Clemson files lawsuit against ACC over exit fees

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=” 40 “height=”40 “/ > Pete Thamel, ESPNMar 19, 2024, 12:51 PM ET In a significant relocation that could continue to modify the rapidly moving landscape of college sports, Clemson submitted a lawsuit against the ACC on Tuesday that portends its exit from the league.In a filing in the court of typical pleas in Pickens County, South Carolina, Clemson calls into question both the ACC’s grant of rights and exit charges, calling the withdrawal penalty “unconscionable” and “unenforceable.”

It likewise calls the ACC’s view that the league’s grant of media rights would allow the league to own Clemson’s media rights after it left the league a “nonsensical reading,” “incorrect” and “irregular with the plain language of that arrangement.”

Clemson asks in the suit for a statement that the ACC would not own the rights to Clemson’s games “after Clemson stops to be a member of the ACC.” Clemson likewise desires the ACC exit fee– three times the ACC operating budget, an approximated $140 million– ruled as “an unenforceable penalty in violation of public policy.” (The total expense of the exit with the rights and the charge was cast as $572 million in Florida State’s claim.)

The suit is the 2nd one submitted against the ACC in recent months, as Florida State submitted in late December. The Clemson fit is considerable due to the fact that it shows that the league’s two specific football powers– and just College Football Playoff individuals who play every year– both want to leave the league.The ACC preemptively filed against FSU in Mecklenburg County, and the sides are bargaining over the venue.Editor’s Picks

1 Related In a declaration later on Tuesday, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips and board of directors chair Jim Ryan kept their belief that the courts will maintain the agreement between the conference and its members.

“Clemson, along with all ACC members, voluntarily signed and re-signed the 2013 and 2016 Grant of Rights, which is binding through 2036,” the declaration read. “In addition, Clemson accepted the process and procedures for withdrawal. The Conference’s legal counsel will intensely enforce the contract and bylaws in the very best interests of the ACC’s present and inbound members.”

Tuesday’s claim begins the very same day that the College Football Playoff and ESPN announced a new six-year, $7.8 billion contract that even more amplifies the financial space between the Big Ten and the SEC and the rest of college sports. Yearly, each Big Ten and SEC team will earn more than $21 million under the new agreement, which starts in 2026. ACC groups will make more than $13 million.Clemson makes clear that the existing ACC tv agreement, which lags well behind the upcoming SEC and Big 10 deal, looms as an inhibitor to Clemson contending at the highest level. Clemson participated in six College Football Playoffs and won nationwide titles in 2016 and 2018.”The ACC’s actions interfere with Clemson’s totally free exercise of its rights and are fatally harmful to Clemson’s efforts to guarantee that its athletic programs can continue to complete at the highest level,”the fit claims,” which is critically essential to Clemson even beyond athletics.” The arrival of Clemson’s match came more discreetly than Florida State’s did because of Florida’s sunshine laws and the way FSU’s animated officials forecast their suit and effort to depart as an inevitability. But Clemson has been working simply as diligently about the possibility of discovering a future home because Oklahoma and Texas decided to leave the Big 12 for the SEC in 2021, including numerous trips to ACC head office to see ACC documents.Clemson’s claim might likewise put into focus some kind of settlement for the schools to exit.

That will be up to commissioner Phillips and the league’s presidents, as the choices relating to FSU and Clemson could ultimately specify his tenure.If Clemson and FSU left the ACC for either the SEC or Big Ten, it would mean that the only participant from the CFP in the previous 10 years that isn’t in the Big 10 or SEC is TCU of the Big 12.( Technically, Notre Dame made the CFP as an ACC team throughout the COVID-19 season of 2020, but it is unfaltering in its football self-reliance.)Nowhere in the suit does Clemson state that it’s leaving the ACC, and neither it nor FSU has actually been invited anywhere. That process is tricky, as neither is expected to receive an invite to another league– most likely the SEC or Big 10– till they have actually shed themselves of any legal liability.The interest level of the Big 10 and SEC in those schools is likewise unknown. The SEC’s perceived interest in teams like FSU and Clemson has often been based on geographical defensive tactics, as its interest would most likely run parallel to any interest the Big 10 shows. This Clemson lawsuit comes more than a month after the SEC and Big Ten revealed an official partnership.The focus in the ACC will move beside North Carolina, which is extensively believed to be the most coveted of the ACC’s existing schools since of its brand name, place

and the state’s robust population.(Virginia also looms among the most desired for comparable reasons.)Clemson’s case explains that the school looks for a greater income level, which in theory would be readily available in another conference. It claims that the understanding of the ACC’s grant

of rights– how ACC officials have discussed it and the media has reported it– is incorrect.Clemson parses the language of the ACC agreement with ESPN– much of which is edited in the fit– and says essentially that Clemson’s grant of its rights ought to relate just to when Clemson is in the league.

The conference will be anticipated to press back difficult on this point, as grants of rights have long been the bond of college sports leagues.There has been no recognized legal test of a grant of rights for a college conference till these two lawsuits.The heart of the fit is the regards to exit, which Clemson says is holding back both the athletic department and the school.Along with declaring the ACC’s grant of rights should not consist of Clemson’s game inventory if it left the ACC, Clemson magnifies that argument by saying that the perception of

that concept has held the school back in shopping for a brand-new home.How far behind is the ACC? The SEC created $852.5 million of

profits throughout the 2023 fiscal year and stated it would distribute about$741 million to its 14 schools– approximately about$51.3 million per school after leaving out bowl expenses.The Big 10’s most recent offered data reported$846 million in income for the fiscal year ending in June 2022 (the league files its tax returns in May). After reaching a seven-year media rights agreement with Fox, CBS and NBC in August 2022 that is set to bring in more than $7 billion, the league was predicted to eventually disperse $80 million to$100 million per year to each of its 16 members.The ACC’s typical distribution to its 14 full members increased 9.7%to$ 39.4 million in 2021-22, its latest information. (Those don’t include the new CFP numbers, which were noted above.) The claim predicts an income space of$ 30 million per institution annually, which Clemson sums up in this manner, striking at the heart of the claim:”As the income gap broadens over the coming year, Clemson will fall back its peer institutions. “ESPN’s Mark Schlabach added to this report.