Miami's move from Big East to ACC starting to pay off finally. (USF Mentioned)

[TyBull]

Miami's move from Big East to ACC starting to pay off finally

From the OrlandoSentinel.com

Miami's move from Big East to ACC starting to pay off finally

posted by Alan Schmadtke on Jul 8, 2008 2:24:13 PM

Some thoughts and observations and a few more specific financial numbers following Andrew Carter’s package last week on the 5-year anniversary of college football conference realignment:

Miami, the big domino in the entire restructuring, is just starting to see the big financial results that it hoped would come from the move. Had the Hurricanes been better in football in recent years -- that is, had they gone to BCS bowls that they used to go to regularly when they were in the Big East -- they’d have raked in even more money.

Miami, the big domino in the entire restructuring, is just starting to see the big financial results that it hoped would come from the move. Had the Hurricanes been better in football in recent years -- that is, had they gone to BCS bowls that they used to go to regularly when they were in the Big East -- they’d have raked in even more money.

Florida State has benefited financially from an expanded ACC but not by as much as it could have. (And for the same reason as Miami: only one BCS appearance recently.)

And so far some of the money winners in expansion are: Louisville, Virginia Tech, USF and the University of Central Florida.

The loser (so far): West Virginia and Syracuse.

This is from Craig Barnes’ story from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel five years ago:

"Frankly, the Big East made a better financial offer over the next five years," Shalala said. "There is a fundamental difference in the way money is distributed. In the Big East, the more successful you were, the more money you got. If you look at the ACC, it is even distribution; everyone gets the same thing."

Miami will make $6.2 million in each of its first two ACC seasons, with the possibility of an additional $2 million if it plays in the Bowl Championship Series, and the number can be increased further if the conference has a championship game.

By the third year, the Hurricanes will be a full partner, collecting more than $9 million. That would be the season the ACC’s new TV deal begins.

The Big East's last proposal was to guarantee UM $9.7 million, the amount collected by each ACC school last year, for the next five years. The Big East also agreed to supplement Miami for its additional travel expenses.

Well now. It took Miami until the 2006-07 school year to earn more than $9.7 million in ACC revenue sharing. In other words, until last year the Hurricanes were operating with less money coming in from the ACC than they would have from the Big East -- at least initially -- had they stayed put.

But this was not a five-year move. This was a forever move. And if the latest payout by the ACC to Miami -- $11.7 million -- is indicative of where future finances are headed, Miami soon will make up the difference. If the Hurricanes get back to BCS prominence, their annual slice of the ACC pie won’t be as big as it would have been in the Big East. But it likely will jump to between $13 million and $15 million.

As for USF, the Bulls pulled in nearly $5.4 million from Big East revenue sharing in 2006-07. C-USA did not break out school-by-school distributions for 2003-04, but the last check the Bulls received from C-USA was the following year: $1.44 million. So USF is now pulling in about $4 million more a year because of the change in leagues.

UCF increased its conference revenue sharing from about $100,000 (from both the Atlantic Sun and Mid-American Conference) to more $2 million last year.

West Virginia’s haul from the Big East office fell by more than $1.5 million, but part of that is explained by the fact that the years that are being compared here include an earlier year in which the Mountaineers reaped excess BCS money.

School Change 2003-04 2004-05 2006-07 Difference

Miami Big East to ACC 9,039,435 11,719,004 2,679,569

Boston College Big East to ACC 6,637,314 8,789,080 2,151,766

Virginia Tech Big East to ACC 6,050,696 11,844,044 5,793,348

UCF MAC to C-USA 108,000 2,427,527 2,319,527

FSU No change 11,688,542 12,292,543 604,001

Syracuse No change 5,424,961 4,746,354 -678,607

West Virginia No change 8,520,044 6,952,221 -1,567,823

Louisville C-USA to Big East NA 3,109,759 7,888,930 4,779,171

USF C-USA to Big East NA 1,444,061 5,370,693 3,926,632

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[IncrediBULL]

big east has been good for us in more ways than mentioned. 

shot at a bcs bowl, recruiting, better opponents, lots of tv coverage, 3 years of bowl games for us, etc...

the USF leaders made the right move to the Beast - glad we got the invite.  It was the right thing to do.

The Beast invite is a testament to CJL's success - he is the reason it happened.

[Bullschmutz]

I like that we never had a losing season in conference play in the BE.

I thought there would be growing pains.

[twillybull]

I like that we never had a losing season in conference play in the BE.

I thought there would be growing pains.

I would credit Leavitt and the 2004 season with that.  From what I recall he let anyone with eligibility take a red shirt and suffered through a pretty lousy "lame-duck" CUSA season for it.  The brightside of that season was we got to see a couple of AWESOME freshmen cornerbacks start (and go through their growing pains). 

[USF-PMR]

Good article except for the Orlando Sentinel is the editor.  The Bulls are winners all around.  UCF will have very average/fair season this year.