Florida State vs. ACC grant of rights suit: What you

After months of politicking, Florida State took its first main action toward leaving the ACC on Friday.Spurred into action by a College Football Playoff snub previously this month, FSU voted to take legal action against the ACC over the grant of rights. The school alleged restraint of trade, breach of agreement and failure to perform over what it refers to as years of mismanagement that has locked ACC schools in a ‘degrading’ media rights contract while avoiding schools from entrusting to ‘oppressive’ withdrawal penalties.Translation: Florida State is all set to depart.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated But can it? Here are the most

important questions after Friday’s decision put Florida State into uncharted waters as the very first school to challenge a grant of rights agreement in court.Why is Florida State doing this now?Florida State has actually made it clear that missing the College Football Playoff is not the

only reason this is occurring

. The school has actually not been shy about stating its annoyance with the conference, and it vowed in August that something needed to be done about its future sooner instead of later.Missing the CFP was the final stroke. At that point, the board felt the university merely might not wait any longer to take action. Florida State has been working on its legal argument because the summer. Had Florida State made the playoff, the school would have still challenged the grant of rights at some time in 2024. At its board meeting in August, trustee Justin Roth requested for an exit plan to leave the ACC by August 2024. Just how much would leaving the ACC cost?In the suit, Florida State approximates it would cost$572 million to leave the ACC without a legal triumph or settlement. It would forfeit$ 429 million in

media rights through 2036, when the ACC agreement with ESPN expires; $13 million in unreimbursed broadcast fees; and an exit cost of $130 million(3 times the league’s total operating expense ). What is a grant of rights again? And why is it so important?The grant of rights is a legal document signed by each existing member of the ACC that moves ownership of media rights from the school to the conference. What this implies is that the ACC, not Florida State– or any other

member school– owns the rights to broadcasts of games. Schools signed this in 2013 as a reaction to the departure of Maryland to the Huge 10, under the rationale that the grant of rights acts as an insurance coverage that would avoid anyone from leaving the league during the period of the arrangement, which in this case is through 2036, because a school without television earnings would have little worth to any other conference or enough profits to stand as an independent.In other adjustment scenarios, schools either suffered the grant of rights(the Pac-12’s arrangement ends in summer 2024)or paid a significant buyout to leave early(Texas and Oklahoma paid$50 million each to the Big 12 to leave that arrangement simply one year early). For Florida State– or any other team looking to leave the ACC– the dollars and duration are much more imposing. With 12 seasons staying on the existing offer after this academic year, the Seminoles would need to either wait far longer than they feel is appropriate or pay an almost impossible buyout to get their media rights back. And this remains in addition to the exit fee.Hence, alternative No. 3: Litigate and wish to discover a legal structure for exiting quicker and at a lower cost.What are individuals saying about FSU’s opportunities of winning?The brief response is nobody knows. One high-level administrator who has worked with legal teams to examine different grant of rights agreements stated there are potential legal avenues that could negate the contract, however the reality is no school has ever tried to challenge a modern grant of rights in court, and nobody is quite specific how a judge might translate legal arguments.While the grant of rights and

the league’s television agreement are different documents, there is some overlap, and, as one league administrator kept in mind, with the additions of Cal, Stanford and SMU, the ACC has enough groups to insulate itself versus a dissolution of the TV offer even if FSU departs. In a technical sense, that means FSU might leave without costing any other schools television revenue through 2036. On the other hand, the loss of FSU would definitely cheapen the total item in the minds of TV partners

, and no one would see Florida State for Cal, Stanford and SMU as an even trade.Moreover,”winning, “in this case, is an ambiguous term. Definitely Florida State hopes for a ruling that would completely negate the grant of rights and the exit charge. Its lawyers argue in the filing that both are “unreasonable restraints of sell the State of Florida. “They argue that the GOR and withdrawal charge “run in such a way that prevents Florida State from

