Why are the Big 12 and ACC in the Power 4 if they’re so far behind?

The ACC and the Big 12 are a tier below the SEC and Big Ten financial heavyweights when it comes to roster spending. Both conferences spend significantly less on average than the Big Ten and SEC do, making one wonder why those two conferences are included in the Power 4 conversation. Their roster budgets seem closer to the Group of 6 teams rather than the two conferences that run the Power 4. While The Athletic didn’t report on the G6 teams’ spending budget, they did come up with rough estimates for the Power 4 conferences, and the ACC and Big 12 are far behind.

So what has to change? Aside from Miami in the ACC and Texas Tech in the Big 12 carrying the average, both conferences need the rest of their teams to invest more into their respective rosters. Virginia has already taken note, but teams like Clemson need to catch up if the conference wants the respect it feels it deserves. The same goes for the Big 12, where Texas Tech is the only team that spent more than an estimated $30 million to build its roster this past season.

Why the ACC and Big 12 are so far behind the SEC and Big Ten

Estimated ACC teams roster budget

The easy answer is that the revenue the SEC and Big Ten make off TV deals is astronomical compared to the ACC and Big 12. The SEC and Big Ten spread that money across their entire conferences, meaning even teams like Rutgers, Purdue, Vanderbilt, and Mississippi State get a piece of the pie, even when they aren’t the most watched or the best teams in their conferences.

This also applies to money teams receive from competing in the NCAA Tournament in basketball and the College Football Playoff. As an independent, Notre Dame pockets all of that money, which keeps it in the arms race.

The ACC has started a new procedure that allows partner schools that earn incentive money from postseason success to pocket that revenue rather than splitting it with the conference. This is thanks to Florida State suing the conference in an effort to have more money returned to the school after a great season. The Big 12 splits all revenue — TV deals and postseason incentives — among partner schools. The SEC and Big Ten use the same model as the Big 12, but each conference as a whole generates more revenue than the Big 12.

What will it take for the ACC and Big 12 to catch up to the SEC and Big Ten?

Like the ACC, the Big 12 has to move toward a hybrid revenue-sharing model that splits TV revenue while incentivizing teams to reach bowl games and play in postseason games. While this leaves behind some of the schools that don’t have large budgets, it incentivizes boosters to help out with NIL and assist teams in improving their rosters.

With revenue sharing becoming part of player compensation, that should help too. The Big 12 brought in a reported $710 million, which will be split anywhere from $36 million to $40 million per school. The ACC had an average of $47.1 million go to each affiliate school. Those numbers, of course, go to all sports and the university as a whole, not just football.

That said, the only way the ACC and Big 12 are going to gain ground and close the financial gap is by winning. The Athletic reported that the correlation between teams that spend the most money on their rosters and those reaching the College Football Playoff goes hand-in-hand. But teams have to start somewhere—that means making bowl games, winning them, and reinvesting that revenue back into the roster.

It’s the only way the ACC and the Big 12 will move further from the G6 comparison and truly be compared to their Power 4 counterparts.