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The early results are in, the grant of rights won and it no longer feels imminent that the ACC will lose any members anytime soon.
At least, that’s the way it seems in the aftermath of ESPN’s move to extend its contract option on the ACC’s broadcast rights through 2036. The vitriol from Florida State and Clemson filing lawsuits has subsided, and an actual compromise appears to be way more likely than a divorce.
That’s great news for Louisville, which potentially could have been caught in the conference realignment abyss had the defections taken place. What’s even better is that football is still the primary force driving talks, and coach Jeff Brohm has the Cardinals ready to be in the conversation.
The ESPN extension has paved the way for a possible settlement between the league and FSU and Clemson as long as some changes are made to bring about that resolution.
More on that in a second, but first, none of this would be possible if it weren’t for the grant of rights each member school signed in 2013 and again in 2016 to keep the conference together.
Despite the resources and attorney billable hours several schools devoted in an attempt to bypass it, the grant of rights held the league together long enough that schools willing to leave are now willing to stay.
There’s still reason to believe we’re headed for a reset in college athletics in which the major conference schools break free from the NCAA and form their own league and governing body. Until that happens, though, the ACC is headed for stability.
And it’s headed for a much-needed renovation.
The ESPN contract isn’t injecting enough new revenue into the deal to substantially decrease the gap between the ACC and its counterparts in the Big Ten and SEC.
But the league has been incentivized to get creative in coming up with ways individual schools can…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/brown-louisville-football-poised-major-101743434.html
Author : The Courier Journal
Publish date : 2025-02-14 10:17:00
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