The Florida State Board of Trustees didn’t vote to exit the ACC at a meeting in Tallahassee Wednesday, but President Rick McCullough and the trustees made their intentions clear.
There have been rumblings surrounding ACC schools considering trying to escape the ACC’s grant of rights agreement in the hopes of landing in either the SEC or Big Ten (and more money), but Florida State’s words are stronger than ever.
“I think FSU at some point will consider leaving the ACC unless there is a radical change in ACC revenue distribution,” McCollough said.
A couple of Florida State trustees took it even further.
“A solution under the current TV deal very unlikely. Leads us to what’s next? The alternative for us staying in this conference for the next 13 years is death by a 1,000 papercuts. Waiting is not the answer,” trustee Justin Roth said. Action Network’s Brett McMurphy reported that Roth also said Florida State needs an exit plan in the next 12 months.
“It’s not a matter of if we leave, but how and when we leave,” trustee Drew Weatherford said.
Well, it will be very, very hard to exit the ACC any time soon.
The current ESPN TV deals runs through the 2036 season, and ESPN has a very tight hold on revenue even in the event of an exit. It would take a costly legal battle to get out of the ACC at this point.
Due to the ACC’s current TV deal with ESPN, the league is ultimately in a bind of its own. With 13 years remaining on the deal, it will be tough for any program to exit the conference because of complicated grant of rights — any TV deal revenue belongs to ESPN through the duration of the deal, regardless of an exit — and exit fees in place. In the event a program exits the ACC, a buyout fee (which is upwards of $120 million) will need to be met, and the grant of rights will take away all TV deal revenue during the duration of the deal — 13 years currently. ESPN owns the TV rights, so it would be very, very hard to get out of that.
The exit fee and grant of rights equate to hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention ESPN’s chokehold over any potential broadcasting rights and the court battle that would ensue to escape such a situation.
It would likely be easier to potentially expand the ACC, and according to Jim Williams, there’s a movement in the ACC to see if ESPN would be willing to add from the Pac-12, which appears to be on the precipice of collapse.
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips has been against the idea of ACC expansion in the past, but that tune has changed in recent weeks. In an interview with ESPN’s David Hale, Phillips was not against the idea of adding to the conference.
“The ACC has been and remains highly engaged in looking at anything that makes us a better and stronger conference,” Phillips told ESPN. “We’ve spent considerable time on expansion to see if there is anything that fits. We have a tremendous group of institutions but if there was something that made us better, we would absolutely be open to it.”
It remains to be seen what happens to the ACC when it comes to expansion or exits, but it would be nearly impossible for a member school to force its way out at this point.
This this realignment stuff is getting way out of hand.But NIL is the reason why and the only reason why these players are being bought and there’s no control.
This revenue situation can be resolved if all parties involved get creative . These stupid threats solve NOTHING and undermine unity. There is ALWAYS a way to a fair contract. Find it.
It’s time to demand that Notre Dame poop or get off the toilet with football.
So True. They are nothing special anymore. Time for them to commit to all sports and not just cherry pick.
You’re holding aces and eights, ND have a royal flush. Already playing ACC opponents which enriches the Virginia’s and Louisville’s.
Their TV contract is too lucrative to walk away from.
FSU is looking at forfeiting 3-years of revenues. Not going to happen.
Either the SEC or the Big Ten will make a play for the entire conference.
Let FSU go after they pay their exit fees. They have not won anything on football in 10 seasons. Now they want to get paid what the PROFILE of their athletic program, as opposed to their on-field success? What a bunch is whiny bitches. Let them go form their cartel. Take your ball and go home FSU. College football is destroying themselves with pure greed. There will be a group of 28 teams that will keep all the money and TV rights. All other programs will be cast away. It’s all run like a cartel. It’s not enough to have… Read more »
With little disruption to the other 4 conferences, the PAC-12 could be distributed among the other four conferences, and kicking out a couple of the lowest performers and there would be 4 16-school conferences. ACC could take Cal and Stanford. SEC holds pat or dumps Vanderbilt. If the Big 10 takes any, they have to drop some losers. Big 12 takes what’s left. Oregon St. and Wash St. join the Mountain West.