Clemson joins Florida State in calling out bad ACC deal

Clemson follows Florida State’s lead in wanting wholesale changes to combat the bad ACC deal.

Count the Clemson Tigers in as well as a major ACC player who is not loving the conference’s current media rights deal.

Clemson athletic director Graham Neff echoed Florida State athletic director Michael Alford’s sentiment about how there needs to be wholesale changes to potentially crippling media rights deal for the ACC. Alford said that the current revenue distribution is hurting the Seminoles’ ability to compete nationally. Neff would take it a step forward by saying wholesale changes are a need.

Here is what Neff said to the Post and Courier about where Clemson stands on the major issue.

"“In all candor, I put it as a need. We certainly recognize the investment that we’ve continued to make as an institution, in our community, in athletics, namely in football, which certainly drives a lot of value that is important from a television and revenue-generation standpoint. Is it time revenue distribution within conferences, or at least the ACC, is done differently? Yeah, I’ve been very active in those conversations within the league and continue to expect to take a leadership role in our desire for that to be a changed circumstance. Urgently.”"

Like Florida State, Clemson would be a tremendous get if they were to join an 18-team SEC.

Let’s discuss if there is a way to keep these ACC powers happy and keep the league together.

Clemson echoes Florida State’s sentiment over growing ACC media rights issues

With the SEC adding Oklahoma and Texas, the Big Ten adding USC and UCLA and the Big 12 reloading with BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF, the ACC could get left behind like what seems to be happening to the Pac-12. While the Pac-12 is looking to potentially add schools like San Diego State and SMU, this league is infinitely more likely to dissolve than the ACC. What if they merged?

That may not be a bad idea. A 12-team Pac-12 with San Diego State and SMU added combining with a 14-team ACC to form a 26-team mega conference would not be the worst thing in the world. It would be called something like the APAC (Atlantic-Pacific Athletic Conference). A merger would be able to re-open media rights deals and get the new league some much-needed leverage.

What is hurting the ACC the most is the league is locked in with ESPN through 2036. This was by design a few years back to prevent other schools like Maryland from defecting. As it turns out, long-term security at a certain price point almost certainly ensures this league will get lapped. The Big Ten and SEC can renegotiate two more times before the ACC can even go to market just once.

Where it stands now, all 14 ACC schools evenly distribute revenue in football. This is why Notre Dame refuses to join the league in football. Why would the Fighting Irish ever give up the sweet NBC contract willingly? With all 14 football participants getting slightly more than 7 percent of the pie, it means teams who move the needle like Clemson and Florida State are not being paid fairly.

Overall, the ACC just cannot sit back and let things happen. Frankly, the league is in the worst position of any in the Power Five of getting multiple teams into the expanded College Football Playoff annually. Even the Pac-12 has shown it can be more competitive at the top of its dying league. So either a merger or potentially some sort of expansion is what will save the ACC here.

Ultimately, it takes two to tango. You have to remember that ESPN does not want to pay more than what it is paying currently to be the exclusive provider of ACC football content. It soon will have a monopoly on the more valuable SEC. That is a product worth paying a premium over, just like the Big Ten. Simply put, the ACC must adjust or Clemson and Florida State could be poached.

Keep in mind that Clemson and Florida State would have to pay an absurd buyout to even leave.

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