Pete Thamel shares next steps for FSU and Clemson, reveals timeline for potential departure from ACC

Clemson and Florida State have made it clear that they would like to get out of the ACC at some point, but for now they are still locked in with the league as lawsuits continue.

ESPN insider Pete Thamel spoke on College Football Live on Monday about the next steps for the powerhouse programs.

According to Thamel, both schools are likely locked in with the ACC for the next two years.

“I think we’re going to have two years of the ACC intact as it is right now, unless there’s some seismic change that comes from elsewhere, meaning there’s some type of breakaway or some major, major shift,” Pete Thamel said.

He added that it’s possible the ACC could settle with Florida State and Clemson to end their lawsuits, but unless that happens, FSU and Clemson are unlikely to go anywhere any time soon.

“I think the next mile marker to look for with Florida State and Clemson will be will the ACC come to some sort of a negotiated resolution with them,” Thamel said. “Will they settle out of court and allow them to escape that Grant of Rights? Until then we’re going to be dialed in on the meaning of those contracts… the site of these court cases has been bandied back and forth a few times.

“But I don’t see a major, major shift, a major trigger in anything, for at least the next 18 months in this, unless there’s some type of settlement.”

A settlement would be extremely costly to both Clemson and Florida State. However, the schools could consider agreeing to a certain number in order to make that money back in the long term.

The SEC and Big Ten have not said that they are interested in adding either the Tigers or Seminoles at this point, and they won’t publicly as long as those two schools are locked in with the ACC, according to Thamel.

“If we get a settlement and the ACC agrees to let them leave for hundreds of millions of dollars, then we could have a reconstituted ACC and then we could find out where Clemson and Florida State could go,” Thamel said. “The Big Ten and SEC are not going to be interested in either of those teams while they have legal entanglements, and the legal entanglements are significant right now. And in a lot of ways they’re just starting.”

It will be fascinating to see how everything works out over the next 18 months for Florida State, Clemson and the ACC.