ACC, Clemson, Florida State approve settlement to end legal fight, change revenue-distribution model

The Atlantic Coast Conference, Clemson and Florida State have approved a settlement that would end their legal fights, change the league’s revenue-distribution model and revise the long-term costs for a school to leave the conference.

Trustees at Clemson and FSU both signed off on the deal in Tuesday meetings. That came shortly after the ACC’s Board of Directors — made up of university presidents and chancellors — gave its OK, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the league and schools had not publicly addressed the settlement at the time.

Most notably, the revenue-distribution model will now incorporate TV viewership as a way for the league’s top programs to generate more revenue. It also provides a clarity on the league’s exit fee and grant-of-rights agreement that runs through the ACC’s TV deal with ESPN through 2036.

Specifically, a slideshow during a presentation to Clemson’s trustees reported the exit fee would be $165 million for the 2026 fiscal year, but would descend by $18 million per year until leveling off around $75 million for the 2030-31 season. While a grant-of-rights agreement gives the league control of a school’s media rights, the deal would allow a school to exit with its media rights after paying the exit fee, according to that presentation.

The agreement offers a measure of stability for the league in the coming years, though with the longer-term risk of teams potentially deciding to leave in the final years of the current media deal in a time of rapid changes to the college landscape.

“At the end of the day, this innovative distribution model which further incentivizes performance and investment will help strengthen the ACC,” Clemson athletic director Graham Neff told trustees before the vote. “A strong ACC is good for Clemson. And a strong Clemson is good for the ACC.”

The exit costs had been a key subject of FSU’s December 2023 lawsuit, filed as it sought to explore potential membership in other leagues, and Clemson’s March 2024 lawsuit. The ACC had conversely sued both schools.

“I got hundreds of emails and text messages and phone calls from friends and people I didn’t know over the last 13 months encouraging us in this journey and I’m proud of where we’ve landed,” FSU trustee and former Seminoles quarterback Drew Weatherford said during that meeting.

“We made some commitments 14 months ago to make sure we could do everything in our power to compete at the highest level, and I think we’ve done that here.”

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AP Sports Writers Will Graves in Pittsburgh and Mark Long in Florida contributed to this report.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll