If ACC officials can convince the NCAA to allow them a conference football championship in 2004-05 despite having only 11 schools, the financial outlook for the ACC and its new members, Miami and Virginia Tech, will be brighter.

Current rules provide that a conference needs 12 schools to play a football championship. But a source close to the ACC has said the conference is expected to make the request to lower that requirement and, if accepted, it could help the conference make up roughly half the amount -- $10 million -- it needs to ensure that an 11-way split is as profitable as the old nine-way revenue-sharing program.

This past season, ACC schools earned an average of $9.7 million per member. At least another $19 million would be needed to make sure that dividing the pot 11 ways is as lucrative.

Some of the rest of the money could be made up in a renegotiation of the ACC's football television deal, which expires at the end of the 2005 season. The ACC's current contract provides the parameters for a mid-deal renegotiation, and while another $10 million per year for the addition of Miami and Virginia Tech might be asking too much, a renegotiation of the conference's basketball contract could add to the pot, as well.

The bigger financial gain for the ACC could be made in the form of a playoff, if the Division I-A school presidents decide that is the way to go when the BCS expires after the 2005 season.

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at Darren.rovell@espn3.com