Clemson Receives Latest Ruling In Court Case Against ACC

The Clemson Tigers claimed a victory in their lawsuit against the ACC, one that allows the case to carry on.

Graham Neff, Clemson University Athletic Director arrives before a hearing about Clemson and the ACC before Judge Perry H. Gravely, ruling on the university's motion for summary judgement and the conference's motion to dismiss, at the Pickens County Courthouse in Pickens, S.C. Friday, July 12, 2024. / Ken Ruinard / Greenville News / POOL

The battle between Clemson and the Atlantic Coast Conference continued on Friday in a Pickens County (S.C.) courthouse as the school and their conference battled over jurisdiction in their battle over the ACC’s grant of rights.

This suit, filed by Clemson in its home county, is in parallel with the suit the ACC filed against Clemson in Mecklenburg County (N.C.).

Friday’s ruling, handed down by Judge Perry H. Gravely, allowed Clemson’s suit to continue, a victory for the Tigers, per the Post and Courier.

Gravely was weighing the ACC’s filing to abate Clemson’s case, meaning that the judge could rule to stop the case. He ruled that the ACC had not proved that the lawsuit couldn’t continue in South Carolina.

However, it wasn’t a complete win for Clemson. The school was seeking an injunction to stop the concurrent case in North Carolina, but Gravely dismissed Clemson’s sovereign immunity claim.

Essentially, it means the cases can continue on similar tracks.

Clemson originally filed its suit against the ACC on March 19 in Pickens County, charging that it was due damages from the conference over alleged false statements over the league’s media rights.

A day after Clemson filed its suit, the ACC countersued in Mecklenburg County.

That is what was at issue earlier this week when the parties met in Mecklenburg County court. There, Clemson was fighting the ACC over jurisdiction over the ACC’s countersuit. Judge Louis Bledsoe ruled that suit could continue.

Now, that suit will move to an appellate court, with a court date to be determined.

Now, there are four different lawsuits that entangle Clemson, Florida State and the ACC. Along with the Clemson suits in Mecklenburg County and in Pickens County, there are separate suits between FSU and ACC in Leon County (Fla.) and Mecklenburg County.

The grant of rights is an agreement that binds the ACC together through the life of its television contract in 2036. It’s meant to be a poison pill of sorts, as a program that leaves the ACC would theoretically have to surrender their media rights to the league for the remainder of the television contract.

Clemson contends that it is not challenging the grant of rights in order to leave the ACC. However, the ACC’s current television deal is on par with the Big 12, and well behind the new deals struck by the SEC and the Big Ten.

Clemson is one of eight founding members of the ACC in 1953, along with Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, Wake Forest and Virginia. Maryland is now in the Big Ten and South Carolina is now in the SEC.