legal challenges in late May with a settlement that reimagines the way the league distributes revenue, ends ambiguity over what it takes to leave the league and gives the conference stability — whatever that means in a fast-evolving college sports landscape — for the time being.
College football’s top conferences can’t agree on a new playoff format to replace the 12-team format that was just contested for the first time last year. New rules implemented as part of a $2.8-billion settlement are already facing challenges. And the federal government, despite desperate lobbying from the NCAA and schools, still hasn’t passed antitrust legislation.
All impact the ACC, which is expected to back a 5 + 11, 16-team format to determine a college football champion moving forward. That’s the five highest-ranked conference champions plus the next 11 at-large selections. The Big Ten prefers a model that gives leagues multiple automatic bids with it and the SEC getting four each, while the ACC and Big 12 get two apiece.
That can wait. This year’s format is 12 teams straight seeded one through 12 with spots reserved for the five highest-ranked conference champions.
Here are some other storylines at ACC Kickoff in Charlotte:
Settlement details
Gone are the days of equal revenue distribution across the conference. The ACC has entered its “eat what you kill” era.
Beginning this season, the league will distribute 40% of its media rights equally. The other 60% will be distributed based on viewership metrics for football (75%) and men’s basketball (25%). Each school will receive a distribution proportionate to its percentage of the ACC’s total viewership from qualified events in football and men’s basketball over the previous five years with annual weighting.
That puts a premium on scheduling big-time non-conference games and being good enough to land precious spots on ABC and big ESPN.
Clemson, Florida State and Miami have dominated the ACC’s presence on ABC, where games typically generate the biggest audience. Syracuse (vs. Tennessee), Florida State (vs. Alabama), Clemson (vs. LSU) and Miami (vs. Notre Dame) have high-profile ABC games in the first week of the season. North Carolina with new coach Bill Belichick could see a bump this season. The Tar Heels open on Labor Day night on ESPN vs. TCU.
Cal and Stanford accepted partial shares of media rights distribution upon entry into the league, while SMU accepted zero. The league’s three newest members aren’t eligible for the viewership distribution at this time. Notre Dame isn’t eligible for the football portion.
The league previously agreed to success incentives to reward schools for performance in football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball. Clemson and SMU earned $4 million for reaching the CFP last year under the success incentives.
The end result: Clemson and Florida State (and other top-performing ACC teams) might be able to close the revenue distribution gap with the SEC and Big Ten.
The ACC is third in revenue generation and distribution.
The ACC distributed about $45 million to its members in 2023-24, according to tax documents. The SEC distributed $52.5 million to its existing members (and another $55 million split between Texas and Oklahoma) in the same year. The Big Ten distributed about $63 million to its members.
The settlement also clarified the process and penalty for leaving the ACC. The league’s grant of rights, which said the conference would keep the media rights of a departing school until 2036, is done. It’s been replaced by a new scale that decreases annually.
Schools must file an official withdrawal notice on June 1 to be effective June 30 of the following year. For example, if a school planned to leave for the 2028-29 academic year, it would have to give notice by June 1, 2027.
Year of withdrawal: fee owed
2025-26: $165 million
2026-27: $147 million
2027-28: $129 million
2028-29: $111 million
2029-30: $93 million
2030-31 and beyond: $75 million
Can Belichick win in college?
North Carolina made the biggest offseason splash in December by hiring head coach Bill Belichick, owner of six Super Bowl titles as an NFL head coach and two more as a defensive coordinator. The program sold out its season-ticket allotment and is doing work on the recruiting trail. But the 73-year-old Belichick has never coached in college football, his run in New England ended with a whimper and there are questions about the talent level in Chapel Hill.
(That’s not to mention all the headlines his relationship with 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson garnered over the last eight months.)
The Tar Heels will draw viewers — more important than ever given the league’s new media revenue distribution formula — and their ACC schedule (minus a home date with Clemson) sets them up for success.
UNC doesn’t have an established QB — South Alabama transfer Gio Lopez, who will be at the ACC Kickoff event is the likely starter — and lost many top players from last season in running back Omarion Hampton, guard Willie Lampkin, defensive linemen Jahvaree Ritzie and Beau Atkinson, linebackers Power Echols and Amare Campbell and cornerback Alijah Huzzie.
