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What Clemson's Lawsuit Means For The Future Of The ACC · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning for Sunday, March twenty fourth. I'm your
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  host, Tom Moore. The Akron game in one hundred and sixty one days,
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  the game against Michigan in two hundred and fifty one days. There is
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  a lot that's going to be changing about college football this season. The College
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  Football Playoff going from four teams to twelve teams. That's just one example.
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  New teams in the SEC, new teams in the ACC, new teams in
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  the Big Ten, new teams in the Big twelve, no more Pac twelve,
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  among many other things. One of the things that is potentially on the
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  horizon in terms of change is the future of the ACC and some of the
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  big brand teams in the ACC. More news came out this week with Clemson
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  filing a lawsuit against the ACC. Garrett Seawright hosts The Daily Huddle podcast and
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  our sister site, Saturday Glory. He had some very interesting thoughts on Clemson's
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  lawsuit against the ACC what it might mean for the future of that league.
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  So here's a little bit from Garrett sea Right of The Daily Huddle podcast.
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  If you like this, I always enjoy Garrett's podcast. If you like this,
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  too. Make sure you subscribed to the Daily Huddle podcast wherever you get
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  buck Eyes tomorrow morning. So Clemson is joining Florida State insuing the ACC in
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  trying to get out of the grant of rights that expires in twenty thirty six.
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  And it's a really intriguing lawsuit because for the most part, everybody has
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  kind of argued, whether it's the ACC, whether it's the schools, whether
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  it's independent people who have lawyers, whatever the case may be, they've looked
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  at the contract that everybody's signed to stay in the ACC and has said this
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  is pretty air tight. I don't know, I don't think there's a way
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  out of this. And now two different schools have tried to say, well,
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  wait a second, yes, yes, there is a way out of
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  here, and here's what it is. Now. Florida State has argued,
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  essentially that throughout their lawsuit is that our contract with the ESPN really only goes
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  through twenty twenty eight, So why are we locked in through twenty thirty six?
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  And that's not a bad argument to make, but I think the consensus
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  will say, like, while that's an argument that you can say, hey,
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  this kind of sucks, it is an argument against I guess the argument
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  doesn't make a whole lot of sense that like, does this portion of your
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  contract suck? Yes, but you agreed to it. You sign the document
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  that says, hey, while the contract goes through twenty twenty eight, you're
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  locked in through twenty thirty six. Is it a bad provision of the contract?
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  Sure, but you signed it. Sorry. Clemson's argument is not,
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  uh, I don't know what the right word is. Essentially, their argument
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  is is the the exit fee is really high and that's bull crap, which
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  again is one of those like hey, uh, that that sucks, but
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  you did agree to that. You did say, Like, it's the same
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  thing is sort of like, you know, if when I'm when a like
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  NFL player holds out for a bigger contract in training camp, then like like
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  if you're already under contract and you're like, yeah, but I deserve to
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  be paid more than that, Sure you do, but this besky thing you
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  assigned that legally requires me to only pay you this much. Yet you agreed
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  to that too. And that's sort of what Clemson and Florida State are in
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  right now. Now. This Clemson is making an argument that Florida State is
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  not and I find that interesting because you would think that both of those schools
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  would be like, hey, let's see if we can't get on the same
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  page here a little bit and make the same argument. Because if two universities
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  are making the same argument in the conference one, it puts a little bit
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  of pressure on the conference to say, hey, maybe there is a growing
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  descent inside the conference. But then also it kind of packs a little bit
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  more power to your punch if you can say, hey, we both are
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  in agreement that this is what the contract reads to us, and that's why
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  we're suing. Rather than Florida State says one thing. Clemson comes back and
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  says, well, actually, what we're saying is is a whole different thing.
