ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips Considering Changing Conference Championship Game

Phillps shared that the athletic directors have been involved in these conversations.

Jackson Bakich | Jan 21, 2025

Oct 9, 2024; Charlotte, NC, USA; ACC commissioner Jim Phillips during ACC Media Days at The Hilton Charlotte Uptown. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

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Florida State Seminoles

Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner Jim Phillips shared he intends to discuss changing the format of the ACC Championship Game with conference athletic directors.

According to ESPN's Andrea Adelson, this move from Commissioner Phillips could result in the regular season champion having a bye with the second and third-best team playing in the championship game, or perhaps the top four teams playing in a conference semi-final with the winners meeting on championship weekend.

Phillips stated that making the conference championship game important is one of his most important priorities.

"The conference championship games are important, as long as we make them important, right?" Phillips said. "Do you play two versus three? You go through the regular season and whoever wins the regular season, just park them to the side, and then you play the second-place team versus the third-place team in your championship game. So you have a regular-season champion, and then you have a conference tournament or postseason champion."

Phillips continued, sharing that the athletic directors have been involved in these conversations.

"That's one of the options, depending on how you treat the conference champions, or that championship game, you may want to do it different," said Phillips. He also mentioned, "I have alluded to that in some of our every-other-week-AD calls, and these are some of the things moving forward. We want to have a recap of the regular season, postseason, and what do we think moving forward?"

After SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said publicly that he was considering not playing his team in the 2024 ACC Championship Game to preserve their College Football Playoff spot, change could be coming soon.

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Published Jan 21, 2025

JACKSON BAKICH

Born in Orlando but raised in Lake County, Florida, Jackson Bakich is currently a senior at Florida State University. Growing up in the Sunshine State, Bakich co-hosted the political talk radio show "Lake County Roundtable" (WLBE) and was a frequent guest for "Lake County Sports Show" (WQBQ). Currently, he is the Sports Editor of the FSView and host of "Tomahawk Talk" (WVFS), a sports talk radio program covering Florida State athletics in Tallahassee.