Report: ACC renews talks with FSU, Clemson amid legal disputes

ACC officials are conducting preliminary discussions with Clemson and Florida State that, if successful, could pave the way for the conference and the two schools to possibly resolve their ongoing litigation, according to multiple media reports.

For months now, the ACC has been battling it out with the Tigers and Seminoles in various court cases, as those two institutions eye potential exits from the ACC. The litigation centers on the league’s grant of rights media deal with ESPN that runs through 2036 and significant exit fees that some reports have stated could cost Clemson and Florida State hundreds of millions of dollars if their lawsuits against the ACC aren’t successful.

David Hale and Andrea Adelson of ESPN report that talks among conference officials, Clemson and Florida State have intensified of late. Those discussions are focused “on a proposal that would allot a greater share of revenue to schools based on brand valuation and television ratings, as well as potentially alter the expiration of the league’s grant of rights — which currently runs through 2036 — in exchange for the Tigers and Seminoles dropping their lawsuits against the conference,” according to the ESPN report.

Officials with the Tigers and the Seminoles developed this proposal, which would include additional revenue going to ACC members that have “better ratings success in football and basketball.”

The ESPN article, and other reports, stressed that conversations between the ACC and these two schools are preliminary, and no agreement is imminent. Still, that the parties are conducting such talks does seem to indicate that Clemson and Florida State might be open to staying in the ACC if more attractive financial incentives are available.

How receptive leaders at other ACC institutions would be to this proposal remains to be seen. ACC members beyond the Tigers and the Seminoles could have concerns about such a proposal.

At the same time, Clemson and Florida State remaining in the league could help improve the ACC’s long-term financial viability, and that is something other conference schools would have to weigh as well.

Amid ongoing conference realignment, the SEC and the Big Ten – with their lucrative media rights deals – are significantly separating from the pack, as the ACC, the Big 12 and other leagues try to make up ground.