College football is in the midst of a seismic power shift. The balance between the sport’s top conferences is being written, and ACC commissioner Jim Phillips just tipped the scales further. By moving the ACC Championship Game out of its traditional primetime slot, Philips effectively handed more leverage to the SEC and Big Ten, deepening the growing divide in college football’s hierarchy.

Jim Phillips announced that starting this year, the ACC championship game will kick off at 12 PM on ABC.

“We are excited this year’s ACC Football Championship Game will be a noon kickoff on ABC as it places our game in an exceptional television window and allows for our attending fans the opportunity to experience an afternoon game in Bank of America Stadium,” said Phillips “Being the first conference championship to kick off on Championship Saturday allows us to lead the day on a national stage, showcase our student-athletes and programs and deliver a marquee event to fans across the country.”

The championship game has been played at night historically, which makes it a major event on championship weekend. However, there have been rare exceptions in the past. This includes kickoffs at 1 PM in 2006, 2007, and 2008. There was also a 4 PM scheduled start in 2020. So some would think that the move to shift the ACC Championship Game to noon could mean a clear step down in viewership.

However, this change isn’t taking place without something in return. The ACC championship will now slide into the time slot previously held by the Big 12 Conference, which will move its own championship game to Friday night on ABC. More importantly, the ACC will no longer overlap with the Big Ten Championship Game, which is aired in the primetime slot on FOX.

It is a decision that seems to have some reasoning behind it. ACC’s media rights are owned by ESPN, and it struggled to compete with the Big Ten’s ratings power on FOX. So, rather than fighting an uphill battle for viewership, the ACC has chosen to step aside entirely.

With that decision, Jim Phillips is admitting what has become increasingly clear. It’s that the ACC no longer sits at the same table as the SEC and Big Ten when it comes to television ratings strength, or even CFP influence. The only ray of hope was Miami reaching the final and winning the coveted trophy last season, but the Big Ten’s Indiana took that away from them.

The Big Ten Championship has consistently dominated ratings, and competing directly, while brave, only hurts the ACC’s viewership. The only victory in this sense came during Week 9 last season, when the ACC averaged 2.8 million viewers, above the Big Ten’s 1.9 million. But that victory was short-lived and cannot be used as a factor when comparing total viewership. So moving the game to noon guarantees a separate window of exposure, even if it comes at the cost of prestige for Phillips and the ACC.

By giving up the primetime slot, the ACC is effectively admitting it cannot compete head-to-head with the Big Ten and SEC. And it comes during a time when Phillips and Big Ten’s Tony Petitti, and SEC’s Greg Sankey are at odds over the possible new CFP structure.

Jim Phillips, Tony Pettiti, and Greg Sankey on the expanded CFP bracket

There has been growing discussion around what the College Football Playoff bracket could look like in the future. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, and Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti have all given their thoughts regarding the expansion of the CFP bracket.

For Phillips, the focus is on access and revenue. He openly acknowledged that a move to a 16-team playoff is possible. But he followed it with the fact that doing so could further limit opportunities for smaller conferences. From his viewpoint, expansion without fair access only widens the gap between power conferences and the rest of college football.

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Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, however, has a different outlook. He sees this expansion as unavoidable and supports a 16-team playoff bracket system. With a lot of support, this move could come to pass. Under an agreement signed by all 10 FBS conference commissioners, along with Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, the Big Ten and SEC will control the playoff format starting in 2026. So the Big Ten and the SEC are the major players, and if these two agree, the move could be given the green light.

However, there is a catch. Petitti is reportedly willing to agree to a 16-team playoff only if Sankey commits to expanding to a 24-team format three years later. Sankey, however, prefers staying at 16 teams. That disagreement has created a clear deadlock. Because ESPN holds the exclusive television rights, failure to reach an agreement would mean the playoff remains at 12 teams for at least one more season.