Projection: SEC
Expert’s take from Clemson247’s Austin Hannon: “Clemson’s made it clear it doesn’t want to be left behind as a revenue-driver in the ACC and the SEC best seems like a fit.”
Clemson routinely comes up in SEC conversations as one of the league’s next primary targets. The Tigers are one of the “Big 3” football powers in the ACC, joining Florida State and Miami, and they’re the only ones with national championship hardware to show for it in recent years.
Per Clemson247, the Tigers don’t want to put themselves in a position where they’re unable to leave the conference in an ever-changing landscape in college athletics. Clemson is seeking a “declaration of its rights” about the “unenforceability of the exorbitant withdrawal penalty” as well as the “nonexistence of fiduciary duties” that the ACC would claim the school owes the conference by filing its lawsuit.
“The ACC has cast a harmful cloud of doubt on Clemson’s ability to engage in meaningful discussions with other conferences and media providers regarding potential future collaborations and/or to negotiate alternative revenue sharing proposals among ACC members,” this week’s lawsuit reads. “For Clemson to move ahead and ensure that it may continue to act in furtherance of its institutional mission, that cloud must be lifted.”
