CHARLESTON, S.C. (CN) — Clemson filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the authority of the Atlantic Coast Conference to penalize the university if it leaves the athletic conference.
The public university and founding ACC member says colleges should not be required to pay what it calls an exorbitant fee or forfeit their television rights if they choose to join a different conference.
“Without a judicial declaration of its legal rights, which have been openly challenged by the ACC, Clemson is unable to pursue a wide range of strategic alternatives that may be necessary for its continued success in collegiate athletics and as an institution,” the university says in its complaint.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Pickens County reflects increasing turmoil in the ACC, which has come under fire for a media rights deal with ESPN that some universities claim was mismanaged.
Florida State filed a similar suit against the conference in December, accusing the ACC of being dedicated to “self-preservation and self-perpetuation over the fiscal well-being of its members.”
In its lawsuit, Clemson says the ACC left money on the table when it signed the ESPN deal in 2016. While the 20-year agreement is expected to generate up to $41 million annually for the member universities, it pales in comparison to recent deals signed by the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten.
In 2020, the Southeastern Conference inked a 10-year deal that will earn member universities almost $50 million a year. The Big Ten then signed a 7-year deal worth almost $59 million for its members.
“As the revenue gap widens over the coming years, Clemson will fall behind its peer institutions,” the university says in the complaint.
The ACC maintains that ESPN would retain the right to broadcast their games even if a member leave the conference, but Clemson claims that’s a misconception of the agreement.
The university adds that an agreement that forces departing universities to pay a penalty equal to three times the ACC’s operating budget is unconscionable.
“The withdrawal penalty has no relationship to, and is in fact plainly disproportionate to, the actual damages, if any, that would flow from Clemson’s leaving the ACC,” the university says in its complaint.
While the ACC’s commissioner has estimated the penalty would run up to “nine figures,” Clemson estimates it would add up to about $140 million.
A decision by Clemson, a founding ACC member with a powerhouse football program, to leave the conference would represent a major blow as it fights for survival amid a national realignment.
In recent years, colleges have increasingly abandoned their home conferences in search of higher broadcast revenue and a larger national footprint. The ACC voted in September to admit three new universities — the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford and Southern Methodist University.
Jim Ryan, chair of the ACC board of directors, said in a statement Tuesday the conference remains “confident” its agreement with university members would be upheld by the courts.
“The conference’s legal counsel will vigorously enforce the agreement and bylaws in the best interests of the ACC’s current and incoming members,” he said.
In 2012, the ACC sued the University of Maryland for failing to pay a $52 million exit fee when it left for the Big Ten. The university agreed to pay $31 million to settle the suit in 2014.
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