Jim Phillips’ voice was full of pride and joy Wednesday morning when he spoke of the first games of the 2022 ACC football season, when all 14 schools will be in action in a span of 10 days.

“I’m going to try to make every one of those games,” he said.

If he’s successful, his adventure would require traveling from Tallahassee, Fla., to Chapel Hill, N.C., in one evening, followed five days later by a trip to Acrisure Stadium (if his GPS recognizes it) and another nine games over the four-day Labor Day weekend.

Yet, for the ACC commissioner, that’s the easy part of his job. In his second year as one of the chief power brokers of college athletics, Phillips must deal with such issues as:

• keeping academics alive on college campuses.

• creating a level playing field in the face of players’ name, image and likeness opportunities.

• getting lapped by the Big Ten and SEC in terms of revenue generation.

• expansion, yes or no (both within the ACC and the College Football Playoff).

• the ability of the ACC’s Grant of Rights agreement to stand up and keep the conference intact through 2036.

Phillips tackled them all in his 51-minute address/Q&A on the first day of the ACC Football Kickoff Media Days in Charlotte, N.C.

Through it all, he espoused a theme of maintaining an academic standard while college athletics drifts toward what some might call professionalism.

For example, here’s what Robert Morris sports management professor John Clark told the Tribune-Review about the question of paying players:

“There’s enough literature and research out there that indicates that a football player at a Power 5 institution, because of the demands of their sport, even though they have an academic scholarship, it’s not the same experience,” Clark said. “Why pretend?

“They are going to have to pay (players). I’m waiting for some college presidents to jump in and say, ‘This is the way we’re going to go.’ ”

Clark admitted his remarks might create some pushback.

Said Phillips (without knowledge of what Clark said): “We owe it to those kids. This is no time to be waving a white flag (on the collegiate model). For us to ignore the affordability and access and opportunity that it provides to young people, I think that would be a huge mistake.”

Phillips contends that a pay-for-play concept would damage non-revenue sports.

“College athletics has faced criticism by some who forget that we field teams beyond football and men’s basketball,” he said. “Those who clamor for a pay-for-play system alone disregard the collegiate principles of diverse offerings. For decades, we have relied on the financial power of two sports that generate revenue that fund themselves as well as other sports. What happens to those gains from Title IX if those gains cannot be supported?”

Professionalism already has seeped into collegiate athletics in the form of NIL legislation that allows athletes to monetize their reputations.

Phillips believes student-athletes have that right, but he hopes to see guardrails attached to it.

“The lack of a single, enforceable standard for NIL across the schools in all states,” he said, “has created an environment where inducements, inaccurately labeled as NIL, are disrupting recruiting. Fair regulation of recruiting is essential for fair competition.”

ESPN college football analyst Tom Luginbill cited the example of Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison transferring from Pitt to USC, a school recently invited into the revenue-rich Big Ten.

“I’m using Pitt here, but it can apply to 40 or 50 other schools,” Luginbill said. “We’ve added the one-time transfer, now we’ve added a monetary value to it. We’ve created an open-market free agency with no salary cap.

“How is a Pitt or West Virginia or Kansas State, how are they supposed to compete on the open market in the NIL climate?”

Phillips said one answer could be found in Congress. But is that realistic?

“We really, really need some help in Washington. America has got a lot of issues going on right now. I’m not sure that’s a priority for our lawmakers.”

"No."

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— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) July 20, 2022

Meanwhile, Phillips has a situation at home where the ACC lags far behind the Big Ten and SEC in terms of monetary payouts to its members.

The data analysis firm Navigate released its 2022 conference revenue projections in March, with the Big Ten leading all Power 5s with $57.2 million per school, followed by the SEC ($54.3), Big 12 ($40.6), Pac-12 ($34.4) and ACC ($30.9).

“We understand where those two leagues are. No one is ignoring that,” Phillips said. “We’re all trying to find ways to close that gap. We are looking at our TV contract. We are engaged almost daily with our partners at ESPN. They’re motivated. We’re motivated.”

On the matter of expanding the ACC and/or losing members, Phillips wouldn’t rule out adding schools, but he said he’s confident about keeping current membership intact.

“I love our 15 schools (including Notre Dame in most sports), and I’m confident of staying together,” he said. “That’s all I’ve heard in all the calls that we had. We’re all on the same page.”

He cited the ACC’s Grant of Rights agreement that runs through 2036 and carries what Phillips labeled as a “nine-figure financial penalty” for schools that leave.

“I think it holds, but your guess is as good as mine,” he said, noting the 14-year gap is a reality the ACC can’t ignore.

What if Notre Dame decided to end its football independence and look for a conference to join?

“They know we would love to have them,” Phillips said. “But I also respect their independence, having worked there, having two children there going to school right now, one a student-athlete.

“If there comes a time that Notre Dame would consider moving to a conference away from independence, I feel really good about it being the ACC.”

Phillips supports expansion of the College Football Playoff from four schools, “But there is some work to be done.” he said.

“Engagement is ongoing with our schools and my fellow commissioners to chart a path prior to the expiration of the current CFP contract in 2026,” he said. “I’m confident that concerns will be addressed and a new model with greater access will ultimately come to pass.”

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