Florida State, Clemson Weren't Planning To Leave ACC After This Season, Jim Phillips Fighting For Future

While some conferences around college athletics are comfortable with where they stand right now in terms of realignment, conversations surrounding the ACC still remain murky as Florida State and Clemson sue for a way out of the daunted Grant of Rights. 

The current landscape surrounding the ACC was a hot-button topic in Charlotte on Monday, as commissioner Jim Phillips addressed reporters to kickoff media days. But it's not the immediate future that some members are worried about, compared to what this conference looks like two or three years from now.

It was reported last month by CBS that Florida State would not be exiting the conference for the 2025-2026 season, with an August 15th deadline to inform the ACC of a potential departure looming. While reports started to circulate Monday morning that both the Seminoles and Clemson Tigers would not be leaving in the next year, this was always going to be the case as both schools continue to battle the conference in multiple courtrooms across two different states.

In terms of how this will affect the conference during the upcoming football season and beyond, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said he would do everything in his power to protect the league going forward. 

"This is a really important time for the conference," Jim Philips reiterated. "Either you believe in what has been signed or you don't. We are going to do everything we can to protect and to fight the league because I see a group of student-athletes there. We now have 12,200 student-athletes.

"This has been a league that started way before me, 71 years ago, and it will be a league that will be around a long time after I depart. This league deserves us to take this really serious issue and to handle it appropriately."

The biggest point of contention has always been the Grant of Rights, and how much it would cost for both teams to get out of the media rights deal. While both schools are of the thinking that they should be able to leave the ACC, paying a hefty buyout in the process, we are still a long ways away from either side receiving a ruling that would potentially start the transition. 

"Every member of this conference willingly signed the grant of rights unanimously and, quite frankly, eagerly," ACC commissioner Jim Phillips mentioned on Monday. 

So, where would teams like Clemson and Florida State land when they decide to pull the trigger on executing the buyout? First, it depends on how the court ruling goes, if they are given the chance to leave at a discounted rate, or have a judge rule in their favor that the GOR isn't going to tie them down. Second, the SEC and Big Ten both feel like they are in a nice position for the future, not needing to add to its current collection of schools. 

But that doesn't mean FSU or Clemson wouldn't have a home when the time was right to leave. The Big 12 is a viable option in the future, especially if they could add the two schools, giving them enough star-power to play with the SEC or Big Ten. Though this could take a few years, it's not shocking to hear some folks talk about a future Big 12 with both schools. 

At the same time, while there is contention between the conference, Florida State and Clemson at the moment, Jim Phillips made it a point to say that the ACC is not just two teams. 

"This conference is bigger than any one school, or schools."

Another Round Of Conference Realignment With ACC Schools? 

One of the more intriguing aspects of more realignment is how the SEC and Big Ten would respond to offers being made to the Tigers and Seminoles. Would this force both conferences to then look around at a few other schools within the current ACC landscape, like Virginia or North Carolina? 

Sure it would, as SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is not going to sit by and allow the Big Ten to swoop in and grab two teams from those states. If push comes to shove, I think the SEC would end up adding to its roster if Clemson and Florida State finally picked the right time to leave. It will cost them though, as FSU has said multiple times it could cost them upwards of $550 million to leave the ACC. 

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips discusses some of the high points for the league during its 2022 spring meetings. (Matt Murschel/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

But as we've seen in the past year, nothing should come as a surprise with college athletics, and especially realignment within conferences. If both Clemson and Florida State decide that a cash infusion is necessary to start the process of leaving the ACC, you could see them turn to private equity firms, which adds a whole new layer to this new era of college sports. 

While it's entertaining to think about the backdoor conversations that are happening right now between schools potentially leaving the ACC for greener pastures, we're still a few years away from this coming to fruition. 

It's crazy to think, but this past week saw Texas and Oklahoma enter the SEC Media Days fray, and that was four years in the making. 

So maybe it's not out of the realm of possibility that a few schools in the ACC start putting together an exit-strategy and find a new home, before a resolution to their ongoing court battles are resolved. 

Let's not act like both schools aren't looking for a new home, as the past few years have taught us to never say never.