ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips: 'We're all in this together'

The three-day ACC spring meetings in Amelia Island produced plenty of reports on the future of the Athletic Coast Conference.

Especially when it comes to where big-time programs such as Florida State and Clemson stand.

When speaking to the media Tuesday FSU Athletics Director Michael Alford stated "We’re very thrilled about being in this league."

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips echoed the confidence Alford gave the conference when speaking during a 30-minute Q&A session Wednesday.

“What I’ve been told is that we’re all in this thing together,” Phillips said to the media in attendance. “Emphatically. We believe in the ACC, we believe in where we’re going and we want to continue to work together.”

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Michael Alford on FSU in the ACC: 'We’re very thrilled about being in this league'

Ahead of the meetings and throughout 2023, Alford has been vocal about the need for a new revenue distribution model that rewards schools that bring the league a greater share of the wealth, such as FSU, Miami and Clemson.

The FSU AD fears the ACC is in danger of falling behind both the SEC and Big Ten in revenue by about $30 million per year when their respective new television contracts start (Big Ten in 2023, SEC in 2024).

Alford has stated he believes FSU deserves a larger cut of ACC revenue.

“The reality is our conference is third in the country in [TV revenue] distribution. Third,” Phillips said. “And as we look at the projections, at least in this decade, we’re going to continue to be there. Now, we want to close the gap. We need to close the gap between the top two conferences that have started to run away from us."

On Monday, reports surfaced that FSU was one of seven universities that were exploring options for breaking the conference’s grant-of-rights agreement.

Phillips said he was not surprised by the reports or the talks.

“Regarding some of our schools having conversations about the future, that just isn’t news to me, per se,” Phillips said. “There’s not a conference in the country and there [aren’t] institutions in the country that haven’t talked about conference expansion and the landscape and what’s best for my individual or our individual institutions, what’s best for our conference, etc. So, I appreciate that. And I understand it and I understand the attention to it.

“It’s no different than when folks come to Greensboro to kind of take a look at the Grant of Rights, and our media rights, and those types of things. I encourage them to come. I really do. I mean, we feed them and all the rest of it. That’s not a warning sign to me from the standpoint of something bad may happen, etc. These are schools that are under a lot of stress and a lot of pressure. And I understand that I really do.”

Still Phillips, like Alford a day before him, stated confidence that the ACC can find solutions without a major shakeup, such as programs' departures, to fix the woes.

“I feel really good about the future of the ACC. I do,” Phillips said. “And I’m not just saying that. We’re working at it. We’ve got great schools, we’ve got a great story to tell, we’ve had great success. We’ve got to close that gap for sure. For sure.

"But at the end of the day, as our people say, how much do you need to be a national champion in football and basketball and our other sports? Do you have to be at the very top of the level? Do you have to spend the most to be the best?

“I don’t know that there’s been an equation that has kind of connected the two. It’s certainly helpful, it certainly allows you a greater chance.”

Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips says the ACC 'wants to work together'