Amid Clemson ACC departure theories, multiple ACC teams to push for breaking $100M+ GoR: Reports
The Clemson Tigers may have just figured out a way for a lot of the top programs to leave the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for other conferences.
It's being reported that Clemson has figured out a way to get out of the ACC Grant of Rights deal that was thought to be airtight by many lawyers looking into it. However, that does not mean they are the only team that may be looking to call a different conference home in the near future.
College football insider Greg Swaim is reporting that the Florida State Seminoles, North Carolina Tar Heels, Clemson Tigers and Virginia Cavaliers could become a quartet of universities that will be a package deal to leave for a new conference as one unit.
It would be a massive blow if the four teams were to leave as a group, which would drop the conference to 14 teams in 2024 due to the addition of the SMU Mustangs, California Golden Bears and Stanford Cardinal next season.
That number is significant, as if the ACC drops below 15 teams, ESPN (the media rights provider) can issue their renegotiation clause in the contract. That would drastically decrease the money coming in for each program as losing the top four programs would be a huge blow for the future of the ACC.
What can the ACC do to prevent teams from leaving the conference?
The ACC is being viewed as the weakest of the remaining Power Five conferences when the Pac-12 officially disbands in July 2024.
They're receiving a fraction of the media rights revenue than the other Power Five conferences at $39.4 million per program, and that's just not cutting it for the elite programs in the conference.
Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner Jim Phillips is going to need to get creative to find other sources of revenue for the programs in the league to keep them happy and satisfy the difference in money.
What he should do is view what the Big 12 Conference is doing, as they were at one point begging to merge with the Pac-12 for relevancy and now look like an incredible and thriving conference.
Expanding into new areas and creating international fanfare for the teams is one way to go. Even diving into new sponsorships with outside companies to get more money flowing.
Teams making the College Football Playoff and the NCAA Tournaments both add too, but that is based on program success and nothing the Atlantic Coast Conference can do.
They need to figure things out quickly otherwise Jim Phillips will suffer the same fate as Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff.