A 14-month legal battle between the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and its two most successful football programs, Florida State and Clemson, appears to be nearing a resolution. The conference’s board of directors and commissioner Jim Phillips are scheduled to meet on Tuesday to discuss and likely vote on a deal that would end litigation between the ACC and the two schools.
The proposed agreement involves a new system of revenue sharing that will create performance bonuses for members based on television viewership. If finalized, the plan would lead to the ACC dropping its separate lawsuits against Florida State and Clemson and the schools ending their separate suits against the conference.
The core of the deal is an agreement among 18 ACC members to implement a new revenue-sharing model. The plan would pay out bonuses to schools based on average TV viewership over a rolling five-year period, with larger programs like Florida State and Clemson likely to benefit more. However, smaller programs will still receive a significant cut of the hundreds of millions in revenue generated by the conference.
In return for dropping their lawsuits, the ACC is re-assessing its bylaws to clarify financial penalties if a school leaves before the conference’s contract with ESPN ends in 2036. Florida State and Clemson had argued that exiting the ACC would cost them hundreds of millions of dollars, including lost TV rights.
The dispute between the ACC, Florida State, and Clemson centered on revenue sharing and TV rights. The schools claimed that the league’s contracts allowed them to keep those media rights, while the ACC disagreed, saying that all member schools granted the rights to the league collectively through an agreement called a grant of rights.
A source briefed on the situation confirmed that negotiations between the conference and its most valuable members have led to significant changes. The ACC has discussed making adjustments to its football and basketball schedules to ensure more matchups between top programs, potentially leading to higher yearly payouts from ESPN.
While the deal is not yet finalized, an ACC athletic director stated that the agreement would “keep the conference together.” With both Florida State and Clemson indicating a willingness to stay in the ACC, it appears that a peaceful resolution to the dispute is within reach.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6171872/2025/03/03/acc-florida-state-clemson-legal-dispute-settlement-update