Pete Bevacqua addresses Notre Dame's relationship with ACC amid FSU, Clemson lawsuits

Over the last few months, the ACC found itself facing multiple legal battles from its membership. Both Florida State and Clemson have filed lawsuits against the conference – more specifically, the league’s grant of rights.

All the while, one of the ACC’s most notable non-football members underwent some big changes. At Notre Dame, Jack Swarbrick has stepped down as athletics director and former NBC executive Pete Bevacqua is now in after serving as a special assistant to the AD during the transition. The Fighting Irish are ACC members in non-football sports besides hockey. All the while, Notre Dame is maintaining independent status in football – and that’s not likely to change, according to Bevacqua.

The college football landscape continues to change, and FSU and Clemson’s lawsuits indicate it might not be stopping. Despite the uncertainty around the ACC, though, Bevacqua said Notre Dame’s relationship with the conference and commissioner Jim Phillips remain strong.

In fact, he added the league is in good position thanks to multiple factors.

“Clearly like everybody else in the conference we’re certainly talking about FSU and Clemson with the conference and Jim Phillips, but we feel that the conference is in such great shape, has a long-term relationship with ESPN which is important, and has secured its very important inclusion in the CFP like we have for the next eight years,” Bevacqua told ESPN’s Heather Dinich. “There’s a lot of unbelievably great things going on for the ACC and we value our relationship and being a part of that conference in the overwhelming majority of our sports with the two exceptions, obviously football and hockey.”

More on FSU and Clemson’s suits against the ACC

Florida State filed its lawsuit against the ACC in December in what On3’s Eric Prisbell reported could be a “precursor” to a departure. In the complaint, FSU alleged the ACC’s grant of rights and withdrawal penalties violate Florida anti-trust laws. A court date is set for April.

Four months later, Clemson did the same, suing the ACC on March 19 in a similar move to Florida State, On3’s Pete Nakos reported. The university said the league’s grant of rights “hinders Clemson’s ability to meaningfully explore its options regarding conference membership.” Clemson also asked the court to rule it doesn’t have to pay an exit fee. The league also filed a counter suit on March 20.

“In this litigation, Clemson seeks confirmation of the plain language found in the Grant of Rights agreements and the related media agreements between the ACC and ESPN – that these agreements, when read together, plainly state that Clemson controls its media rights for games played if it is no longer a member of the ACC,” Clemson said in a statement. “Clemson also seeks a ruling regarding the unenforceability of the severe penalty the ACC is seeking to impose upon exiting members and confirmation that it does not owe a fiduciary duty to the conference as alleged by the ACC.

“… Clemson has not given notice that it is exiting the ACC and remains a member of the conference.”

Of course, the ACC is also preparing to expand in July with three new members – Cal, SMU and Stanford – all coming in. It’s worth noting Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina and NC State all voted against those additions during the groundbreaking round of conference realignment.