Clemson and FSU shook up college football by threatening the stability of the ACC. The conference was then looking at losing its best bet in years, with UNC also following the other two schools. That’s why the ACC is giving them an olive branch. Jim Phillips is hitting two birds with one stone from now onwards; that’s going to have the whole conference up for some heated competition. Brent Key and Georgia Tech, however, stand in a unique position in this new era of the ACC.
Gone are the days of equal fees at the conference. “Welcome to the ACC’s new reality, where conference revenue is no longer divided evenly but instead split by on-field success and television ratings, likely leading to massive gulfs in distribution between the top and bottom of the league,” Brian Murphy explained the situation in short for WRAL. The ACC is doing away with equal pay for all conference members, after the drama that ensued from the Clemson-FSU lawsuits. This new measure, called a “success initiative,” decides the fee for a school based on how many games it wins and how much viewership it can gather. Simply put, you’ve got to break your back to get people looking, and only then will your coffers.
Predicted to be a sleeping giant ahead of the season, Georgia Tech can stand to benefit from this rule. Murphy gives another equation to simplify the picture. “More wins + more viewers = more money,” he theorizes. The details of how viewership distribution will be calculated have not been made public. Virginia Tech, in a recent presentation, created its own rankings. Georgia Tech could be ranking 4th in viewership, which means the Yellow Jackets stand to earn a lot of money. This is the same team that took Georgia to 8 overtimes last year. An SEC giant was being brutally rolled over by an ACC team, people are going to tune in for that.
Georgia Tech has been my sneaky team in the ACC’s FB viewership distribution. Play Georgia every year. Usually another good noncon game. Last year FSU game in Ireland was hit. Play Clemson + Colorado this year. In VT’s rolling five-year average, Jackets 4th in viewership. More https://t.co/UWvdzApXdB
— Brian Murphy (@murphsturph) August 17, 2025
And, because Georgia Tech plays Georgia every year, more such high-action games stand to draw more viewers. Brent Key has completely overhauled the program in just years. Tech brings back Haynes King, a QB who tends to be a proper disruptor. If Georgia Tech can pull off upsets against Clemson and Georgia in the season, there’s a lot of good in store. Joel Klatt picked Georgia Tech to be his ACC dark horse this year. “That’s a team that could easily go 10-2,” he said, even advocating for the squad to be a playoff contender.
Other conferences, like the SEC, give preference to programs that perform well in the postseason. However, this new rule which also brings viewership metrics in pay for getting conference money, is an ACC brainchild. Jim Philips is putting the ball in the colleges’ court, as this new measure heats up competition in the conference.
Phillips’ new move puts Brent Key and all other ACC coaches on notice
If Clemson, FSU, and North Carolina left the ACC, the conference would fall out of national contention. That’s why the conference lowered its exit fees, while also introducing this new incentive to retain its biggest players. However, less-talked-about teams, like Stanford, California, and Wake Forest are on notice. “If you want to earn more money, then you’re going to need to invest,” Jim Phillips said last month. “As part of the modernization of college athletics, these new models allow us to maintain distributions for all ACC members that are above most other conferences while also providing flexibility for competition at the highest level of revenue,” he added.
“The better you are, the better the slot, the better the ratings. I think it’s a creative answer to where we are [as a conference],” NC State’s Boo Corrigan said about the new plan. The ACC’s chances of winning could improve because of its strong start to the season. Miami plays Notre Dame, Georgia Tech plays Colorado, and Alabama and FSU will meet up in a fiery clash. These are games that are going to get a lot of viewers. And based on the record $711 million that came to the ACC during the 2023-24 season, this year should also see a similar number coming in.
The ACC is often dubbed one of the most struggling conferences in college football. Its heavyweights leaving would make that claim a reality. Now, with this success initiative in play, the conference is thrown into a ‘survival of the fittest’ mode. While we already have an inkling about how Clemson and other big teams will fare this season, Brent Key can also ask for a bigger share by the end of this season should they surprise the conference and the FBS.
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