Ross Dellenger: 'Early conversation' means Big 12 could be in play if Florida State, Clemson leave ACC

This year, college football will have a new look after a groundbreaking round of conference realignment. The Pac-12 effectively fell apart as 10 teams scattered to the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC, leading to multiple new faces at media days this month.

But the winds could be getting ready to start back up. Florida State and Clemson continue to look into their future in the ACC, and that legal process is still playing out.

If those two programs decide to leave, Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger indicated they have a few options. One could be the Big 12, which heard commissioner Brett Yormark say is still “open for business” after bringing in four Pac-12 programs. Dellenger indicated “early conversations” might help open that door if FSU and Clemson eventually leave the ACC.

“You look at Florida State and Clemson’s options, the first option would probably be to get into the Big Ten or the SEC,” Dellenger told John Kurtz. “The second option would be, in some way, to reform the ACC with a smaller number of teams where you would be at a financial advantage because you wouldn’t split the TV distribution with 18. Maybe, you would split it with 10, so they can re-form in a smaller group. And Option Three is to probably join another league, which there’s only one other Power Conference league and that’s the Big 12.

“You look at those options – again, they probably prefer No. 1. I don’t know if that’s gonna happen because the SEC has schools in those states already in Florida and South Carolina, and the Big Ten, I don’t know how interested they are in coming south. Those things might happen. But I think there is at least early conversation between the Big 12 and those schools about the possibility. I don’t know that it’s anything serious yet because they do have to get out of the ACC, whether that’s through a settlement or a court rule. So we could be months, if not years, away from something. That does seem to be one of the possibilities is the Big 12.”

Florida State was the first of the two schools to challenge the ACC’s Grant of Rights, filing a lawsuit late last year to argue it should be able to leave the conference without penalty. Clemson then took a similar path, filing a suit of its own in March.

Both lawsuits center on the grant of rights – an agreement that gives conferences the right to broadcast all member schools’ home games for the duration of the media rights deal. The ACC’s contract with ESPN runs through 2036, and On3’s Andy Staples previously reported a buyout sits between $150 million and $572 million.

But, as Dellenger said, it could be a long road for Florida State and Clemson to secure a departure from the ACC, depending on how the legal situation shakes out. Neither school is on its way out of the league to this point because they’re locked in to the grant of rights, meaning any conference move depends on what the courts say.