Jim Phillips: ACC does not have ‘unanimity’ on Protect College Sports Act

With the Protect College Sports Act heading to the House of Representatives, the ACC has become a key part of the conversation. Four school presidents from the conference penned a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) requesting changes to the conference realignment provision last week.

Speaking at ACC Tipoff on Tuesday, commissioner Jim Phillips acknowledged the conference does not have “unanimity” on the bill. That doesn’t necessarily mean schools are against the bill as a whole, though, he said.

$19.99 gets you a FULL year of On3 | Rivals national coverage

Given the breadth of the bill, which spans 171 pages, Phillips said unanimous support would be tough to receive from all 18 schools. But while the four schools – Clemson, Florida State, Miami and North Carolina – requested changes to the independence provision, he argued that doesn’t mean they are against the entire legislation.

“It’s rare to have unanimity on anything as it relates to a bill in particular,” Phillips said. “The 171-page document, there’s an awful lot that people like and don’t like, so you have that piece of it and the significance of the bill. I’ve said from the very beginning and will continue to do so, my job is to state and support all 18 schools.

SUBSCRIBE to the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter

“We don’t have unanimity in our league, and you just pointed that out with four schools. So making sure that the Senators know and making sure that those schools, whether you’re for the Protect College Sports Act or you’re against a portion of it – I don’t think they’re against all of it – but a portion of it, they need direct access to state their case.”

In the letter, first reported by Tomahawk Nation, the coalition of presidents and chancellors called for two key changes to the Protect College Sports Act. They said the conference membership cap should increase to 22 schools, rather than the 20 as is currently written in the bill, and to remove the requirement for schools to be independent for a brief period if they leave one conference for another.

The realignment provisions have already generated pushback because of the potential implications on the ACC, Yahoo! Sports‘ Ross Dellenger reported. A person close to the bill’s authors told Dellenger lawmakers “won’t pass language to blow up the ACC.”

As the Protect College Sports Act heads to the House, Jim Phillips made clear how proud he is of the ACC’s current position. He confirmed the conference could hit $1 billion in revenue distribution to its member schools after distributing more than $825 million in fiscal year 2025.

“We’re as healthy as we’ve ever been,” Phillips said. “I said it in July because I mean that. If you look at the metrics of revenue generation and what we’re going to give out to the membership next year, it will border $1 billion for the first time. It’s up 57%. Competitive success, 36 national championships in the last four-plus years. Academic success, No. 1 ranked FBS conference in the country for 19 straight years. And then innovation, all of those things. … We’ll continue to stay in contact with all the schools.

“My job is, again, to facilitate those conversations, and at the end of the day, the people that have written the bill and are in charge of the bill, they can do what they think they should based on the information that they’re getting.”