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“All of you are asking what you should be asking,� he said, “but I would also ask you, don’t let a really good story about the success of the ACC be overshadowed by every-day talk of litigation.�

It’s a fair appeal. Competitively and academically,

But as Phillips acknowledges, billions of dollars and the future of major intercollegiate athletics hinge on

“This is a seismic shift in college athletics,� he said, “and it’s not a matter of if it’s going to happen. It’s happening now. You all have seen it, and it didn’t just start in the last few months. It started over the last several years.

“The reality is, the ACC continues to be at the forefront of this change with other conferences and other leaders and we’re navigating these things together as best we can. I don’t think anybody knows where this thing is ultimately going to end, but certainly I feel great about where the ACC is positioned now and into the future.�

The most pressing legal matter is the proposed settlement of three antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA and the power conferences. Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger on Tuesday , which include $2.8 billion in back name, image and likeness compensation and a future revenue-sharing model that would permit schools to pay athletes, collectively, up to $22 million annually.

Phillips said a majority of the ACC’s 15 presidents must approve the terms for the conference to greenlight the settlement. The presidents are scheduled to meet next week at ACC headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock said he believes university president Tim Sands will vote to approve.

“We haven’t chatted in the last few days,� Babcock said, “but you’re kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. If it goes to trial, that could be more punitive and too much to handle.�

Virginia athletic director Carla Williams said she and university president Jim Ryan have not formulated the Cavaliers’ position.

Among the unknowns: How would the settlement play in Congress, where the NCAA, Phillips and his peers have lobbied for antitrust protection? How will it impact NIL compensation for athletes? What will be the Title IX/gender equity requirements associated with revenue sharing?

“Therein lies the most important question,� Babcock said of Title IX. “Obviously all of us are proponents of Title IX and the opportunities it’s provided. … When there’s revenue sharing, does that also have to be equal, or could it be more market-driven? For example, the reason you typically pay your men’s basketball coach more than your women’s coach is attendance and visibility.�

The ACC’s longer-term legal issues center on the suits Florida State and Clemson have filed against the conference challenging its exit fees and grant of media rights. The Seminoles and Tigers want out, and losing those two football brands would compromise the league immeasurably.

“It’s difficult, it’s disruptive, it’s harmful,� Phillips said, “but that’s the world we live in, and they have the ability do the things that they’re doing, and we’ll let the legal folks handle it because that’s the right thing to do.�

Does Phillips believe those relationships can be salvaged?

“I don’t know where it’s going to go,� he said, “but I continue to remain optimistic and continue to remain optimistic about our league.�

Clemson athletic director Graham Neff did not address the subject, and Florida State athletic director Michael Alford said: “We have great partners in this conference, great relationships. But at the end of the day, we've got to do what's best for Florida State and look at the changing environment of collegiate athletics and make sure we're there to be successful."

The ACC distributes, on average, more than $40 million annually to its members, but the SEC and Big Ten figure to double that figure. ACC presidents have approved a “success initiative� that will reward football performance, starting with the 2024 season.

“Financially, we’re going to implement the most dynamic conference revenue distribution of all the peer conferences with the success initiative,� Phillips said, “and that’s something we’ve been working on for the past 18 months. … We deliver the third-highest gross revenue distribution among all conferences. That’s important. It just is. We’re not standing still.�

But as the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams this season, distribution of its television revenue from ESPN will change from equal shares for the power conferences to 29% each for the Big Ten and SEC, 17% for the ACC and 14.7% for the Big 12.

“When you look at some of the metrics being used in that calculation, that’s where we’ve performed (over the first 10 years of the CFP),� Phillips said. “… So it was about trying to come together, get to the right number. Felt like I’d negotiated hard like every conference did, and we got to a place that at the end of the day.

"Do you love it? You don’t love it. But it certainly was better than where we started and it’s more than we’ve ever had relative to CFP dollars, but again, I understand it causes even a greater gap.�

Amid all the talk of litigation and revenue, Phillips returned often to his core, the intersection of athletics and academics, an intersection that has long defined the ACC.

"I saw something recently that it’s too old-school to put student-athletes first and all that," he said. "I just don’t believe that. I think we’ve lost our compass if we can’t put them at the forefront of what we’re trying to do."