It seems like the Clemson Tigers have found a potential way out of the ACC and the Grant of Rights that have been keeping them in. In 2013, the ACC got new members as it was expanding and decided to ask its members to sign a document called the "Grant of Rights".
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In simple terms, this meant that the ACC would own the broadcast rights to all of its member schools’ home games. The agreement runs until 2036 and basically secures that the schools are stuck until that time.
Back in May, it was reported by Yahoo Sports Ross Dellenger that several schools, including Clemson and Florida State, were meeting with lawyers to explore the feasibility of leaving. This was confirmed by Brett McMurphy at the time.
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The rumor mill has begun to churn once more. The Post and Courier's Gene Sapakoff released an article on Wednesday in which an unnamed Clemson official is cited as saying the following when asked if the school is poised to make an announcement about leaving its conference: "Stay very tuned... Sooner than later."
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Experts immediately started wondering what had changed in the Clemson situation from a few months back. CBS Sports Radio's Marc Ryan offered one plausible answer. Clemson must have discovered a way to circumvent the Grant of Rights.
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According to Ryan, they are pursuing a strength-in-numbers strategy to break away from the ACC. North Carolina, Florida State, Miami, and Georgia Tech were named as other colleges attempting to break away, while Clemson and Florida State were rumored to have approached the SEC for membership.
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On September 1, the ACC voted to welcome three new schools with Stanford, California, and SMU joining the conference. The deal was made by carving the corpse of the Pac-12 and removing two out of four schools that made that storied conference.
Stanford and California were left gasping for breath as their league crumbled, as USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado joined the Big Ten, while Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah joined the Big 12. They were left seeking for a new home for the better part of August until they found it in the ACC.
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The SMU Mustangs, for their part, had been looking for a way into a Power Five league for a long time and joined up with the California institutions to give themselves the best opportunity. The California Golden Bears and Stanford helped fulfill their ambitions of joining a Power Five conference.
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At the time, people were left thinking this only spelled doom for the Pac-12, which was left only with Oregon State and Washington State. But now, in hindsight, this is a deal that will potentially save their new conference, if the news of Clemson leaving gets confirmed and other departures that might follow it.
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