They're falling financially behind with no obvious way to make more money and have assets desirable to both the ACC and B1G while the Big XII and PAC 12 are in the process of getting married ?
Do the higher payouts in the SEC and Big10 make a major difference? Of course they do to some degree, but I think their importance may be overestimated. If they are so helpful, why is Vandy so bad? Did the pay increase help Maryland football? Why were we able to toy with Rutgers in the Gator Bowl? Clemson owns the SEC school in their state, despite South Carolina getting the SEC money. Why can't the Big10 win NCAA championships in football and men's basketball?
The schools can't pay for NIL deals (at least not yet), so it doesn't help in that regard. The money helps build facilities and pay coaches, but that only goes so far in college sports when there are hundreds of teams. I imagine a lot of the extra money will go towards more athletics administrators, which I'm not sure helps much at all. If ACC schools are getting $40 million and the SEC schools are getting $55 million, does that mean the ACC schools won't be able to compete nationally? I don't think so. I guess over decades the money may make a difference, but we sure have not seen that over the past two decades from the Big10.