What is TV pro rata in college football media rights deal? Exploring the latest drama around ACC expansion

The ACC remains the only Power Five conference that has not been affected by conference realignment. Officials are set to meet and discuss the potential addition of the California Bears, Stanford Cardinal and SMU Mustangs.

The Bears and Cardinals are reportedly willing to accept only 30% of their share of the broadcast revenue deal, while the Mustangs are willing to forgo their entire share.

The ACC's media rights deal with ESPN has a pro rata clause that will bring in additional revenue due to expansion, according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports, who explained:

"The ACC’s television contract with ESPN includes a pro-rata clause requiring the network to increase the value of the deal by one Tier 1 share for every new member — believed to be about $24 million a share, or about 70% of a full ACC share, which includes Tier 1-3. After Stanford's and Cal’s shares are removed, as well as travel costs, ACC schools stand to earn more than $30 million in new wealth to be distributed every year."

Dellenger later shared that the, potentially, incoming schools will see their revenue increase over the remaining of the deal, tweeting:

"While Cal & Stanford may start at 30% share & SMU at 0, they will: - see shares eventually escalate over remaining 13 years of GoR (yes, they have to sign) - still receive ACC shares from NCAAT, CFP & incentive pool of revenue from expansion ($5-10M/year)"

While a second vote has not taken place, conference officials previously voted against adding California and Stanford. According to Brett McMurphy of The Action Network, the vote fell one school short of the 75% threshhold required for expansion:

"Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina and NC State are the ACC schools against adding Stanford and Cal, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. 1st report by SI. W/only 11 of 15 schools (including Notre Dame) in favor, ACC expansion is 1 vote shy of required 75 percent (12 of 15) to add new members"

What is the timeline for ACC expansion?

The ACC had a meeting scheduled for Monday, in which they were set to discuss, and possibly vote on, expansion. Unfortunately, a tragic shooting at the University of North Carolina led to the cancellation of the meeting and it has not been rescheduled.

The conference opened their new headquarters on Tuesday and ACC commissioner Jim Phillips is set to appear in Dallas for the College Football Playoff meeting on Wednesday.

While it remains unclear if a vote will take place this week, there should be a resolution to the potential expansion sooner than later.