Belichick and GM Michael Lombardi hit the transfer portal hard. Can Belichick shape that talent quickly and help UNC avoid the embarrassing and sometimes inexplicable losses that came to define the end of Mack Brown’s tenure.
New look ‘Pack
NC State head coach Dave Doeren has a new offensive and defensive coordinator after last year’s disappointing 6-7 campaign — after the Wolfpack opened the year with playoff talk. There’s no such conversation around NC State this year, even with quarterback CJ Bailey and a host of talented skill players returning. Doeren won at least eight games in six of the last eight seasons, but he hasn’t been able to get past nine wins in a season.
Can anyone stop Clemson?
The Tigers defeated newcomer SMU for the ACC title last year, giving them eight championships in the last 10 seasons. And Clemson is loaded for a repeat with quarterback Cade Klubnik (3,639 passing yards, 36 touchdowns and six interceptions last season) back and top-tier talent across the roster. The league, as has been the case for most of the last decade, runs through Clemson.
SMU, Miami and Louisville are seen as other top contenders.
Is it finally Miami’s year?
Miami and Heisman Trophy runner-up Cam Ward dropped two of its final three games in the regular season (at Georgia Tech and at Syracuse), ending the Hurricanes’ ACC title and playoff hopes. The Hurricanes have former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck under center and are eyeing that elusive playoff bid under coach Mario Christobal.
Big-time transfers at QB
It’s not just Beck and Miami. About half the league went portal shopping for a quarterback in the offseason.
Duke, off a 9-4 season, brought in Tulane transfer Darian Mensah. Belichick is likely to turn the offense over to South Alabama transfer Gio Lopez. Wake Forest and new coach Jake Dickert signed Deshawn Purdie (Charlotte) and Robby Ashford (South Carolina).
Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele (Oregon) and Devin Brown (Ohio State), Louisville’s Miller Moss (from USC), Syracuse’s Steve Angeli (from Notre Dame) and Rickie Collins (LSU), Dylan Lonergan (Alabama), Virginia’s Chandler Morris (North Texas) and Daniel Kaelin (Nebraska) all arrived via transfer. Florida State is counting on quarterback Tommy Castellanos, a Boston College transfer, to turn its program around.
And the league returns several top QBs, including Clemson’s Klubnik, Georgia Tech’s Haynes King and SMU’s Kevin Jennings. Jennings was a third-team All-ACC selection in 2024 behind Ward and Syracuse’s Kyle McCord. Klubnik was an honorable mention.
Can Florida State rebound?
The undefeated Seminoles were left out of the 2023 four-team College Football Playoff, sparking outcry. Florida State suffered a 2-10 hangover last season, beating just one FBS team. Florida State was 23-4 the previous two seasons, earning coach Mike Norvell a do-over. But he probably won’t get another one.
ACC Kickoff Schedule
Tuesday, July 22: Commissioner Jim Phillips (press conference: 9 a.m.); Miami (11 a.m.); SMU (noon); Stanford (1 p.m.); California (2 p.m.); Virginia (3 p.m.)
Wednesday, July 23: Florida State (10 a.m.); Louisville (11 a.m.); Syracuse (noon); Pittsburgh (1 p.m.); Georgia Tech (2 p.m.); Wake Forest (3 p.m.)
Thursday, July 24: Boston College (10 a.m.); Virginia Tech (11 a.m.); Clemson (noon), Duke (1 p.m.); North Carolina (2 p.m.); NC State (3 p.m.)
Attendees
Duke: Head coach Manny Diaz, QB Darian Mensah, (R-So., San Luis Obispo, California); OL Brian Parker II, (R-Jr., Cincinnati, Ohio); CB Chandler Rivers (Sr., Beaumont, Texas); DE Wesley Williams (R-Jr., Gainesville, Virginia)
North Carolina: Head coach Bill Belichick, DB Thaddeus Dixon (R-Sr., Los Angeles); DB Will Hardy (Sr., Lawrenceville, Georgia); QB Gio Lopez, (R-So., Madison, Alabama); WR Jordan Shipp, (So., Charlotte)
NC State: Head coach Dave Doeren, QB CJ Bailey (So., Miami); DT Brandon Cleveland (Sr., Tampa, Florida); LB Caden Fordham (Gr., Ponte Vedra, Florida), TE Justin Joly (Sr., Brewster, New York)