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Peace, it would appear, was never truly an option for Clemson and the ACC as the powerhouse football program and power four conference continue to head toward a divorce.
Clemson is in the process of suing the conference for financial damages over its grant of rights.
Matt Baker of the Tampa Bay Times reports that the two sides attempted to come to an agreement out of court last August, but those talks went about as poorly as you could imagine.
Baker reports that ACC attorney Jim Cooney “proposed a standstill agreement where ‘neither Party shall initiate any claim, demand, or file a complaint with any court, judicial body, or other similar entity, or otherwise engage in or initiate any legal proceedings against the other before August 1, 2024.”
Clemson And Florida State Lead The Charge To Leave The ACC
As we already determined, that did not happen.
Instead, Clemson sued the conference in a South Carolina court of law in March hoping that a judge would rule the Grant of Rights is unenforceable.
That would allow Clemson to leave the conference (likely for the SEC or Big Ten) without facing significant financial punishment.
Clemson followed in the footsteps of Florida State, which also sought to leave the conference. The ACC then filed a countersuit against the Seminoles, though Clemson was one two schools in the conference that voted against that action, with North Carolina being the other.
“FSU and Clemson are pursuing similar but separate claims against the ACC,” Baker writes. “Both are seeking clarity on how much it would cost to leave the league; the exit fee alone is about $140 million each, and the value of future TV money puts the total cost at more than half a billion apiece.”
Ultimately, the ACC appears headed the way of the PAC-12 (RIP). It’s just a matter of “when,” not “if.”