How much was Notre Dame’s 2020 payout as a full ACC member?
Former ACC commissioner John Swofford called his league’s COVID-induced one-year football marriage with Notre Dame in 2020 a “win-win.” Notre Dame wanted security in a time where college sports lacked it and after other leagues’ cancelations wrecked its original schedule. The ACC knew the value the Irish would add as a full member, even if was just for a year.
“We’ve said over and over again, we’re in it together,” Swofford told ESPN in July 2020. “It was the best thing for the ACC, it was the best thing for Notre Dame.”
Nearly two years later, there’s more evidence he was right.
Notre Dame’s one-year stint as a full ACC member benefitted both parties on the field in 2020. It apparently helped financially too.
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The ACC’s fiscal year 2020 gross revenue of $578.3 million was the highest in league history, per its tax documents released Friday and obtained by multiple outlets. That’s an increase of more than $80 million from fiscal year 2019’s mark of $496.7 million. It paid its 15 full members an average of $36.1 million.
According to a report from The Athletic, Notre Dame received an equal share payout of $34.9 million from the ACC. The school shared its NBC television revenue among all ACC members when it joined for the 2020 football season in exchange for receiving a full payout.
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The $34.9 million is an increase from the $10.8 million Notre Dame received from the ACC as a partial member in fiscal year 2019. The contract extension Notre Dame signed with NBC in 2013 that runs through 2025 is worth about $15 million annually.
In a normal year, Notre Dame would have made about $26 million when combining the NBC and partial ACC revenue streams. Joining forces with the ACC in 2020 netted it about $9 million more, and that was with a limited regular season schedule. The ACC set up an 11-game regular season in 2020, one game with a nonconference opponent and 10 league contests.
The Irish played 10 regular-season games — they did not make a scheduled trip to Wake Forest due to COVID-19 concerns — and went 10-0. They reached the ACC Championship Game and the College Football Playoff, losing both to finish 10-2. ACC champion Clemson also reached the CFP, giving the league two teams in the four-team field for the first time.
