Report: Clemson could leave ACC 'sooner than later'

Clemson could be looking to leave the ACC sometime in the near future, according to a report from the Post and Courier. One school senior administrator told the paper that the move could happen “sooner than later,” warning fans to “stay very tuned.”

Fellow ACC programs Florida State and North Carolina have already indicated their desire to leave the conference, and now it seems likely the Tigers will join them. Those three schools were the only ones to vote “no” to the ACC’s recent decision to add Stanford, California and SMU.

The conference’s TV deal is the main concern among all of those schools. The ACC’s current media rights deal with ESPN is dwarfed by the SEC, Big Ten and even Big 12, with schools in those conferences expected to make upwards of $30 million more annually. In the ACC, the revenue is distributed evenly among the current 15 (soon to be 18) members.

The current ACC schools are locked in until 2036 when the current deal expires. However, there may be some room to negotiate those terms, especially if multiple schools want to leave the conference.

“There is strength in numbers if we’re not the only (departing ACC school) doing the negotiating,” one Clemson official said.

The Big Ten and SEC would be the most likely landing spots for Clemson as well as FSU and UNC. For the Tigers and Seminoles, they have two in-state rivals in the SEC with South Carolina and Florida.

However, it’s unclear how willing the SEC is to add new teams at the moment. Commissioner Greg Sankey said at the conference’s media days in July that the SEC is content with 16 teams and not pursing further expansion. That doesn’t, however, mean he wouldn’t listen if any of these three schools approached.

However, Clemson faces the issue of South Carolina wanting to block it from the SEC. Being the only school from the conference give the Gamecocks a recruiting advantage over the Tigers, and that’s even more impetus for Clemson to make a move.

“Our fan base and coaches do not want Clemson in a league that gives us a great recruiting advantage,” a South Carolina school senior administrator said. “We respect what our fans want. (And) we will play (Clemson) in all the sports anyway.”

That has led to Clemson “politicking hard” with both the SEC and South Carolina. Obviously, the Gamecocks are just one of many votes, so they alone couldn’t stop the decision. The Big Ten also remains on the table if it doesn’t work out with the SEC.

Either way, it seems likely that Clemson will soon no longer be a member of the ACC. It’s only a matter of when, but a decision could come at any time.