Noles News: Revenue gap between ACC and SEC, Big 10 continues to grow

Recruiting

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Football

The annual revenue reports of college athletics major conferences were released over the weekend, with the ACC reporting a record-setting revenue mark ( $706.6 million) that still trails the SEC and Big 10 by more than $150 million.

Gross revenue by conference:

• Big Ten: $880 million
• SEC: $852.6 million
• ACC: $707 million
• Pac-12: $603.9 million
• Big 12: $510.7 million

Per-school distribution average by conference:

• Big Ten: $60.5 million
• SEC: $51.3 million
• ACC: $44.8 million
• Big 12: $44.2 million
• Pac-12: $33.6 million

From ESPN:

That number is a 14.5% increase over the previous year and the second-largest year-over-year increase in league history. Yet despite the record growth, the ACC remains behind the Big Ten (nearly $880 million) and SEC ($852.6 million). That gap will grow larger in the coming years with new television deals for both the Big Ten and SEC bringing in more revenue.

The average distribution per school is 13.7% higher than the previous year and has increased 88.2% since 2015-16.

Notre Dame, a member in all sports but football, received $22.1 million.

Commissioner Jim Phillips earned $2.76 million for the 2022-23 fiscal year, while former commissioner John Swofford was listed as the second-highest paid at $2.59 million. Since his retirement in 2021, Swofford has made nearly $6 million from the ACC.

From USA Today:

About $38 million of its increase came from TV revenue. The conference said in a statement that this was driven in part by Comcast picking up the ACC Network in December 2021, which made 2023 the first full fiscal year in which the network had reached full distribution.

From WRAL:

The league spent more than $7.2 million on legal services, according to the filing, a figure that is sure to rise in light of the myriad cases facing the ACC. Florida State filed its case in December 2023 and Clemson in March of this year, costs that are not reflected in this filing. The ACC is also faces a case from the Florida attorney general.

The distributions to the 14 football-playing schools are in a tight band from $46.8 million to North Carolina to $43.2 million to Georgia Tech. Notre Dame, a member in all sports but football, received $22.1 million from the league.

Beginning in the fall of 2024, the league will distribute some revenues — those from revenue-generating postseason competition — based on performance. It was a move made at the behest of football powers Clemson and Florida State, North Carolina and others.

Baseball

Florida State baseball put together a fantastic run in the ACC Tournament, grinding its way from pool play to the championship game, but ultimately fell short in the final to the Duke Blue Devils:

The weakness of the team the entire year has been the bullpen. When Leiter, Arnold, and Whittaker were the weekend starters, the Seminoles went 19-0. When Carson Dorsey threw to his potential, FSU usually won the series. Link Jarrett found trouble when he needed bullpen games, and for the third time this weekend, he needed a pitching tree that looks like the Periodic Table of Elements to devise 27 outs.

On Sunday, no amount of scientific combinations could lead Florida State to their first ACC championship since 2018.

The lights officially turned out on Florida State’s hopes in the sixth. Charles came back out, but Duke loaded the bases for the third time in six innings. With one out and a lefty coming up, Jarrett brought on Hudson Rowan to face one batter as the head coach played matchups. The freshman walked in a run on four uncompetitive pitches. Duke walked six times, and FSU pitchers pegged them twice as the Seminoles allowed eight free passes on the afternoon. The ‘Noles allowed nine free bases to Wake Forest yesterday and never let the game get away, but Sunday became a different story.

Jarrett inserted Ben Barrett for his first game action of the weekend and, in one batter, sealed Florida State’s fate. Duke CF Devin Obee hit a 455-foot HR yesterday and hit another blast today, a grand slam that put the Blue Devils up 14-4. Barrett does not look close to his pre-injury form, putting Jarrett in a real bind without many strong righty relievers. He gave up another home run in the seventh as the Seminoles fell behind 16-4, rendering the game uncompetitive.

The ACC championship has no run rule, so the ‘Noles played out all 27 outs with the outcome decided. Even with the capitulation, FSU should still receive a top-eight seed. The question now is whether this bullpen could hold up and win two games in the regionals and one in the supers when Jamie Arnold does not pitch. Of course, most high-leverage arms were used in the games before, but Florida State played on a regular Friday-Saturday-Sunday schedule. John Abraham emerged as a pitcher who could be moderately trusted, but someone needs to step up next to him. Maybe Cam Leiter will be a back-end force, but who knows what that looks like? The bats had a bad day, and that happens, but the lineup should not be worried about. This team will go as deep as the bullpen carries them.

