For years the football powers of the ACC have complained that the league is run to the favor of Tobacco Road. The ACC is branded with Duke and North Carolina basketball, but the reality is that football is a much larger generator of revenue. There is such a disparity between the sports that Florida State brings in more viewers and more revenue from their sports programs than any other ACC school. No. 2 is Clemson.
But now that realignment has happened, the ACC is positioned to be the premier basketball conference in the nation, but unless Notre Dame joins as a full member, the football side of things was largely unimproved. And considering the ACC recently announced a Grant of Rights, teams like FSU and Clemson won't have the options of jumping to a more football focused conference.
The ACC is trying to push their brand more aggressively, and now they're trying to jump the pond and play regularly in Europe.
It is unclear which sports will be involved, but there was some precedent with Notre Dame playing last year in Ireland (prior to joining the ACC). Based on Commissioner John Swofford's comments it's clear that basketball is still king, but that they're trying to get smarter about football. “When you put the marketplace analysis together with institutions, it's probably the strongest group of basketball programs ever put together in our conference,” Swofford said. “We've got an enormous amount of potential from a football standpoint and business standpoint.”
