College sports conferences are in flux. Last year, the Pac-12 conference collapsed, with some members going to the Big Ten, others the Big 12, leaving just two schools in what essentially became a Pac-2. Now Clemson and Florida State are suing to exit the Atlantic Coast Conference that the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech belong to. Here are some frequently asked questions about the ACC and its status.
1. Has Virginia Tech always been in the ACC?
No. The ACC was founded in 1953. The University of Virginia was one of the first eight members back in 1953 but Virginia Tech did not join under 2004.
2. Why did Virginia Tech join the ACC?
Tech had long chafed at living in the shadow of the ACC. The Big East Conference, of which Tech was a member at the time, was falling apart and the ACC represented a move up.
3. What teams want to leave the ACC conference?
By suing for the right to exit, Clemson and Florida State have made it clear they’d like to leave. North Carolina has indicated it might want to leave, depending on how things play out.
4. Why do Clemson and Florida State want to leave the ACC?
Both schools think they could make a lot more money in another conference.
In 2000, schools in the ACC received more TV revenue than anyone else in the country, but the gap between the biggest conferences wasn’t that big. Now there’s much more separation. ESPN reports that Big Ten schools are expected to pocket $80 million to $100 million from the league’s most recent TV deal. The SEC schools average $51.3 million. And the ACC? About $39.4 million, according to ESPN.
Clemson and Florida State have both won national college football championships in the past, and would like to again, but don’t think they can afford to compete with the Big Ten and SEC schools if they stay in the ACC. More money means a bigger recruiting budget, more money for facilities, coaches, everything.
5. How much would it cost Florida State and Clemson to leave the ACC?
That’s what the two schools’ separate lawsuits are about. Clemson, in its suit, has said the withdrawal fee is $140 million, a figure it calls “unconscionable.” Florida State said that leaving the ACC would ultimately cost the school $572 million because even if it paid to leave, the conference would still get Florida State’s TV revenue under a “grant of rights.”
6. What is the grant of rights for college football?
Schools grant their TV rights to a conference. In other words, Virginia Tech doesn’t sell its own TV rights; the ACC owns them for the duration of the TV contract and Tech gets a share of the proceeds. In this case, Clemson and Florida State think the ACC got a bad TV deal, so they want out of their “grant of rights.”
7. What conference is Virginia Tech going to if the ACC collapses?
There’s no clear answer to where Tech would end up if the ACC fell apart, although the best options are the Big Ten, the SEC and the Big 12. Of course, the ACC could also reconfigure itself and add other schools. Sports Illustrated recently identified Connecticut, Memphis, Oregon State, Southern Florida, Tulane and Washington State as possible members. Tulane would bring New Orleans, Connecticut would bring part of the New York market, Oregon State and Washington State would help geographically with California and Stanford, which the ACC added last year (along with Southern Methodist) as an insurance policy to keep its numbers up in case some schools left.
Nothing happens in a vacuum, though. Keep in mind that college sports is a business. Conference affiliations these days don’t have much to do with tradition or geography and everything to do with TV revenue.
Clemson and Florida State have been touted as potential members of both the Big Ten and the SEC. However, historically the Big Ten has only invited new members who are members of the Association of American Universities, an invitation-only group of top research universities. Clemson and Florida State aren’t members of either.
Geographically, they’re smack in SEC territory, but South Carolina and the University of Florida, both SEC members, may not want competition in their TV markets. The SEC will have 16 members this year. Before it divides TV revenue 18 ways rather than 16, the conference will want to make sure that a 1/18th share involves more dollars than a 1/16th share. In other words, which schools will bring the most revenue?
If Clemson and Florida State get to leave the ACC, that means others might follow — and they might involve markets more attractive to both the Big Ten and the SEC, so both those conferences might be inclined to wait to see the full field of potential candidates before rushing to grab the first two available. The University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina have been talked about as potential members for both conferences — both would represent new markets for either the Big Ten or SEC. Both are also AAU members.
Virginia Tech is not an AAU member so right now it would not qualify for the Big Ten, but could conceivably wind up with the SEC — depending on who else the SEC picked up — or the Big 12, which doesn’t have any schools in Virginia.
8. How will Virginia Tech’s rivals change if Tech leaves the conference?
Virginia Tech’s historic rivalry with Virginia began long before both were in the same conference, so presumably it would continue even if they were in different conferences again. The rest depends entirely where Tech — and other schools — wound up. Schools typically have a certain number of non-conference games available and it’s hard to imagine those schools not wanting to play each other. Beyond that, though, everything is likely on the table.
9. How many teams will the ACC have in 2024?
The ACC will have 18 members this year. That includes Notre Dame, which is an independent in football but does play a certain number of ACC schools each year.
10. How many teams will the ACC have next year?
For now, they will still have 18, but if Clemson and Florida State find a way out, who knows?
