ESPN exercises option to televise ACC sports through 2036 todayheadline

ESPN has agreed to pick up its option to continue broadcasting ACC sports through 2036, the network and conference announced Thursday.

The agreement is a critical step toward securing stability for the conference. With the television deal settled, the ACC is now working toward a settlement with Clemson and Florida State that could end those schools’ ongoing lawsuits against the conference.

ESPN had until Feb. 1 to pick up the option on a 20-year contract signed in 2016 that helped launch the ACC Network. Had ESPN declined, the partnership would have ended after the 2027 season.

“We are pleased to extend our media rights agreement with the ACC through 2036, continuing our longstanding relationship,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. “We remain committed to serving the ACC, its member schools, student athletes and fans via comprehensive live game coverage, storytelling and broad exposure across our unprecedented array of networks and platforms, including ACC Network. The ACC is a pillar of ESPN’s leading commitment to college sports and we are thrilled to continue the partnership over the next decade.”

After ESPN agreed to pick up the option, a decision the ACC board of directors voted to approve Wednesday, sources said the conference is working on additional “value adds,” which could include creating more marquee matchups in football and men’s basketball to maximize content on the networks that would help pave the way toward the new revenue distribution model and a settlement with Clemson and Florida State.

Multiple athletic directors told ESPN this could also involve using the ACC’s relationship with Notre Dame to strategically create more games against the conference’s top-tier teams. Earlier this month, Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua said he was open to playing more games against Clemson in the future. Notre Dame currently plays five to six regular-season football games against the ACC annually and is a member of the ACC in all other sports.

Negotiations surrounding the option ran in conjunction with discussions between the ACC and Clemson and Florida State on a new revenue distribution model aimed at alleviating the schools’ biggest concerns over financial disparities with peers in the Big Ten and SEC, both of which have more generous TV contracts signed over the past two years.

Under the proposed plan, a percentage of the ACC’s television revenue would be included in a “brand” fund, and that money would then be distributed to schools that annually generate the most revenue for the conference in football and men’s and women’s basketball — with Clemson, Florida State, Miami and North Carolina likely at the top of the pyramid, sources told ESPN.

Should that agreement be finalized — something sources said is not imminent but was closely tied to the ESPN option — Clemson and Florida State would be expected to drop their lawsuits.

“We appreciate the ongoing partnership with ESPN and their enduring commitment that further solidifies the ACC as a premier league in all facets,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement. “The extension showcases the importance of our long-standing relationship, and I want to personally thank the entire ESPN team for their leadership and dedication to our collective future.”

Clemson had been cautious in its legal filings to note that its lawsuit was not a move to leave the ACC but rather to determine the costs of doing so. Though Florida State has been more vocal in its desire to test the waters, athletic director Michael Alford has maintained that the Seminoles never declared their intention to leave the ACC and only wanted to explore their options.

Whether either school would have had a landing spot in the aftermath of a departure remained a point of conjecture, but securing their media rights, which each member school signed over to the league in 2016, would have been a critical part of moving to any other conference.

ACC sources suggested a vote to support the new revenue distribution plan may not be unanimous, but one conference administrator said a cut in distribution would likely be worthwhile if it meant stability in the coming years as college athletics works its way through a volatile series of existential shifts in its amateurism model. Multiple administrators who spoke with ESPN noted the severe impact that the collapse of the Pac-12 had on Oregon State and Washington State, and the observably diminished values of those programs has helped spark interest in negotiating a settlement.

The new brand distribution fund would be in addition to the ACC’s “success initiatives,” which the league approved in 2023. That pool of money is funded via revenue from the expanded College Football Playoff and additional payouts from ESPN that derive from the conference adding new members Stanford, California and SMU in 2024. SMU agreed to forgo its TV revenue for its first nine years in the ACC in exchange for an invitation to the conference, while Cal and Stanford agreed to take a 30% share.

The ACC’s success initiatives, which went into place this year, provide additional revenue to schools that play in the postseason. The brand initiatives would also be accessible to any ACC school, though the biggest names would have a clear leg up. Specific metrics have not been finalized.

Between the brand and success initiatives, it is expected that the ACC schools that maximize both revenue streams could close the gap with Big Ten and SEC schools to as little as a few million annually.

As far back as February 2023, Florida State’s Alford started pushing for the ACC television money to be distributed to the teams that bring the most brand value and television ratings. Alford said then, based on a market valuation that he had commissioned, that Florida State contributed roughly 15% of the value in the ACC’s media rights deal but received only 7% of the distributions. At the time, the conference had 14 full members.

The ACC has been in litigation with Florida State and Clemson for more than a year, with both schools filing lawsuits in their home states in hopes of extricating themselves from a grant of rights agreement that, according to Florida State’s attorneys, could mean paying as much as $700 million to leave the conference. The ACC countersued both schools to preserve the grant of rights agreement through 2036.

Clemson and Florida State have argued that the ACC television contract, which earns the conference about half of what the Big Ten receives from Fox, puts the schools at a significant financial disadvantage compared with rivals in the SEC and Big Ten, making it impossible to consistently compete for national championships.

As part of the settlement, Clemson and Florida State are asking the ACC to agree to reduce penalties for exiting the grant of rights after 2031, when TV contracts for the Big Ten, SEC and Big 12 are set to expire.