completing and making the highest and best use of its media rights, and restrains the trade thereof which straight and adversely affects not just Florida State, however all its student-athletes, coaches, personnel and staff members connected with its athletic programs.”However even a beneficial judgment would invariably be followed by appeals from the ACC or suits from other member schools. Fighting this to the end figures to be exceptionally awful for all parties worried, so the best result might be a negotiated exit charge that would recover some part of FSU’s media evaluation however not require the Seminoles to pay the entire amount.Did any other ACC schools think of signing up with FSU in this suit?The ACC has actually been split into numerous factions considering that Texas and Oklahoma announced their intended move from the Huge 12 to the SEC in summer season 2021. A seven-school contingent made waves in spring 2023, effectively pressing the league towards an agreement on imbalanced profits sharing. Another consisted of a narrower, four-school network of Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina and Miami, viewed as the 4 most valuable commodities need to they all struck the market, although UNC athletics director Bubba Cunningham was maybe FSU’s loudest critic in August when the Seminoles made sounds about leaving, and Virginia appears to have eclipsed Miami over the past year as a practical adjustment prospect. Then there’s the dialogue in between FSU and Clemson, which several sources have actually referred to as”operating in lockstep”for the better part of the past two years as they considered their options.Still, FSU’s choice was made alone.Clemson– and possibly others– could follow Florida State’s lead, but for the time being, those schools are content to let the Seminoles check the unsure waters and take the initial heat for the decision.Ultimately, just a handful of ACC groups are most likely to have greener pastures somewhere else, but finding out simply how bulletproof the grant of rights is would be of interest to all 15 existing members. Florida State would invite other league schools to sign up with and fight the GOR together.What would take place to the ACC if Florida State leaves?It’s difficult to know the answer without understanding the number of other schools may try to follow FSU’s lead, however the league viewed the demise of the Pac-12 this previous summertime with sufficient wariness that 12 school presidents voted to add Stanford, Cal and SMU to the league to help fortify its numbers

to secure its television contract.Aside from Clemson, North Carolina and maybe one or two others, there’s little reward for any other ACC schools to leave in the short term. For one thing, there’s not another landing spot that would

provide television earnings (not to mention a TV network)that would match what the league currently has– with or without FSU. Additionally, schools that stick it out would have the ability to get their cut of the exit charges and media rights buyout from any programs that depart– a quantity that might function as a good golden parachute long term.And, as one ACC athletic director informed ESPN, the future of the top level of college football is so unsure at the moment that it’s totally possible the entire system will get overthrown in the next 3 to five years anyhow, so suffering the coming storm long enough to better job what constitutes a safe harbor might be the best course of action.There is one caveat

to all of this. The lawsuit declares that the ACC’s present deal with ESPN includes a unilateral option for the television network in 2027 that should be exercised by February 2025 to extend the offer to 2036. So, if that were the case, ESPN might ignore the handle 14 months. Although the grant of rights is a different document from the tv contract, the 2 are tied together. If ESPN leaves, does that mean the grant of rights is no longer valid because there is no longer a multimedia rights offer? Or does the grant of rights carry on through

2036 no matter what? That stays unclear.What comes next?Under the Florida guidelines of civil treatment, the ACC has 20 days to file a response, which might be a movement to dismiss. Due to the fact that of the holidays, the league could request an extension of 30 days. There are numerous possible results to look for: a summary judgment motion, in which a judge decides the result of the contract

; mediation in which the ACC and Florida State exercise their differences; a worked out settlement; or a jury trial, which would occur if both sides continue to prosecute with no end in sight. What stays unidentified today is what approach the ACC will take to battle this in court. The league might request a judge to dismiss the case with one simple argument: Florida State voluntarily signed the grant of rights two times: in 2013, and then again in 2016 when the league’s long-term deal with ESPN was announced.Those briefed on the conversations are not expecting this to be solved quickly.What is a timeline for an ultimate resolution here?As one ACC AD informed ESPN, adjustment has ruined the previous 2 summers, and they already informed their staff not to let this most current unrest decipher any vacation strategies. The takeaway: This is simply the start of a very, very long process.The bulk of administrators who spoke to ESPN said they expected it would be at least two to three years before any final resolution, and given the dollar figures at stake and the existential hazard FSU’s departure presents to the league, neither side has much incentive to roll over without a severe fight.Where might Florida State eventually end up?To be clear, Florida State does not have an invite to join another conference right now. Before being publicly offered, the grant of rights must be fixed. However let’s play this out if Florida State ends up being a free agent.The perfect conference may be the Huge 10– where it would give that league its very first grip in Florida, and enable the conference to challenge the SEC by making inroads south. Florida State president

Richard McCullough arrived in 2021 from Harvard and has been striving for admission to the Association of American Universities, which is valued by the Big Ten.

A bulk of the league’s schools are AAU members.Florida State would not be picky, however, and would definitely invite an invite to the SEC, which would needle in-state rival Florida.But there is one wild-card situation out there. If a judge guidelines in favor of Florida State, the school would be forced to withdraw from the ACC and leave the league at the end of that athletic year. If that occurs before the SEC or Big Ten is prepared to expand, the Huge 12 would be the only option remaining.It is very important to keep in mind here that the whole reason the ACC pushed for its schools to sign a grant of rights

is since Florida State flirted with leaving

the league in 2012 for … the Big 12.