Ad Disclosure
Friedlander: Being in the ACC was the only thing that got Clemson into the Playoff. So why is it still suing to leave?
Published:
The joy of earning another ACC championship and a ticket into the College Football Playoff was unmistakable as Clemson’s players – and even coach Dabo Swinney – made a mad dash onto the field at Bank of America Stadium to celebrate their walk-off win against SMU on Saturday night.
It was the kind of happiness money can’t buy.
Even the exorbitant amount of money members of the SEC and Big Ten are raking in.
So why, exactly, is Clemson still suing to leave the ACC?
It’s a question the school’s administration might want to ask itself after the events of the past few weeks.
Because given the Tigers’ 10-3 record and a regular-season resume that includes just 1 victory against an opponent with a winning record, their current conference affiliation is the only reason they’re included in the inaugural 12-team Playoff field. It’s the only reason they had a chance at inclusion.
Without the ACC’s automatic bid, Swinney would be facing the prospect of a mayonnaise shower after a random bowl game rather than being showered with praise and preparing his team for an opening-round date against Texas.
Even after Saturday’s victory, Clemson was still ranked only 16th in the selection committee’s final rankings. Winning the conference championship was its only pathway into the Playoff.
It’s a pathway that would not have been available this year and would be littered with many more obstacles to clear in the future if the Tigers were playing as a member of the SEC or Big Ten.
That appeared to be the intent last March when they joined Florida State in filing a legal challenge to the ACC’s grant of media rights. Their lawsuit against the conference claims that the restrictive contract, which carries a $140 million exit fee and forfeiture of media rights revenue to break, “hinders Clemson’s ability to meaningfully explore its options regarding conference membership.”
While there’s no guarantee that the SEC or Big Ten is interested in further expansion, even if
Clemson and Florida State were free to leave, joining either league could mean a significant financial bump.
It’s estimated that SEC and Big Ten teams soon will take in as much as $40-$50 million more annually than those in the ACC.
That’s a significant difference, especially with the prospect of revenue-sharing for the players looming on the rapidly approaching horizon.
And yet, how much money is enough money?
Clemson’s facilities are already ranked among the top 5 in college football according to 247Sports, including the Allen N. Reeves Football Complex that features a miniature golf course, a Wiffle ball field, bowling lanes and many other perks to go along with state-of-the-art weight and training rooms.
It’s already bringing in more money than most of its ACC rivals. And with the league’s new incentive-based distribution program, it will earn even more by qualifying for the Playoff.
While amassing an even bigger war chest makes sense if you’re competing directly against the Alabamas, Georgias, LSUs and Ohio States of the world, it’s not as necessary in a conference where everyone else is fighting to keep up with you.
Financially, historically and competitively.
The latter of those is the most compelling argument for Clemson to stand pat and remain in the ACC.
Florida State can have its delusions of grandeur, fueled by a Board of Trustee member whose private equity firm stands to gain if the Seminoles move on and whose anger with the ACC is fueled by last year’s egregious Playoff snub. But the Tigers need only look about 100 miles down the road to its rival in Columbia to realize that membership in a higher-profile, higher-revenue conference isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.
Even though South Carolina beat Clemson in their annual Palmetto Bowl rivalry game, had the same 9-3 regular-season record and is slotted 1 spot higher in the final rankings, the Gamecocks will be sitting at home watching on television while the Tigers are among the 12 teams still playing for a shot at the national championship.
Saturday’s ACC championship was Clemson’s 9th under Swinney. And it comes in a year in which the Tigers are considered “down.” South Carolina has yet to win an SEC title and played for the championship only once in its 33 seasons in the league.
Swinney is well aware of that. So is his administration.
That’s why maybe leaving the ACC isn’t actually the end game behind Clemson’s lawsuit against the conference.
Maybe it’s just part of a diversionary tactic whose end game is pressuring the league into adopting a new revenue distribution model that rewards its most valuable brands with a bigger piece of the financial pie than those closer to the bottom of the food chain.
That would help offset at least some of the disparity between the ACC and its Big Two competitors while giving Clemson and Florida State – if its administration realizes that its outside options are limited – a better opportunity at competing nationally.
You can’t win a national championship if you don’t get into the Playoff. And your chances of getting into the Playoff are considerably more realistic through the ACC than by running the SEC gauntlet.
No matter how much money your school brings in.
Just ask Clemson.
Or better yet, Alabama.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
