Conference realignment has significantly impacted college football, but the ACC remains intact.
After a wild few days, conference realignment is once again a significant discussion point in college football and the ACC in particular.
We all know the story. The ACC signed a bad media rights deal with ESPN through 2036, and the conference has suffered because of it. As other programs move on to perceived greener pastures, the ACC is a conference everyone will keep their eyes on.
While it would be difficult for these schools to get out of this deal, options have been explored. The “Magnificent 7”, consisting of Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, NC State, Miami, Virginia, and Virginia Tech, examined the grant-of-rights.
With all of this going on, 247Sports broke down where each ACC football team stands on wanting out of the ACC or not. Here is what writer Brad Crawford had to say about Clemson.
According to Brandon Marcello, Clemson continues to work silently in the background exploring options as the Tigers remain frustrated by the ACC’s equal revenue-sharing structure. Clemson is one of seven schools who has met to explore ways they could break the conference’s grant of rights.
Clemson athletic director Graham Neff previously said he would do what’s best for his school during a conversation in May with 247Sports. Clemson routinely comes up in SEC conversations as one of the league’s next primary targets. The Tigers are one of the “Big Three” football powers in the ACC, joining Florida State and Miami.
“The landscape is changing significantly,” Neff told 247Sports. “My role is to be connected and well-read in the industry and with all of our universities, and that starts in the ACC.”
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is confident his administration will do what’s best for the Tigers.
“Lot happening out there, my job is to get the team ready to play, that’s my job,” Swinney said Friday, during a 7-minute response to a question on realignment. “I don’t get caught up in all that stuff. Honestly, it’s just the next domino to where it’s all going … it is what it is. I don’t know if it’s going to be this year, or midseason, or next year or three years for now. Eventually, we’re going to have … I don’t know what the number is … 40 or 50 teams, something like that, and it’s going to be a 14 or 16-team playoff type of deal. That’s where it’s going to be. I don’t know what the league is going to be called, or the divisions, or whatever. That’s where it’s going to go eventually.”
It is tough to say what will come next for Clemson. A few different things could happen, but it appears the best outcome would be finding a way out of the ACC if they can’t restructure that contract to compensate the program properly.
It is a waiting game.
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