ACC-Pac 12 alliance should equate to a Clemson exit

It’s time for the Tigers to leave a league that can only get them left behind if they stay

Ken Ruinard / USA TODAY Sports

Two years ago, the Atlantic Coast Conference had Notre Dame right where they wanted them, and they did not close the deal. Now, with the SEC and Big Ten expanding to make the Power 5, the Power 2, they have left the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 scrambling to find a way to still be relevant by the time the current College Football Playoff model runs its course after the 2025 season.

What does this mean for Clemson? What should Clemson do?

After the pandemic hit in the spring of 2020, college football still figured out a way to have a season. Travel was not as easy as it was in years past due to the COVID restrictions that were in place.

Most conferences eliminated non-conference games, keeping everything in house. That cut down on travel expenses and allowed conferences to keep the virus contained within it is member schools at a minimum.

That made it very difficult for Independents, such as Notre Dame, to play football. The Irish eventually worked out a deal—if that is what you want to call it—to join the ACC as a full-time member for one year only so Notre Dame could have a football season.

The ACC finally had what it wanted. Notre Dame needed a home and with it already tied to the ACC in every sport except football and hockey, it could not go anywhere else.

The ACC could have forced the Irish to permanently join the league as a football school, but it did not. Instead, it allowed Notre Dame to go into an arrangement where the ACC gave a lot to the Irish, but the Irish gave very little in return.

Two years later, the ACC is looking back at this lack of judgement and wishing it had been firm. If it just would have called out Notre Dame and said, “We will help you out, but only if you come and join our conference full-time. If not, then good luck trying to make a schedule when no one is playing non-conference opponents.”

I am not saying that would have forced Notre Dame’s hand and the Irish would have caved, but at least it would have shown the ACC has some fortitude and tried to at least push its power around.

Instead, the ACC caved. Notre Dame got what it wanted. And now that USC and UCLA have decided to jump to the Big Ten in 2024, there is a chance the Irish could join them.

Notre Dame is now holding the fate of the ACC in its hands. A decision by the Irish to stay Independent will at least allow everything to stand pat for now. With the ACC’s grant-of-rights running through the year 2036, its full-time members will likely stay put, for now, as they try to avoid a fee that could cost them more than $300 million in television revenue if they up and join the SEC or Big Ten.

If Notre Dame decides to join the ACC full-time, which does not seem likely, then the ACC will have the negotiating power it needs to reopen its deal with ESPN and try to at least come close to the TV dollars the SEC and Big Ten are going to draw with its new television packages.

If Notre Dame joins the Big Ten, which could happen, then all bets are off. And it is each school for themselves and we could see the demise of the ACC.

It was reported earlier this week that the ACC and the Pac-12 are talking about some kind of an alliance that would allow them to go into a joint TV deal with ESPN. This plan, which is supposedly coming from the ACC, sounds corny and desperate at best.

It also shows that ACC schools have expressed their desires to possibly leave the ACC if Commissioner Jim Phillips and the conference do not ease their concerns and find a way to compete for television revenue with the SEC and Big Ten.

Phillips has reportedly met with the league’s athletic directors and presidents on several different occasions this past week. I can tell you Clemson is not sitting idly by and waiting.

Clemson’s Board of Trustees met on Friday to discuss several action items that had nothing to do with the ACC or conference expansion. However, as The Journal’s Riley Morningstar reported, the BOT, did go into executive session to discuss the items outlined on the announced agenda, as well as “to receive legal advice related to matters covered by attorney-client privilege.”

The exact reasoning for the session:

"At this time, we need to go into Executive Session to discuss pending personnel actions, proposed contractual arrangements and procurements, and to receive legal advice related to matters covered by the attorney client privilege." https://t.co/oyCq3S2Jut

— Riley Morningstar (@RBMorningstar) July 8, 2022

It seems obvious that Clemson is putting, or already has, a plan in place.

Remember, if the ACC opens negotiations up with ESPN and the Pac-12, then Clemson and any other ACC school that wants out of the conference will have their window of opportunity to jump ship.

And in my opinion, if the ACC tries to align itself with the Pac-12, especially with all the traveling that might be involved for its non-revenue sports, then Clemson needs to get out and get out fast. Nothing good will come from an ACC and Pac-12 partnership, at least not anything that will compete with what the SEC and Big Ten are going to do.

Clemson cannot afford to be left behind, and I doubt it will.