The Atlantic Coast Conference will break the record for most games played by conference members in this year’s NCAA Tournament, and will in turn earn a record amount of revenue from the NCAA.

ACC revenue from the tournament is split evenly among member schools, which means teams in the conference that go far do not earn more money. So although Syracuse University will not receive extra funds for going to the Final Four, its success — as well as that of the rest of the ACC — will result in higher revenue streams for all conference members.

The true value of the ACC’s success, though, is in the prestige and attention it will bring to member schools.

“The bottom line is that Syracuse got in a more influential conference by getting into the ACC,” said Rick Burton, SU’s faculty athletics representative to the ACC and NCAA and the David B. Falk Endowed Professor of Sport Management.

SU transferred to the ACC from the former Big East — now called the American Athletic Conference — in 2013. Although this required a $7.5 million exit fee, the prestige of the ACC as a Power 5 school would come to benefit SU.

In the 2013-14 fiscal year — the first year SU was in the ACC — the school earned $19.2 million of the ACC’s $302 million total revenue, according to the ACC’s tax filings. Member schools are paid by the ACC in monetary packages that include all potential revenue streams, such as the NCAA Tournament and football bowls.

In 2012-13, SU earned $11.9 million in conference revenue, according to the American Athletic Conference’s tax filings. That was the university’s last year in the Big East.

Daryl Gross, former director of athletics at SU, oversaw the university’s transition to the ACC. He said SU had been looking to join the ACC for a long time before the university formally moved to the conference.

Gross said the monetary distribution from the ACC was much greater than that from the Big East, but said both conferences were extremely competitive.

This year, the ACC has dominated the NCAA Tournament. It saw seven teams make the tournament and four make it to the Elite Eight.

As a result, the ACC stands to earn more from tournament play than ever before. By the end, ACC teams will have played in a record-setting 25 games — the championship game not included — which count as “units.” These units are how the NCAA divides up revenue.

Based on these units, the ACC will earn $21.5 million for this year’s tournament, said David Teel, a reporter who has written extensively about the ACC. In 2013-14, the conference earned $17.5 million.

The fact that the funds are split among the 15 teams in the conference makes basketball earnings pale in comparison to football earnings.

“The impact won’t be as great as the big number might lead you to believe,” Teel said.

The tournament revenue will only account for about 6 to 7 percent of the ACC’s total revenue, Teel said. The ACC receives much more from college football payouts, he said.

In 2013-14, the ACC earned about $246 million from football television and football bowls, according to the conference’s tax filings.

Burton said academic rigor among ACC schools has also put SU among good company. High academic standing is also one of the reasons SU was accepted into the ACC in the first place, Burton said.

The highly competitive nature of both the men’s and women’s basketball teams also gives SU an edge when it comes to tournament play, which Burton said is beneficial.

Burton said both men’s basketball head coach Jim Boeheim and women’s basketball head coach Quentin Hillsman would agree that “there are no off nights in the ACC.”

The influx of fresh blood has helped the ACC in turn. In 2012, the University of Louisville was invited in, and in 2013, SU, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Notre Dame joined.

This allowed the ACC to renegotiate its television rights contract for a much higher payout, Teel said. ACC teams have also done well on the field and court, as is evident by this year’s NCAA Tournament and SU’s unpredictable run.

Before moving to the ACC, Gross, the former director of athletics at SU, said SU’s teams felt they were as good as any other team in the country. He said the success of both the men’s and women’s basketball teams does not come as a surprise to him.

Said Gross: “Coming to the ACC, we knew we were ready to compete for championships.”

Published on March 31, 2016 at 9:37 pm

Contact Delaney: dovanwey@syr.edu