Clemson and Florida State, in the process of suing the ACC to get out of the media-rights contracts that they signed, aren’t going to get out of the media-rights contracts that they signed.
Yeah, I know, news flash.
But in the process of fighting legal battles in three state courts, costing everybody gobs of money, because lawyers, they are succeeding in one thing: pissing the rest of the ACC the eff off.
“The fact is that every member of this conference willingly signed the grant of rights and unanimously, and quite frankly, eagerly agreed to our current television contract and the launch of the ACC Network. The ACC, our collective membership and conference office, deserves better,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said on Monday in his address to reporters at the 2024 ACC Football Kickoff.
The lawsuits filed by Clemson and Florida State, in state courts in South Carolina and Florida, and the countersuits filed by the ACC in North Carolina, are inching forward toward a resolution that will reaffirm that the member schools all signed the current media deal willingly, and that if any want to leave, they will have to pay the hefty price that they all agreed on nearly a decade ago.
ICYMI
All involved already know this, and that the suits being pressed by Clemson and Florida State are intended not to obtain a legal victory, but rather, to try to gain leverage – by torquing the rest of the membership to the point that they agree to negotiate down the exit fees and losses from the grant of media rights just so everybody can move on.
The current price tag for leaving would come in the range of $500 to $600 million, an obvious deterrence to just up and bolting – which was the design when the last conference media deal was being put together.
The longer the legal part of this plays out, per the thinking within the brain trusts at Clemson and Florida State, the more likely their fellow league members will just say, enough with it, and get the exit costs down from where they are now, near half a billion dollars, to, perhaps, the $100 million range, or less.
But it’s way, way, way too early for things to be anywhere near there yet.
I’m thinking it’s going to take a few years to get to that stage.
In the meantime, we have the current uncomfortable stasis.
“With multiple ongoing legal cases, there are limits to what I can say, but I can state that we will fight to protect the ACC and our members for as long as it takes. We are confident in this league and that it will remain a premier conference in college athletics for the long-term future. These disputes continue to be extremely damaging, disruptive, and incredibly harmful to the league, as well as overshadowing our student-athletes and the incredible successes taking place on the field and within the conference,” Phillips said in his prepared remarks.
And then later, in response to a question from a reporter, he added:
“We’ve had six months of disruption. I think we’ve handled it incredibly well. I think it’s important for me to lead our group in particular, not only our staff but more importantly our schools, to compartmentalize the legal piece of what’s happening and not let it distract us or take us away from what we’re all trying to do. That is to provide great experiences for our student-athletes, teams, coaches, put the focus back on the fields and areas of competition. But I will tell you there isn’t a day that doesn’t go by that I don’t spend some time on the legal cases. I don’t think that’s going to change.”
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Chris Graham