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  Clemson's argument, Florida State's argument is the contract runs through twenty twenty eight,
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  so why are we locked in through twenty thirty six. Clemson is saying
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  the contract only runs for while we're in the ACC, that our grant of
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  rights, basically our TV money is only given to the ACC as as long
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  as we're in the ACC, and once we leave, that money goes back
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  to me. And I have whatever situation I want to put together, whatever
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  conference I want to join that's up to me at that point. That's the
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  argument Clemson's making, which is a really interesting one because if that one is
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  found true, that one opens the floodgates. And it's something I know that
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  we've talked about before, somewhat at length of if slash. When this all
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  comes down and strikes down and things get right and perfect and hip hip,
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  hooray for the ACC members that want out, the conference is toast because everybody,
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  it's like when you flip the lights on the cockroach, it start scrambling,
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  and there are schools in that conference that are going to be looking for
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  a home that don't include being in the Big ten or SEC, because the
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  ACC is going to be in a world of hurt if if, if a
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  judge rules that Clemson, the argument they're making is I only have to give
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  the ACC my TV money as long as I'm in the ACC, and once
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  I leave, I get to do whatever I dam well please. About fifteen
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  minutes after that verdict is reached, Clemson is gonna say, hey, by
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  the way, we are moving to the SEC, and other schools are gonna
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  start jumping ship as well. Give it. About twenty five minutes after that,
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  verdict comes down because everybody in the ACC they're not dumb. They see
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  the riding on the wall. They know that, Hey, when you look
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  at the money that the Big ten and SEC are gonna get from their TV
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  deals compared to what we're gonna get from our TV deal, we're gonna get
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  left behind. And we can't afford to get left behind. Therefore, we're
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  gonna have to figure something out here. And it's I would think that it's
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  highly unlikely, highly unlikely that ESPN comes back to the bargaining table and tells
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  the ACC like, Hey, you know what, you guys were right,
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  I'm willing to give you more money after you know you've spent millions in legal
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  fees and you've discussed all of this and had to figure out legal strategies and
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  then shared kind of the fact that you hate the home that you've built.
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  Unwilling to come back and give you a little bit extra money so you'll stay
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  with me. I just don't I don't imagine that on the horizon. I
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  imagine a scenario where, and I've said this before in the last week,
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  I don't know that some triumvirant of Florida State, Stanford Notre Dame, probably
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  Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Virginia somewhere in there all joined the Big Ten
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  where Clemson, Miami, you could probably argue Virginia Tech join the SEC whatever
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  the case may be. But there are going to be some wake forests and
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  potentially Dukes, Boston colleges, North Carolina states that might be left kind of
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  on the on the outskirts looking in going like, ah, that did not
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  go well for us. So I just I think the idea that Clemson now
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  is joining the fray of like we are going to launch a lawsuit against our
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  conference, and make no mistake about it, They're not launching a lawsuit to
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  try to like get The argument had been that Clemson and Florida State in Miami
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  were kind of in North Carolina to a lesser extent. We're kind of leading
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  this charge inside the conference of hey, you know, we we feel like
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  we should get the lion's share of the TV revenue because we're bringing eyeballs,
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  we're bringing success. I don't like that we're splitting the college football playoff revenue
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  between evenly between the schools, et cetera. And you play that card is
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  kind of a precursor to way, if it's the same thing that the SEC
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  and Pig ten do in the college football playoff. If you don't do what
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  we want you to do, if you don't think the same way we do,
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  if you don't want to operate business wise the way we want you to
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  operate business wise, we'll take our ball and go home, because our ball
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  is much much bigger, nicer, extravagant ball than what you have. And
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  so in that situation, I think you'll see a situation where if Clemson's legal
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  strategy is proven valid and correct, that they're bolting, and I think you'll
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  see, like Louisville go to the Big twelve. Maybe I don't know,
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  we'll see how that all shakes out. But there is a definitely like a
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  line of demarcation in the acc of like who's going to stay in the Power
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  five, Power four at that point probably power three, and who's not.
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  And I said earlier this week, I imagine that those deals are somewhat probably
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  already worked out, that these schools like that. There's a reason that Clemson
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  is so vehemently now trying to change. It's the course of its trajectory.
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  In the same vein that Florida State is the reason that they're trying to do
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  that is because they know they can see what is on the horizon and figure
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  out, Okay, how do I get there? Because they're not suing their
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  conference to stay in their conference. Florida State and Clemson are not suing the
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  ACC because they love the current situation. But there's just some few minor tweaks,
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  right, like it's not the you know, it's not the like America
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  love it or leave it. Like they're saying, like, while it's nice
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  here, it certainly could be better, and maybe it might be better over
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  there, grass might be greater, and so they're going to try to figure
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  out how to get there. So these are all just elaborate ploys that are
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  going to cost millions and millions of dollars for those two schools to try to
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  bust down the gate for those who want out of the ACC. And I
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  wouldn't be surprised if you'll see a coalition, so to speak, of Florida
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  State, Clemson, Miami, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia
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  Tech to try to push through that and leave Pitt and Syracuse and Boston College
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  and Wake Forest in North Carolina state and Louisville behind. I think it's just
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  a matter of when, not if that goes down, because at some point
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  it's gonna become too much of a burden to handle. And when you've got
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  kind of the gasoline already pre poured for the fire, you're just waiting on
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  somebody to lie to match. And whether that's a judge, whether that is
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  a college president, whether that's a TV executive, whoever it is, Eventually
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  somebody is gonna like that match and it's gonna go up with flames and we'll
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  talk about it then too. That'll do it for today's episode of The Daily
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  Huddle. Appreciate you making us a part of your day, however it is,
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  you tomorrow here on the Daily Huddle with Saturday Glory.