ACC's Forward Progress Limited

Wake Forest Athletic Director Ron Wellman hired Jim Grobe to take over his school's football program in December 2000, and Grobe's staff began redshirting more freshmen to give them an additional year of seasoning. Six years into Grobe's tenure, an experienced Demon Deacons squad won the ACC championship game over Georgia Tech and played in the program's first BCS bowl.

Wake Forest has evolved far beyond the football program that won a total of 38 games in the 1990s. "The fact that it's not the traditional powerhouses is an interesting story," Wellman said. "And who's to say Wake Forest is not the next Miami or Florida State?"

As for programs such as Miami, Florida State and, to a lesser extent, Maryland, which were supposed to serve as the bedrock of ACC football but have struggled in recent seasons, Farrell said they are having a difficult time adjusting to the upward push that higher quality recruits have created among the conference's middling teams.

Indeed, numerous sources -- both inside and outside the ACC -- contacted for this story agreed the competition level in the conference's revenue sports (football and men's basketball) has risen, even if the competition results suggest otherwise.

Well-respected ACC basketball veterans, such as Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski, voiced their concerns during the expansion proceedings of 2003 over the consequences a realignment might produce for the conference's basketball vitality. ACC basketball programs have won 10 national titles since the league was formed in 1953.

Clemson men's basketball coach Oliver Purnell shared the same anxiety. He grew up in Berlin, Md., surrounded by the aura of ACC basketball. After seeing the sport serve as the driving force behind the ACC for 50 years, Purnell wanted to ensure the treatment of the sport by conference officials would not diminish in the wake of a football-focused expansion.

"All of the sudden, we were in a different ACC," Purnell said. "We continued to bring that up at conference meetings, and I think eventually the conference office responded."

Following the Money

As a direct result of its expansion, the ACC was in position to accomplish two of its most critical objectives. The conference signed a seven-year, $258 million deal with ABC and ESPN in May 2004, nearly doubling the per year average payout of its previous contract.

The conference also has increased the average revenue payout to member institutions by over $2 million since the realignment. Following the 2001-02 school year, the ACC paid out an average of $9.5 million to its nine members, according to an ACC official. As reported in the ACC's 2006-07 tax forms -- the most recent available on public record -- the conference doled out an average of $11.7 million to its 11 full-sharing institutions.

All three new members received a two-thirds payout in their first two ACC seasons before becoming full-sharing members in their third years.

"In the Big East, you generate revenue based on how you did in football," Virginia Tech Athletic Director Jim Weaver said. "In our best year in the Big East, the year we played in the national championship game [1999], we pulled in $5.1 million." According to Weaver, Virginia Tech gained almost double that amount in ACC revenue payout this past year.

Miami was viewed as the key to augmenting the ACC's appeal. Situated in a major media market and boasting five national championships, Miami served as the conference's most valuable bargaining chip when it came time to renegotiate its television contract.