ACC, Pac-12’s 2021-22 revenue hits record highs

The ACC and Pac-12 released their financial data for the 2021-22 season Friday, showing record revenue for each conference.

The ACC 990 form showed the league brought in $617 million, up 6.7% from the previous year, while the Pac-12 announced total revenues of $581 million and record distributions at $444 million.

In addition, the ACC had an average distribution of nearly $39.5 million per school, also a league record and an increase of 9% over the previous year. The Pac-12 distributed an average of $37 million per school.

While the total revenue puts the ACC third among all conferences, there is still a revenue gap between the SEC ($721.8 million) and Big Ten ($845.6 million) that will continue to grow once their respective new television contracts are set to begin over the next year. The ACC spent the bulk of its recently concluded spring meetings discussing the revenue gap, and are closing in on a new distribution model that rewards on-field success.

The Pac-12 saw its gains primarily as a result of increases in media rights, postseason bowl revenues and NCAA basketball tournament revenue distributions. But that league is in the middle of negotiating a new television rights deal that won’t include USC or UCLA, which are moving on to the Big Ten.