IF FSU left tomorrow and accepted an invitation to the B1G…any media money “FSU earns from the B1G” will be property of the ACC through 2036.
This is why SMU joining the ACC was a brilliant move because they had the $8 million that they would have gotten in the inferior AAC already raised. The rest was potential profit IF Blueblods left. So if FSU, Clemson, UNC leave for a P2…SMU will get THEIR share of the P2 Media rights for those schools until 2036.
If those Bluebloods STAY, SMU will play Blue Bloods for 13 years.
It was a win-win for SMU.
Here’s an article on how IRON CLAD the ACC GOR is.
Notice the following excerpt:
In signing the league’s amended grant of rights in 2016, each ACC member school agreed to transfer their media rights “irrevocably and exclusively,” regardless of whether they remain in the conference, until the deal expires in 2036.
That means FSU or any other school looking to jump ship would not receive annual revenue distributions from the ACC or their new conference for more than a decade. For example: If Louisville was to continue receiving $40.4 million a year from the league but elects to head elsewhere in 2026, it would miss out on $404 million.
Adding 3 new member ensured the ACC would survive, in some form, through 2036 making the GOR stick.
The only way the ACC crumbles if some of the Blue Bloods leave and the rest panic and secure a life boat for as lateral move (Big 12) but adding 3 new members reduced the likelihood that would happen.
If they stay together through 2036, they will profit by FSU’s impatience
The form that it will survive in won’t be that of a “power” conference.
It will survive as a non-power conference with no blue bloods, way less TV money, a much smaller football fan base and fan following, and a bunch of football brands that way fewer people care about compared to the P3.
LAW…
There are only TWO Power Conferences NOW…the Big 12 isn’t one either. That’s a universally accepted take…look at the top 20 schools in the recruiting rankings.
The new Playoff agreement still allows for the Conference Champion (of the ACC) to make the Playoff.
As far of the money, they will be paid the current amount through 2036 provided they have the minimum number which adding THREE new members (2 from the PAC and 1 from the AAC) ensured.
“My sense is there is more opposition than interest,” one SEC source said.
Any move on FSU and/or the others would be defensive, mainly to block the Big Ten from gaining a foothold in the region.
The Big Ten might be different. It is aggressively snapping up television draws and doesn’t care whether it makes any geographic, cultural or traditional sense. It begins as an 18-team entity next season with a four-school West Coast wing — USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington.
The importance of the Big Ten Network getting basic cable subscriptions still matters, even as cord cutting has limited those numbers.
Then there is the Big 12, which would gladly snap up just about any and every ACC school it could to build a massive, nation-wide operation.
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has even focused on basketball, which he views as undervalued. A Big 12 with basketball powers that include Arizona, Kansas, Baylor, UNC, Duke, Virginia, Louisville and so on would easily be the best in the country.
My feeling is that this is the first domino. Califord and SMU have not joined the ACC yet, so they don’t have a vote. They do 7/1/2024.
If FSU can get the rest of the magnificent 7 and one other to leave, the conference can dissolve, thereby declaring null and void the GOR as the ACC would no longer exist. It could reconstitute as another entity, but it would not be the ACC as the legal entity it is now.
But for that to happen, the schools are going to need a parachute. they’re not all going to go independent.
As far as how is FSU going to pay for this? They’ve already talked to JP Morgan Chase about financing…
Florida State starting process of leaving ACC “will have an ‘Oppenheimer-like’ ripple effect” thru out college landscape, source told@ActionNetworkHQ. As one of biggest TV brands, FSU could land in Big Ten or SEC, and if those aren’t options, the Big 12, sources said
Quote: In the league’s television agreement with ESPN, there’s a provision stipulating that should the league’s membership fall below 15 teams, the television network have the option to renegotiate of the contract.
Lose four blue bloods (as is wifey anticipated), the number is below the 15.
New TV contact worth way less at that point.
And even less than that of mid-bloods leave at that point.
It’s gonna be a shock to some of these schools when these conferences consolidate more that the grass may not be as greener. OU was a perennial 10 win team in the Big 12. Now in the SEC + the whole NIL thing they are much lower on the totem pole. 7-5 seasons or even 6-6 seasons may be the norm for them. FSU is in a similar boat. Joining the SEC or Big 10 means much tougher competition week to week. Instead of 11-1 in the ACC you might be 8-4 when you have to play UGA, Alabama etc.
