AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — Duke’s innovative arrangement with Amazon to broadcast three marquee nonconference men’s basketball games has attracted the attention of other athletics directors across the league, eager to see if they, too, can carve out a similar arrangement.

But ACC commissioner Jim Phillips isn’t worried about potential deals and what it could do to the league’s lucrative television deal with ESPN, which owns all of the league’s rights. Duke negotiated with ESPN and the ACC for the agreement to play UConn, MIchigan and Gonzaga at neutral sites across the country.

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“If there’s other opportunities that are out there that schools bring forward, we’ll look at it,” Phillips said at the ACC spring meetings. “It’s an innovative way by Duke. … If contractually, based on what we have agreed to with ESPN this fit, we were going to do it.”

ESPN agreed to waive certain restrictions for the Blue Devils, and Duke will participate in additional ESPN-owned and operated men’s basketball neutral site events over the next three years.

Other athletics directors, especially at schools with the ability to drive big viewership numbers, certainly took notice. Florida State athletics director Michael Alford said he still had some questions about the arrangement and was seeking more information.

“How do we look at things differently if given those opportunities or present those opportunities to the league that we have a game that maybe we want to look at moving?” Alford said.

The Duke games are being played outside of the ACC’s footprint. 

Could Clemson, which is set to begin a long-term football series with Notre Dame, move one of its home games in the series to Las Vegas or Los Angeles? The contract allows for any of the games between 2027 and 2038 to be moved to a neutral site if both parties agree, The State newspaper previously reported. Games in off years will be at Clemson, while games in even years will be at Notre Dame.

Few ACC brands are capable of attracting the viewership to make a deal like Duke’s worth it. Clemson and Florida State and, maybe, Miami in football. Along with Duke, North Carolina and, perhaps, Louisville in basketball.

“We were already exploring different options because you want to figure out how you can maximize the value of your program and generate enough revenue to support these rising costs, and so that’s something that’s been on our radar screen,” North Carolina executive associate athletics director Steve Newmark said. 

“Duke and [athletics director] Nina [King] did a nice job putting something together and leveraging what their brand was. We’ll continue to explore different ways that we can do creative things that will help the university, help our basketball program and also give opportunities for our student-athletes.”

As another ACC athletic director put it: King is playing chess. Unlike television revenue that comes from the ESPN deal, Duke will get to keep all of its money from Amazon. 

“I’m happy for Duke,” Phillips said. “It’s additional dollars for the conference. Obviously, it’s going to Duke.”

Phillips said ESPN was in every one of the conversations.

“Where it finished and where it started, maybe wasn’t exactly the same spot, but, at the end of the day, they also had to commit to some things that ESPN wanted as our television partner,” Phillips said. “A couple of those games are out of footprint, and that allowed some movement there.”

Duke and UConn play Nov. 25 in Las Vegas. The Blue Devils will play Michigan on Dec. 21 at Madison Square Garden. The game against Gonzaga is Feb. 20 in Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena. The 2027 Final Four will be held at Detroit’s Ford Field.

The Big Ten has raised an objection about the Michigan game, claiming that it owns the game, Yahoo! Sports reported. Yahoo! reported that ESPN and Fox, which owns the rights to the Big Ten, had agreed to alternate broadcast rights of neutral site games played in “shared territory.” Duke and Michigan played during the 2025-26 season in Washington, D.C., a game that ESPN broadcast.

“Duke liked getting this little deal with Amazon, Duke can talk to the Big Ten,” Phillips said. “I’m not involved in it. That’s one less thing I have to deal with.”