What’s Next for Florida State, Clemson, and the ACC? The Status of 4 Lawsuits in 3 States
TALLAHASSEE, FL – OCTOBER 05: Florida State Seminoles and Clemson Tigers line up at the line of scrimmage during a college football game between the Clemson Tigers and the Florida State Seminoles on October 5th, 2024 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, FL. (Photo by Chris Leduc/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) – Matt Baker
1 hour ago
After months of simmering behind the scenes, the lawsuits involving Florida State, Clemson, and the ACC are nearing an important update that could involve ESPN. Although the complex legal situation across multiple states remains fluid, no immediate resolution is expected. It’s an opportune moment to revisit these significant lawsuits, which threaten to spark another wave of conference realignment.
A Quick Recap
At the heart of the dispute lies a key question: Who owns the broadcasting rights for Florida State and/or Clemson’s home games if the Seminoles or Tigers leave the ACC?
The schools argue they would retain those rights. If they’re correct, they could bring the lucrative TV rights — worth hundreds of millions — to a new conference, such as the Big Ten or SEC. This would increase their attractiveness to other leagues.
However, the ACC argues that the rights and associated revenue would remain with the conference, as long as its existing contracts are active, even if FSU and Clemson join a new league. This interpretation would decrease the schools’ value to potential new conferences.
Another issue at stake is the exit fee either school would need to pay to leave the ACC. Florida State pegged this fee at $165 million in a legal filing last fall.
The lawsuits began in December 2023, and each party has asked its respective court to make a ruling: Florida State sued the ACC in Leon County, FL; Clemson filed against the ACC in Pickens County, SC; and the ACC has separately sued both schools in Mecklenburg County, NC.
Why This Week Could Be Key
The ACC’s primary contract with ESPN provides the network with the “exclusive, revocable option” to extend the deal from July 2027 to June 2036. The decision deadline for this option is February, according to court filings from Florida State. The publicly available contracts between ESPN and the ACC are heavily redacted to protect what both parties argue are trade secrets.
ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips has referred to the option as a “look-in,” suggesting that negotiations might include elements such as TV time slots and network designations. Phillips has repeatedly asserted that the ACC-ESPN partnership is secure, and the industry consensus is that the option will likely be exercised.
After meetings about the College Football Playoff in Atlanta this month, Phillips stated that discussions were progressing well, but without further developments to report. A day earlier, Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua shared that the Fighting Irish were engaged in “really interesting conversations” with the ACC about football scheduling, expressing interest in playing ACC teams like Clemson annually. Could such an arrangement be part of the negotiations for the look-in?
Even if the option falls through, the ACC still holds a secondary media rights deal for the ACC Network, which runs until June 30, 2036, as The Athletic pointed out in October. This deal could further complicate any potential departure by Clemson or Florida State.
Saturday marked an important deadline for discovery in Clemson’s lawsuit against the ACC. However, on Wednesday, both sides requested that the Pickens County judge delay the discovery deadline until April 1, according to court documents.
What’s Happening in Court?
The litigation continues to unfold across three states (Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina) as the parties argue over the jurisdictional issues.
The most recent development occurred in Florida, where the ACC has requested that the Florida Supreme Court review lower court rulings that favored Florida State. These rulings allowed FSU’s lawsuit against the ACC to proceed in Florida, even though the ACC filed its own suit against the Seminoles in North Carolina the following day.
The ACC’s legal team argued in a recent filing that the ruling undermines Florida’s role in the federal system and could disrupt legal stability.
The lawsuits against Clemson and Florida State have now reached the North Carolina Supreme Court. The schools claim that because they are public entities in South Carolina and Florida, they are protected by sovereign immunity, preventing them from being sued outside their home states. Attorneys general from Florida, South Carolina, and 10 other states have supported the schools’ position, while the North Carolina chamber of commerce’s legal team has backed the ACC’s request to enforce the contracts in its jurisdiction.
There are currently no scheduled hearings in South Carolina.
Where Is This All Heading?
A resolution to this legal battle remains months, or even years, away. It’s still unclear how the cases will unfold across three states, with multiple appeals still pending. There’s also the possibility that another court could get involved; Florida State’s legal team has indicated it may appeal issues related to sovereign immunity to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
While many civil lawsuits are settled out of court, the expectation is that these cases will likely follow the same path. The timeline and specifics remain uncertain. Perhaps the ACC’s negotiations with ESPN will generate enough new revenue to satisfy Florida State and Clemson. In any case, this 13-month legal process is far from unusual — the legal disputes surrounding Big East/ACC conference realignment (involving teams like Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College) took 23 months to resolve.
— Contributions from Brendan Marks of The Athletic.
(Photo: Chris Leduc / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Matt Baker is a senior writer for The Athletic covering college sports. He previously spent nine years as the Florida college football reporter for the Tampa Bay Times and also covered college athletics for the Tulsa World and Springfield (MO) News-Leader. Matt is originally from Indiana and is a graduate of Northwestern University.
