ACC Backs Duke-Amazon Deal Despite Big Ten Concerns

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — The Big Ten and the ACC are taking different tacks when it comes to their schools licensing non-conference games outside of their TV partners.

Duke recently announced that it had sold several neutral-site games to Amazon, including games against UConn, Gonzaga, and defending-champion Michigan. Shortly after the announcement, Yahoo Sports reported that the Big Ten was “miffed” about the agreement regarding the Michigan game, believing that it owned the rights to this matchup, not the ACC.

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips was asked during the conference’s spring meetings on Wednesday whether he was worried about the precedent this sets and whether it would undermine their TV deals. Phillips said he wasn’t concerned, noting that his conference’s primary media partner, ESPN, was involved in the discussions regarding the deal.

“To Duke’s credit, they came up with something creative and they brought it to ESPN and us. And where it finished and where it started, maybe it wasn’t exactly the same spot,” Phillips said. “But at the end of the day, they also negotiated, [and] had to commit to some things that ESPN wanted as our television partner. And a couple of those games, obviously, are out of footprint and that allowed some movement there. I’m happy for Duke. It’s additional dollars into the conference—obviously, it’s going to Duke.”

Phillips continued, “And if there’s other opportunities that are out there, that schools bring forward, we’ll look at it. So I think it’s an innovative way by Duke. …if contractually, based on what we have agreed to with ESPN, this fit, we were going to do it.”

In a follow-up question on Wednesday, Phillips was asked whether the ACC asked the Big Ten about who actually possessed the rights to the game. “No, Duke did this deal with Amazon. Duke can talk to the Big Ten,” he answered. “I have talked to Tony [Petitti, the Big Ten commissioner], but I’m not involved with this.”

After Phillips’s remarks on Wednesday, On3 reported that Michigan did not seek the Big Ten’s approval before the deal was announced and that itis possible it could get replaced by a different opponent in Duke’s deal with Amazon. 

Ultimately, it is not surprising that the Big Ten would be against any of its schools being involved in this package. USC and Notre Dame were in talks to continue their longstanding football rivalry in a neutral-site game to air on Netflix in 2026. The conference—whose rights partners are Fox, NBC, and CBS—put the kibosh on the idea, according to Puck. 

Pun somewhat intended, USC’s attempt to pull an end-around on the conference’s rights agreement would have been a Trojan horse that would have been unlikely to end with them. Such a setup could have prompted other schools, like Michigan and Ohio State, to seek similar deals—as Michigan has apparently attempted in basketball.