Chapel Fowler of the State.com has released details of the settlement that the ACC reached with Clemson and, by extension, Florida State.
Updated story here on the Clemson-ACC settlement, including some thoughts from @mckenzielaw, who says this agreement essentially does away with the ACC grant of rights and “converts ACC membership from a binding obligation to an annual economic decision” https://t.co/C4RNGFTjMb
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) July 3, 2025
As I read Fowler’s piece, I’m left with the same conclusion as I had in March. Why would the ACC and its other member schools agree to this? Someone has to sit ACC commissioner Jim Phillips or one of non FSU/Clemson presidents or ADs and just ask.
Could this be the reason why… From the State article, this piece caught my attention.
Clemson and the ACC both agreed to not participate in any future litigation regarding the “validity, enforceability or interpretation” of their settlement agreement, the ACC grant of rights or any of the changes they agreed to as part of the settlement.
to go along with the year-by-year exit fee breakdown.
2025-26: $165 million
2026-27: $147 million
2027-28: $129 million
2028-29: $111 million 2029-30: $93 million
after 2030-2036 $75 million
Now those numbers north $100 million are still a hefty chunk of change. Why the ACC didn’t push for higher numbers is still a question, but that’s still a lot of money.
According to the language above, this is the settlement and Clemosn, FSU, can’t make additional settlement changes, which would include, in my interpretation, lowering these values. That said, what would stop them, as the ACC caved once before, but on the surface, that looks that way.
Considering some of the new details, I think reason number 5 from my past article is what the ACC is pinning its hopes on.
5. They said just get 5 years and hope for the best.
The landscape of college athletics could look completely different in 5 years, and maybe the conference is banking on that. It seems like a stretch to bank your future on that, but…
I don’t expect FSU, Clemson, or any other ACC team to leave the league in 2027 as some suspect. Remember, you still have to have actual invites from the P2, which I don’t think are coming that soon. These things tend to come in waves with a handful of years of relative stability, and we just went through major changes a couple of years back. Also, as we’ve documented in 2023, the ACC should get a revenue bump around that time. Remember as well, most of the recent additions, Oregon, Washington, Stanford, SMU, and Cal, all are receiving partial shares from their new leagues. There are simply too many open questions to think that major movement actually happens until the end of the decade, and then what will the landscape look like?
Everything is pointing to the end of the decade, and I still think that is the case even with the new details. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen. I am just speculating it won’t.
I still just don’t understand the ACC’s logic here, and the above about just getting to 2030 is all I can think of. During that time, the ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips must continue to work at raising revenue. That should never stop.
If that’s the goal, then mission likely accomplished, I suppose.
