Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
Athlon Sports
Florida State, Clemson Not Expected To Notify Conference Of Plans To Depart
By Scout Springgate,
2024-07-22
When ACC commissioner Jim Phillips opens ACC Football Kickoff on Monday in Charlotte, North Carolina, he will not only be celebrating the league's new additions of the California Golden Bears, SMU Mustangs, and Stanford Cardinal but also with the relief that two of the conference's most prominent brands will are expected to stay within the conference.
In recent weeks, Phillips has been entangled in lawsuits filed by the Florida State Seminoles and Clemson Tigers while also receiving public shots from Big 12 commissioner Brett Yorkman, who stated that the Big 12 is open to the possibility of taking in more members.
The root of the lawsuits from Florida State and Clemson revolves around the ACC's Grant of Rights, which the schools believe they should be allowed to leave the ACC without penalty despite agreeing to the Grant of Rights in 2013.
A Grant of Rights agreement gives conferences the right to broadcast all member schools’ home games for the duration of the media rights deal. As for the ACC, the agreement binds the league, schools, and broadcast partners until the rights deal with ESPN expires in 2036.
However, the ACC’s current TV contract with ESPN reportedly contains a unilateral option for the TV network in 2027 that must be exercised by February 2025 to extend the deal to 2036.
Sources close to the conference confirmed that the ACC is not expecting Florida State and Clemson to notify the league that they intend to leave by the Aug. 15 deadline after the upcoming year, as reported by ESPN's Pete Thamel.
With the news, the conference is expected to have all 17 football programs in competition for the upcoming athletic season. For now, the ACC waters appear to be simmering down, but only time will tell if the constantly evolving college sports world causes it to heat up again.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Most Popular
Comments / 0