ACC’s revenue increased in 2021 despite pandemic

League revenues for the 2021 fiscal year were released recently, with only the SEC and ACC showing increases in revenue among the major conferences. Both of those leagues essentially got in full football seasons in 2020, which not surprisingly helped their bottom lines.

The ACC’s per-school payouts for 2021 were between $35 and $38 million, putting the league well ahead of the Pac-12, on par with the Big 12, but still well behind the SEC and Big Ten. The ACC may eventually progress into a solid No. 3 in the revenue pecking order but isn’t going to catch SEC or Big Ten.

The SEC paid out around $55 million per school, and the Big Ten handed out between $43 and $49 million. The year prior, with revenue unaffected by the pandemic, the Big Ten also handed out around $55 million. There remains a big difference between those leagues and everybody else.

It was a particularly rough year for the Pac-12, which saw per-school payouts drop below $20 million. The league figures to be back on the ACC/Big 12 level in 2022, though.