ACC’s grant of rights agreement should provide some stability to the league
If a school wants to leave the ACC, it appears it will cost it a small fortune to do so.
News that the ACC schools unanimously approved a grant of rights agreement, which came first from the North Carolina-based David Glenn radio show, pending official approval and announcement. When and if it becomes official, it means a school gives up its television rights to the ACC even if it leaves, making that school pretty worthless to a new conference until that agreement runs out. The ACC's agreement will go through 2026-27, the length of the conference's deal with ESPN. That's a big win for the conference.
This appears to be a win for anyone who wants the realignment musical chairs to end, because the cost would be prohibitive, as David Teel of the Daily Press in Virginia pointed out:
So let's do math. If #ACC grant of rights is 15 years, a school leaving the league would forfeit about $300 million.
— David Teel (@DavidTeelatDP) April 22, 2013
So yeah, it's pretty safe to say without a loophole or litigation, nobody is leaving the ACC for a long time. If the Big Ten is looking to expand, it looks like it will have to cross schools like Virginia off its wish list.
If this slows the constant stream of annoying realignment news, we're all for it.
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