Pete Thamel explains what Clemson suing the ACC means for the future of college football

The college football world saw another domino fall Tuesday as Clemson joined Florida State as the second school to file a lawsuit against the ACC. ESPN insider Pete Thamel reported that the Tigers called into question the ACC’s grant of rights and exit fees, indicating they want to leave the conference.

Currently the grant of rights binds the Seminoles and Clemson to remain in the league through 2036. In FSU’s lawsuit, it was estimated that the total cost to leave the ACC would be $572 million. Clemson called the withdrawal penalty “unconscionable” and “unenforceable” in its lawsuit.

The lawsuit was announced on the same day it was reported that the College Football Playoff and ESPN reached an agreement on a six-year contract worth $7.8 billion. It shows the gap between the Big Ten and SEC, which are said to make $21 million per year under the contract, and the rest of the conferences. The ACC will reportedly make just more than $13 million.

Thamel joined SportsCenter on Tuesday to explain what the lawsuit means not only for Clemson, but the future of college football as a whole.

“I think when we look back on this, today is a significant day in where we are going in college athletics,” he explained. “When they do the 30 for 30 on the redrawing of the map of college sports, there’s an irresistible intersection that happened today. We have the CFP news with all of the leagues agreeing to an eight-year deal with ESPN. Included in that is a financial codification of just how far ahead the Big Ten and SEC are from the ACC. It’s almost $10 million a year just from the CFP. You combine that with the nearly $30 million estimated in the lawsuit today by Clemson and it’s just an exclamation point for how far these leagues are ahead of everybody else.”

Additionally, Clemson asked for a declaration in the suit that the ACC would not own media rights it its games “after Clemson ceases to be a member of the ACC.” The Tigers made it clear that the ACC’s current TV contract is also a major factor in their decision. The ACC pays schools around $40 million per year from its deal compared to $70 million from the Big Ten.

Clemson and Florida State are the only schools in the ACC that have ever made the College Football Playoff. The Tigers made six straight CFP appearances from 2015-20 and won two national titles. If both schools were to leave the conference, which is looking more and more like an inevitability, it was have a big impact on the parity of college sports.

No exit has been made at this point, and it’s unclear whether the Big Ten or SEC would welcome either program into their conference. Still, with the news of today, it’s hard not to imagine what’s coming.

“When you really look at where the Big Ten and SEC are as a Power 2, I think this is the most significant note,” Thamel said. “If Clemson and Florida State do end up leaving, and again, they haven’t left. This is simply a declaration of free agency for them. But if they do leave, the only team remaining that’s been in the College Football Playoff the last 10 years is TCU (and Cincinnati) of the Big 12. Every other playoff participant will be in a Power 2 league.”