CHARLOTTE – Jim Phillips went more than 25 minutes into his opening remarks at the ACC’s annual football media days Wednesday at The Westin Charlotte without mentioning the Big Ten or SEC by name.
But the ACC’s commissioner threw his share of indirect shots at the two conferences that have taken the lead on conference realignment, publicly questioning the health and direction of college athletics amid its rapidly shifting landscape.
“Fundamentally we are all responsible for the greater good of the enterprise,” Phillips said. “Let me repeat that. We are all responsible for the greater good of the enterprise. College athletics lives at a three-way intersection of competition, education, and entertainment, and all three must exist in a balanced way.”
In moves undoubtedly motivated by the football programs being massive revenue generators, the Big Ten recently poached Southern Cal and UCLA from the Pac-12 while the SEC will add notable Big 12 brands Texas and Oklahoma within the next few years. Phillips said the ACC “making a move just to make a move doesn’t make sense,” but countermoves are being considered by the league.
Standing pat and expanding are both options, Phillips said.
“We’ve had lots of really good discussions within the ACC,” he said. “I think you have to be thoughtful, you have to be smart, and you have to be strategic.
“In the end, what is the value that ends up coming back to the conference if we were to expand? All of those things have to be under great scrutiny and dialogue and ultimately some kind of formation of what we think is best.
As for the current members’ loyalty to the conference, Phillips said he’s confident in the ACC’s 14 football schools sticking together after speaking with institutional leaders.
“That’s all I’ve heard in all the calls that we’ve had,” he said.
While the conference’s grant of rights is certainly playing a part in that commitment from ACC teams for now, any potential moves in the future, Phillips said, need to be considered with more than the revenue sports in mind. He pointed his comments specifically at those who are in favor of a pay-for-play model for football and basketball athletes.
“For decades, we have relied on the financial power of two sports that generate revenue to fund themselves as well as other sports, commonly referred to as the Olympic sports,” Phillips said. “Many of those Olympic sports student-athletes’ only path to colleges is through sport. Yet they leave enriched for life. Our nation relies on these sports to fulfill spots on Team USA, which had nearly 80% current and former collegians on its last Summer Olympics roster.
“What happens to those gains from Title IX if Olympic sports cannot be supported? What happens to the Olympic movement that makes us all proud if those on-campus opportunities disappear? These are hard questions that must be considered as college athletics continues to change and evolve.”
Ultimately, Phillips acknowledged, his job is to do what’s in the best interest of the ACC, even if he’d rather not see a further widening of the gap between the haves and the have nots.
“(I) will also strongly advocate for college athletics to be a healthy neighborhood, not a two or three gated communities,” he said.
