Report: Clemson and Florida State among group pushing for change in the ACC

It's no secret that the ACC has lagged behind other conferences in terms of revenue, especially the Big Ten and SEC. A grant-of-rights deal that stretches to 2036 has the conference locked into a situation that has created a vast financial expanse between its member schools and others from the Power 5, and it's just getting bigger.

With Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC next year and USC and UCLA heading to the Big Ten soon, both conferences are in for big pay raises. Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger broke down the discussions behind the scenes in a recent article.

More frank discussions are expected about the growing revenue gap between it and the SEC/Big Ten. Handcuffed by an ESPN broadcasting contract and grant-of-rights that extends another 13 years, ACC schools could find themselves more than $30 million behind the SEC and Big Ten in annual distribution by the time 2026 arrives. - Ross Dellenger, SI.com

The $30 million number is very real. In the 2020-21 season, the ACC distributed $36.1 million to each full-time member school. The SEC's new deal is expected to see each team receive around $70 million, while Big Ten schools could receive upwards of $80 million. For some schools, it may be enough to collect $30 million a year and move on, but for those trying to compete at the highest level, operating at 50% of your opponents' budgets just isn't sustainable. That's why schools like Clemson and FSU are pushing for a change.

A subset of seven schools in the 14-member conference has coalesced over what many of them describe as an untenable situation. Officials from the seven schools, led by Florida State and Clemson, have met a handful of times over the past several months, with their lawyers examining the grant-of-rights to determine just how unbreakable it is. - Ross Dellenger, SI.com

Clemson and Florida State aren't the only schools in the ACC put at a disadvantage here, but just look at their situations. Both teams have an SEC rival in their state (South Carolina and Florida). If the ACC has a great year and gives them $35 million, it'd still be half as much as their in-state rival. A $35 million yearly gap over the life of the grant-of-rights deal would put the Tigers and Seminoles roughly $455,000,000 behind their SEC rivals (note: that's if the SEC's number stays at $70m). Untenable is right.