Clemson files suit to leave ACC without penalty

By Brian Murphy, WRAL

ACC charter member Clemson is asking that a court rule it can leave the conference without financial penalty, joining Florida State trying to force its way out of the league.

Clemson filed a lawsuit in Pickens County, South Carolina, on Monday, another inflection point for a league that finds itself trying to hold together as it falls behind the Big Ten and the SEC in revenue and clout.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare that the league's grant of rights agreement does not include games played by Clemson after it leaves the league and that the ACC's withdrawal penalty is void.

Florida State filed a similar lawsuit in December. The ACC actually sued Florida State first in Mecklenburg County. A hearing is scheduled for Friday in Mecklenburg County.

Clemson said the ACC's claims about the grant of rights agreement signed by all members that gives the league ownership of television and multimedia rights for home games through 2036 and about the approximate $140 million penalty to leave the conference are harming the the school.

"Each of these erroneous assertions separately hinders Clemson's ability to meaningfully explore its options regarding conference membership, to negotiate alternative revenue-sharing proposals among ACC members, and to obtain full value for its future media rights," the lawsuit states.

In a statement from Virginia president Jim Ryan, the chair of the ACC's Board of Directors, and ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, the league said it is confident its agreements will be affirmed by the courts.

"Clemson, along with all ACC members, voluntarily signed and re-signed the 2013 and 2016 Grant of Rights, which is binding through 2036," the ACC statement said. "In addition, Clemson agreed to the process and procedures for withdrawal. The Conference’s legal counsel will vigorously enforce the agreement and bylaws in the best interests of the ACC’s current and incoming members.”

Clemson said the $140 million withdrawal penalty, currently three times the ACC's total operating budget, "has no relationship to, and is in fact plainly disproportionate to, the actual damages, if any, that would flow from Clemson's leaving the ACC."

The ACC instituted a withdrawal penalty in 2011 and then increased it in 2012. Clemson argues that the withdrawal penalty "is not a predetermined measure of compensation for actual damages" because Notre Dame would owe the same amount, even though the Irish are not a football-playing member of the league.

Clemson has become the league's top football power over the last decade, winning league crowns in 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022. The Tigers made the four-team playoff each year from 2015 to 2020 and won the national title in 2016 and 2018 under coach Dabo Swinney.

The lawsuit outlines the Big Ten and SEC's revenue advantage over the ACC and says it will reach an estimated $30 million per member institution per year.

"As the revenue gaps widens over the coming years, Clemson will fall behind its peer institutions," the lawsuit says.

The Big Ten and SEC will receive larger payouts and more guaranteed spots in the College Football Playoff beginning in 2026, pushing the ACC down the pecking order.

Clemson is among seven charter members of the ACC, which was formed in Greensboro in 1953. Charter members South Carolina and Maryland have left the league, which has expanded to 15 teams currently and will have 18 when Cal, Stanford and SMU join this summer.

Duke, North Carolina, NC State and Wake Forest are the other four charter members. The University of North Carolina System's board of governors recently voted to give itself and the system president veto power over public schools in North Carolina, like North Carolina and NC State, changing conferences.