But as the ACC’s annual media days commenced this week, there was little resemblance to business as usual amid unprecedented turmoil.
Commissioner Jim Phillips instead faced questions about court rulings and perceptions of fraying relationships in the wake of lawsuits brought against the conference by football anchors Florida State and Clemson over media rights agreements as those schools explore potential exit strategies.
“This is a really important time for the conference,” Phillips said Monday afternoon during the commissioner’s forum, striking a defiant tone. “Either you believe in what has been signed, or you don’t. We are going to do everything we can to protect and to fight for the league because I see a group of student-athletes there. …
“This league deserves us to take this really serious issue and to handle it appropriately. What gives me promise and conviction about it? Because I understand — I think these schools, I think I understand where we’re going. We’ve made some really good adjustments. This conference is bigger than any one school or schools.”
Florida State was the first to file suit against the ACC in December, and Clemson followed in March. The universities are contesting the enforceability of the grant-of-rights agreement that binds the revenue produced by each of the member programs’ home athletic events to the ACC through 2036, irrespective of whether a school elects to leave the conference before then.
Both schools signed the grant of rights in 2013 and again in 2016, said Phillips, who added in his remarks Monday that they enthusiastically agreed to the ACC’s current television contract with ESPN and the launch of ACC Network in August 2019.
But the ACC’s television contract falls short of deals the Big Ten and SEC negotiated more recently. The Big Ten signed a seven-year contract worth $8 billion for games airing on Fox, CBS and NBC, effective last season. The SEC begins a 10-year, $3 billion contract with ESPN this year.
The ACC countersued Florida State and Clemson, escalating the acrimony. Last month, a Leon County, Fla., circuit judge denied the ACC’s motion to dismiss the case filed by Florida State, meaning it will continue through the legal system.
This month, a North Carolina business court judge denied Clemson’s motion to stay and dismiss the ACC’s countersuit filed in Mecklenburg Country, where the ACC has its headquarters. Clemson has appealed that ruling to the North Carolina Supreme Court.
But a subsequent decision in South Carolina favored Clemson after a judge ruled the school’s suit against the ACC filed in Pickens County, S.C., can continue. ACC attorneys had argued the conference does not have jurisdiction in South Carolina, with the contracts for grant of rights having been amended in North Carolina.
So both schools’ lawsuits remain active as another football season approaches.
“We owe these young men and women at those two schools the very best experience possible,” Phillips said. “This thing doesn’t have to be evil. This thing doesn’t have to be about hatred, all the other things that I think we all see kind of free flowing in our society. It’s important, and we’ve taken our stance. We’ll stay on that stance, but we’ll do it in a very respectful way.”
Florida State has been linked to the SEC, which expanded to 16 teams this season by adding Texas and Oklahoma.
Last season, the Seminoles finished 13-1 and narrowly missed out on a berth in the College Football Playoff following an injury to starting quarterback Jordan Travis late in the season that influenced the selection committee’s decision not to include them.
Clemson, meanwhile, is the only ACC program to win a national championship during the College Football Playoff era, doing so in the 2016 and 2018 seasons. The Tigers went 9-4 last season for their fewest victories since 2010, their second full season under Coach Dabo Swinney.
The legal wrangling between the ACC and two of its highest-profile schools has overshadowed the arrival of three new programs to the conference. SMU, California and Stanford are set to compete in the ACC this season, expanding the conference to 17 football-playing schools and 18 in other sports.
“Life is full of distractions,” Florida State Coach Mike Norvell said Monday when asked about the awkward circumstances surrounding this season. “At the end of the day, you stay focused on the things that are in front of you and ultimately the things that you can control. I’m fortunate to have the responsibility to be able to lead this team, and that’s where our focus is going to be.”
