No more lawsuits: ACC, Clemson, Florida State make peace

The ongoing legal battle between the ACC and Clemson on one side and the ACC and Florida State on the other has finally come to an official truce.

The conference and its two rebellious members have formally dropped all litigation 17 months after Florida State first sued the league, according to The Athletic.

That case, which was brought in Florida, has been dismissed, as has the case brought by Clemson against the ACC in South Carolina, and the cases brought by the ACC against both schools in North Carolina, where the league is headquartered.

Florida State and Clemson sued the ACC in an effort to challenge the enormous exit fee the conference charges to members who want to leave before 2036, when the league’s current grant of rights agreement expires.

That rule effectively prevented any school from leaving the ACC until that date, as any departing member would sacrifice any media money that would be earned in their new conference.

The two were among the so-called “Magnificent Seven” schools that rebelled against the ACC in a standoff two years ago amid other conference realignments, asking the league for a bigger share of their media revenue pie. North Carolina was a third.

And according to the terms of the settlement, it appears Clemson and Florida State will be able to get much of what they were asking for, without leaving the ACC.

The settlement is expected to include a new revenue-distribution agreement that would keep the ACC’s current membership in place indefinitely.

Part of the deal involves the ACC agreeing to a new revenue model that distributes more of the conference’s income from media deals to top earning schools after it was apparent that Clemson and Florida State were among several schools concerned about the league’s earning power.

That concern moved into focus over the last two years after college football underwent a historic conference realignment that saw the SEC and Big Ten emerge as the sport’s two superpowers, both on the field and when it comes to media revenue.

Going forward, the ACC will fund the plan with a split in the conference’s media revenue, with 40 percent of the money handed out equally among legacy members, and the other 60 percent going to teams with greater media exposure, based on a five-year rolling average of TV ratings.

The ACC’s exit fee will start at $165 million in 2026, but drops to a reported $75 million in 2030-31.

That should end the speculation that Clemson and Florida State would entertain leaving the league and joining another in football and other sports. At least for now.

The timing of the ACC’s new arrangement is noteworthy, as the Big Ten’s media rights deal with various networks will expire in 2030, and the SEC’s pact with ESPN ends in 2034.

That could lay the groundwork for another round of conference realignment in future, but for now, the lawsuits brought by the schools against the ACC proved enough pressure for the league to soften the financial terms for members to leave while securing some short-term security for itself.

(Athletic)

--

Read