Florida State and Clemson are among seven ACC schools examining the conference's grant of rights agreement amid concerns over the league's projected financial standing compared to other Power Five conferences, according to multiple reports. ACC spring meetings take place this week in Florida, marking the first time conference administrators have met collectively since Florida State athletic director Michael Alford, in February, called for changes to the league's equal revenue sharing amid concerns of FSU's ability to hold weight financially with Big Ten and SEC schools in wake of lucrative new media rights deals.
Action Network and Sports Illustrated are reporting Florida State, Clemson, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia and Virginia Tech as the seven schools that have met with legal teams in recent months to examine the league's grant of rights. The ACC's exclusive media rights deal with ESPN runs through 2036, several years after the conclusion of the deals that soon begin for the SEC and Big Ten. The SEC enters a 10-year media rights deal with ESPN worth $3 billion in 2024, while the Big Ten enters a seven-year deal with NBC, CBS and FOX worth more than $7 billion in total value beginning this season.
Alford, speaking to the FSU board of trustees in February, voiced fears of FSU falling $30 million behind SEC and Big Ten schools annually in calling for the ACC to rethink its revenue sharing approach. The athletic directors at Clemson, Miami and North Carolina later echoed Alford's concerns as college athletics continues to be rattled by realignment. A pair of historic rivals will be on the move to new homes in 2024 as Oklahoma and Texas leave the Big 12 for the SEC while USC and UCLA exit the Pac-12 for the Big Ten.
"We have to do something because we're a brand. We're a very important brand, and we drive the media value in this conference," Alford said during the February meeting, streamed on YouTube.
More "frank" discussions surrounding the revenue gap are expected to be held during ACC spring meetings, according to Sports Illustrated. But for any speculation -- and it's merely that at this point -- of movement from ACC schools, there are several hurdles potential defectors would have to clear. The exit fee for ACC schools is a reported $120 million, and when it comes to breaking the grant of rights, Sports Illustrated reports most attorneys describe the agreement as "airtight."
Those roadblocks could be avoided entirely should a situation prevail where the grant of rights is dissolved, but the feasibility of that is not clear. No ACC schools are known to have challenged the grant of rights at this time.
As for Alford and his comments that set off the latest wave of calls for change to the ACC revenue sharing model, it's not only a matter of keeping pace with the SEC and Big Ten for the FSU athletic director. Alford more recently expressed fear that even UCF, which joins the Big 12 Conference in the coming months, could soon have a "better agreement" than FSU after the Big 12 negotiated an extension of its existing media rights deal with Fox Sports and ESPN.
The ACC is not the only Power Five league pressed with questions on the media rights front. While issues for the ACC are centered around the length of its deal, the Pac-12 finds itself still without an agreement beyond the expiration of its deal with Fox Sports and ESPN in 2024, the same year USC and UCLA depart. Sources told CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd earlier this month that ESPN appeared out of the picture as primary media rights holder for a future deal with the conference.
