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If anybody knows that it’s all about money, it’s Coach K.
In his 42 years at Duke, Mike Krzyzewski helped the university build a global brand that generated millions and millions more than Coach K was making, which was about $10 million a year when he retired.
While his idea for a new basketball-centric league is creative, it would not make anywhere near what the Big Ten and the SEC are distributing to their schools. But it could close the gap.
Coach K wants what’s left of the ACC to merge with the Big East. Maybe they will have a Basketball Division and a Two-Sport Division so they can attract millions more alumni viewers in the Carolinas and Virginia, which have no Big East schools.
One thing they should do before the Big 10 swoops in and does it first is to sign Duke and Carolina and take bids for a separate TV deal on their home-and-home basketball series that continues as the top-rated regular season games. Similar to the home-game contract NBC has with Notre Dame football.
St. Johns’ Rick Pitino, another big-name coach, has already said he favors the Coach K league, and perhaps through their connection to corporate business can develop some form of private equity.
The Big East and ACC, meanwhile, have languished with some underwhelming non-conference basketball performances. Most experts project the two conferences to land a combined eight teams — five from the ACC and three from the Big East — to the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
The schools selected for the “BIG ACC” would get a larger share of rights fees because they have football, and while their grid programs are not juggernauts like most of the Big Ten and SEC their fan bases follow both sports and would bring Big East teams new TV audiences and thus more money.
Last summer, the Big East inked a new six-year media rights deal with FOX, NBC, and TNT Sports that will average nearly $80 million per year. It is an improvement on the current deal with FOX and CBS that expires at the end of this season. That was a 12-year contract that averaged $41.67 million per year.
The Duke-Carolina annual home-and-home series could be up for bid to any of those, plus ESPN, which has carried both games on Saturday in prime time for about 20 years.
It still pales in comparison to the major college leagues. The SEC has a deal with Disney and ESPN that pays $300 million annually. The Big Ten’s media rights contract totals $7 billion over seven years.
The “BIG ACC” with Coach K and Pitino raising additional dollars could share more money than both conferences make now and keep two legendary leagues alive. With revenue sharing that begins in the 2025 school year, the new combined conference could be attractive enough to be competitive for the best American and foreign players.
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Featured image via Associated Press/Alex Brandon
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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