The performance from the Seminoles, combined with their regular season resume, was enough to earn the honor of hosting a Regional round of NCAA Tournament play:

This is FSU’s 36th time hosting, but just the first time since the 2018 season.

The Florida State Seminoles baseball team finished the season as runners-up in the ACC Tournament with a final record of 42-15 and a conference record of 17-12. The regular season and ACCT final results mark a vast improvement from last season’s 23-31 mark.

The 16 regional sites, with host institutions: Knoxville, TN (Tennessee Volunteers); Lexington, KY (Kentucky Wildcats); Chapel Hill, NC (North Carolina Tar Heels); College Station, TX (Texas A&M Aggies); Clemson, SC (Clemson Tigers); Tallahassee, FL (Florida State Seminoles); Norman, OK (Oklahoma Sooners); Corvallis, OR (Oregon State Beavers); Santa Barbara, CA (UC Santa Barbara Gauchos); Raleigh, NC (NC State Wolfpack); Stillwater, OK (Oklahoma State Cowboys); Charlottesville, VA (Virginia Cavaliers); Athens, GA (Georgia Bulldogs); Fayetteville, AR (Arkansas Razorbacks); Greenville, NC (East Carolina Pirates); Tucson, AZ (Arizona Wildcats).

The entire 64-team field, regional pairings and site assignments will be revealed today at noon — will the Seminoles earn one of eight national seeds and earn the right to host a Super Regional should they advance?

Most projections have the Seminoles doing so:

• 247Sports: No. 7
• Baseball America: No. 8
• D1Baseball: No. 7
• On3: No. 8

Softball

FSU softball’s season came to an end in Super Regional play vs. Oklahoma, showing fight but unable to escape Norman with a win:

All Sports

A fantastic run by Florida State men’s tennis players Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc and Joshua Dous-Karpenschif came to an end in the NCAA Doubles Championship, with the duo finishing as national runners-up — the best finish in school history:

Cornut-Chauvinc and Dous-Karpenschif were in a tight battle to start the first set, with both duos holding serve at 5-5 before FSU closed out the frame at 7-5 with five straight points. The Seminoles won all five of their first sets during the NCAA Doubles Tournament.

Robert Cash and JJ Tracy responded with a 6-0 victory in the second set to create the 10-point tiebreaker to decide the national championship. While Cornut-Chauvinc and Dous-Karpenschif crept back in the tiebreaker after falling behind, Ohio State served out the match to claim the 5-7, 6-0, 1-0 (5) victory.

The Seminole pairing improved on their Round of 32 appearance from last season and went on an unprecedented run in the tournament, advancing to the final match for the first time in program history.

Cornut-Chauvinc and Dous-Karpenschif finished with 30 career victories as a pairing, marking the 12th most between any doubles partners in team history. They earned 10 nationally-ranked wins and represented Florida State on Court 1 the entire season.

Florida State finished the season ranked No. 10 in the final team rankings after claiming the program’s first ACC Championship and advancing to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament.

Florida State women’s basketball added Texas A&M Aggies guard Sydney Bowles from the transfer portal, the program announced on Saturday:

Bowles is an ultra-athletic 6-foot guard from Lithonia, Ga., who excelled with the Aggies as a freshman when she started all 29 games and was selected to the SEC All-Freshman Team.

Bowles will enter the upcoming season as a junior guard with two years of eligibility remaining.

In the 2022-23 season, Bowles proved herself at the collegiate level right away by leading Texas A&M in total points (264), 3-point field goals made (52) and minutes per game (29.4). In the 2023 SEC Tournament, she recorded 22 points against Vanderbilt.

In that SEC Tournament run, Bowles averaged a team-best 15.7 points and shot 48 percent from the floor.

Bowles was recognized as the 2021-22 Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Georgia, ranking as the No. 37 recruit overall in the 2022 signing class.

Her outstanding freshman campaign included 14 games in double-figure scoring.

As a sophomore in 2023-24, Bowles averaged 3.5 points and 2.0 rebounds.

The talented guard joins FSU offseason additions Malea Williams (Graduate forward, Cincinnati), Raiane Dias Dos Santos (Redshirt freshman guard, Gulf Coast State College) and Morelia Chavez (junior forward, Eastern Arizona College).

Florida State men’s basketball has officially signed transfer Bostyn Holt:

Florida State men’s golf is in fourth place heading ino the final round of the NCAA Championships:

FSU is 10-over for the NCAA Championships. In front of FSU on the leaderboard are Illinois (-2), Virginia (+4) and Vanderbilt (+9).

