Pitt weighs logistics of ACC venturing west

When news broke that six more schools would be leaving the Pac-12 Conference, Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi was asked about the ever-changing landscape of college athletics. He didn’t hesitate to explain how he felt.

“I think it’s crazy. I think it’s all money driven, which is sad,” Mr. Narduzzi told reporters on Aug. 7. “You look at different conferences across the country and where they’re going, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, it just doesn’t make sense financially, especially for the other sports. I think it’s crazy.”

At that time, Mr. Narduzzi was proud that his team’s conference, the ACC, wasn’t taking part in the chaos. While the Big Ten and Big 12 added teams across the country, his league was, in his eyes, waiting for the ideal candidate.

On Friday morning, Mr. Narduzzi and the rest of the college sports world learned that three schools deemed the “right fit” for the ACC are multiple time zones away from any of the current member schools.

The Atlantic Coast Conference will soon include two universities less than 30 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Presidents of the ACC’s 15 member schools voted to add Cal, Stanford and SMU to the league. The three schools will officially become members of the ACC on July 1, 2024.

“We are thrilled to welcome three world-class institutions to the ACC and we look forward to having them compete as part of our amazing league,” said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips in a statement released Friday morning. “Throughout the evaluation process, the ACC Board of Directors, led by (University of Virginia) President (James) Ryan, was deliberate in prioritizing the best possible athletic and academic experience for our student-athletes and in ensuring that the three universities would strengthen the league in all possible ways. Cal, SMU and Stanford will be terrific members of the ACC and we are proud to welcome their student-athletes, coaches, staff and entire campus community, alumni and fans.”

The addition of Cal, Stanford and SMU helps address what is perhaps the biggest obstacle the ACC has been facing in recent years: revenue distribution. This summer, numerous ACC schools voiced their displeasure toward the large gap in media revenue that would exist between the league and its top two competitors, the Big Ten and SEC.

On July 1, a new media rights deal between the Big Ten and networks FOX, CBS and NBC became active. The deal is expected to pay out an average of $75 million to each of the conference’s member schools. In 2024, a new deal between the Southeastern Conference and ESPN will pay its member schools a similar amount.

Those totals are much higher than the $35 million to $40 million payout ACC schools are receiving from the conference’s media agreement with ESPN. However, the additions of Cal, Stanford and SMU will help close that gap. Per ESPN, the ACC’s 14 full-time member schools will now receive an annual payout of $50 million to $60 million. (Notre Dame is not a member of the conference in football.)

That higher total comes thanks to the ACC’s three new members willingly accepting a lesser share. Per ESPN, SMU will go without any broadcast media revenue for its first nine seasons in the ACC. Cal and Stanford, meanwhile, also come at a major discount, as they’ve reportedly agreed to accept just 30% of the share each of the 14 full-time member schools will receive for their first seven years in the ACC. That percentage will then jump to 70% in Year 8 and then 75% in Year 9. They will then both receive their equal share of revenue in Year 10 of their membership.

Mr. Phillips was unwilling to confirm ESPN’s numbers during a call Friday afternoon with the league’s media members, but said the addition of Cal, Stanford and SMU was a “step in the right direction” when it comes to addressing the revenue concerns expressed by numerous schools within the conference. Friday’s decision resulted in no changes to the ACC’s grant-of-rights deal with ESPN, which doesn’t expire until 2036. Mr. Phillips added that further expansion won’t be “top of mind” for the ACC moving forward.

Florida State, Clemson and North Carolina were the three schools who voted against adding the three schools Friday morning. When asked for his message to those schools, Mr. Phillips reiterated that the decision benefits each of the league’s current institutions “in some way.”

The ACC’s 14 full-time member schools will soon have more money. But will they also have more problems?

Next year, each ACC school’s travel budget and schedule will dramatically intensify. In a league where each school was in the Eastern time zone, next year will mark the start of cross-country trips for conference play.

“You’re not just talking football,” Mr. Narduzzi said. “Would we mind a trip out to Oregon or wherever it might be for a week? That’s fine, it’s just one game. But when you talk about all the different travel for all the different sports, and what that does mentally and physically to a student-athlete — I know what it takes out of us going on a plane to Louisville. I can’t imagine what it does with some of these other ones. It’s tough.”

Mr. Narduzzi isn’t the only Pitt coach who has previously voiced his concerns about added travel. Women’s soccer coach Randy Waldrum told the Post-Gazette earlier that he, too, sees many clear challenges ahead.

“This is something that’s going to have to be looked at,” Mr. Waldrum said. “We can’t keep condensing bigger conferences with farther travel away. Two games a week, mental health of the student-athlete, all of these things — injuries, it just creates more injuries.”

Mr. Phillips took time Friday afternoon to break down what those schedule changes will entail.

For football, each of the league’s current 14 full-time member teams will make one trip out West every two years. The 15 full-time member men’s and women’s basketball teams will make two trips west every four years, with the intention that each team would play Cal and Stanford during the same trip. Olympic sports will have the least amount of travel to account for, having to make “zero to one trip,” a year. And for the new schools, specifically Cal and Stanford, Mr. Phillips said their football and basketball teams will be able to complete their conference schedules by making just three to four trips east each year.

Like numerous other ACC schools, the University of Pittsburgh addressed those safety concerns in an official statement that was released just hours after news of the league’s vote was made public.

However, some of Pitt’s student-athletes don’t believe that is entirely the case. Pitt football players Jake Kradel and Gavin Bartholomew recently discussed the idea of ACC expansion on their show “In the Trenches,” which is a part of the Post-Gazette’s YouTube channel and podcast network. Both mentioned the obvious benefits ,but had more to say about the inherent negatives.

“The good is we can bring in more money, more revenue for the ACC schools, which I think is ultimately what they want to do,” Mr. Kradel said. “I think that’s in the best interest of each school. But, for us, the student-athletes, it’s definitely hard. You think about going out to Stanford, right? You’ve gotta leave Thursday, maybe even Wednesday just to get used to the three-hour difference and really get ready. And then we have to come back.

“We have classes Monday through Friday. So, what, now we’re expected to miss class Thursday, Friday and maybe Monday? They talk about student-athletes and how they want to cater to us, this isn’t ideal for that — they love for us to focus on academics and get that 3.0. For the money, this works, but for student-athletes, I don’t think it’s an ideal situation.”

“I don’t think it’s very ideal for us,” Mr. Bartholomew added. “For the games, I think it’s going to be tough going from week to week, like if we had to go out there, come back and maybe have a short turnaround for a Thursday game. That affects our practices, our preparation and how we get ready for games. I feel like that can be a struggle.

“But then on the other side, you know, there is the money. Obviously, that’s good for the schools.”

Post-Gazette college athletics reporter Abby Schnable contributed to this report. Noah Hiles: nhiles@post-gazette.com and Twitter @_NoahHiles