UNC among “The Magnificent 7” ACC schools to examine grant-of-rights
The college athletics landscape is starting to look a lot different with the moves of programs to other conferences, headlined by USC and UCLA heading to the Big Ten. And now, seven Atlantic Coast Conference programs could be on the move.
On Monday,Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated reported that seven ACC schools have met in the past several months with lawyers to examine the grant-of-rights to determine if they can leave the deal with the conference which runs through 2036. This is significant news as it shows that half of the conference has an internal rift and are looking to potentially move on.
The seven schools are North Carolina, Clemson, Florida State, NC State, Miami, Virginia, and Virginia Tech and have earned the nickname “The Magnificent 7” with the efforts behind led by Florida State and Clemson.
Here is what Dellenger had to say about the situation:
More frank discussions are expected about the growing revenue gap between it and the SEC/Big Ten. Handcuffed by an ESPN broadcasting contract and grant-of-rights that extends another 13 years, ACC schools could find themselves more than $30 million behind the SEC and Big Ten in annual distribution by the time 2026 arrives. …
A subset of seven schools in the 14-member conference has coalesced over what many of them describe as an untenable situation. Officials from the seven schools, led by Florida State and Clemson, have met a handful of times over the past several months, with their lawyers examining the grant-of-rights to determine just how unbreakable it is.
The $240M deal that runs through 2036 with ESPN is fifth among Power 5 conferences. So it makes sense as to why these seven schools are looking for a potential out and to make more money with TV revenue.
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