The Seminoles move past the Top 15 cutline and now aim to make the Top 8 following Monday’s final stroke-play round. The Top 8 teams of the 15 remaining teams following Monday’s round will advance to the match-play quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Golf Channel coverage starts on Monday with Golf Today from 4-6 p.m. ET, followed by live coverage from 6-10 p.m. ET.

Sophomore Luke Clanton fired a 2-under 70 on Sunday, igniting a Seminoles squad that started the day tied for sixth on the leaderboard. The Hialeah, Fla., native recorded three of his four birdies on the front nine and had just two bogeys on the day. He capped his round with a late birdie on the par-4, 491-yard 17th hole. Clanton is tied for seventh overall at 1-under.

Senior Frederik Kjettrup has shook off his tough start in the opening round by shooting another under-par round, carding a 1-under 71. He recorded four front-nine birdies on holes 1, 2, 5 and 6.

Senior Brett Roberts also had a key round with an even par 72. After recording a 37 on the front nine, he finished strong on the back end with a 35 and three birdies in his final nine holes.

Graduate Cole Anderson added a 1-over 73 for FSU’s final counting score, while senior Gray Albright shot 7-over.

Albright begins the fourth round for the Seminoles on Monday at 2:40 p.m. ET/11:40 p.m. PT.

No. 19 Florida State women’s outdoor track and field qualified five student-athletes for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday:

Dajaz DeFrand and Alexandra Webster set program records at the NCAA East Preliminaries.

In addition to DeFrand and Webster, Suus Altorf, Tyra Wilson and Shenese Walker will be competing at nationals, which will be held June 5-8 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

DeFrand set a new school and ACC record in the 100-meter, establishing a lifetime best at 10.94. DeFrand erased the standard that was set by Edidiong Odiong at 11.05 in 2022. She added 200 to her event list for Eugene after running another best time at 22.34 for third place. Her performance was the second-fastest in school history.

A sophomore, DeFrand will be racing in her second outdoor national meet after collecting five All-American honors between indoor and outdoor.

As the third seed at 12.77 in the 100 hurdles, Webster finished with silver, establishing a program record of 12.70. She erased the mark set by Cortney Jones in 2019 at 12.72.

Wilson advanced in the 400 hurdles, placing third with a lifetime best and second-fastest time in school history at 55.68.

Agnes McTighe competed in the 5,000 36th with a time of 16:36.03.

Walker competed alongside DeFrand in the 100, placing eighth with a career best of 11.09. Walker qualified for her second outdoor nationals after earning All-American honors in 2023.

Altorf qualified for her first nationals in the 1,500, placing 12th with a lifetime best and fourth-fastest time in FSU history at 4:10.13.

The 4x400 relay team of Kaelyaah Liburd, Wilson, Ava Klein, and Jaden Francis concluded competition for the Noles, placing 17th with a time of 3:33.56.

The Noles will compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championship on June 5-8 in Eugene, Oregon at Hayward Field.

Florida State men’s outdoor track and field also saw athletes secure spots in the NCAA Championships:

Tyson Williams, Kyvon Tatham, and David Mullarkey punched their ticket to nationals, which will take place in Eugene, Oregon from June 5-8 at Hayward Field, while Jeremiah Davis added another event to his list.

Williams qualified for his first nationals in the 110-meter hurdles, placing seventh with a lifetime best and fifth-fastest time in FSU history at 13.53.

Davis, who qualified in the long jump on Wednesday, placed seventh in the triple jump with a mark of 16.15m (53-0). Davis will compete in his third outdoor nationals after collecting nine All-American honors in both indoor and outdoor since 2021.

Tatham followed in 12th with a mark of 15.67m (51-8½), advancing to Eugene for the first time in his career.

Mullarkey concluded competition for the Seminoles in the 5,000, placing fifth with a time of 13:52.62. Mullarkey qualified for his second outdoor nationals after earning All-American honors in 2023 in cross country, as well as second-team accolades in indoor in 2024.

Ismael Kone opened in the 100 (10.22), placing 19th and closed out his evening in the 200, placing 19th at 20.74.

Andre Korbmacher competed alongside Williams, placing 16th with a time of 13.75.

Laquan Ellis placed 32nd in the triple jump with a mark of 15.24m (49-11¼). Jayden Louis-Charles followed in 43rd at 14.90m (48-10¾).