Two years ago, the Atlantic Coast Conference had Notre Dame right where it wanted them, and they didn’t close the deal. Now that the SEC and Big Ten have expanded to make the Power 5, the Power 2, they’ve left the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 scrambling to find a way to stay relevant as the current college football playoff model her course after the 2025 season.
What does this mean for Clemson? What should Clemson do?
After the pandemic hit in the spring of 2020, college football still figured out a way to have a season. Travel was not as easy as in years past due to the COVID restrictions in place.
Most conferences eliminated non-conference games, keeping everything at home. This reduced travel costs and allowed conferences to keep the virus contained within it to a minimum from member schools.
This made it very difficult for independents like Notre Dame to play football. In the end, the Irish worked out a deal — if you want to call it that — to join the ACC as a full member for just one year so Notre Dame could have a football season.
ACC finally got what it wanted. Notre Dame needed a home, and since it was already tied with the ACC in every sport except football and hockey, it couldn’t go anywhere else.
The ACC could have forced the Irish to permanently join the league as a football school, but it didn’t. Instead, it allowed Notre Dame to enter into an arrangement where the ACC gave the Irish a lot, but the Irish gave very little in return.
Two years later, the ACC looks back on that lack of judgment and wishes it had been firmer. If he would just call up Notre Dame and say, “We’ll help you, but only if you come and join our conference full time. If not, then good luck trying to make a schedule where nobody plays non-conference opponents.”
I’m not saying that would have forced Notre Dame’s hand and the Irish would have backed down, but it would have at least shown that the ACC has some fortitude and would have tried to at least push through.
Instead, the ACC gave up. Notre Dame got what it wanted. And now that USC and UCLA have decided to jump to the Big Ten in 2024, there’s a chance the Irish could join them.
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Notre Dame now holds the fate of the ACC in its own hands. The decision of the Irish to remain independent, at least for now, will allow everything to stay in place. With rights granted by the ACC running through 2036, its full-time members are likely to stay put for now as they try to avoid a fee that could cost them more than $300 million in TV revenue if they join SEC or Big Ten.
If Notre Dame decides to join the ACC full-time, which doesn’t seem likely, then the ACC will have the negotiating power it needs to rekindle its deal with ESPN and try to at least get closer to the TV dollars of the SEC and the Big Ten will draw on its new television packages.
If Notre Dame joins the Big Ten, which could happen, then all bets are off. And it’s every school for themselves and we could see the demise of the ACC.
It was reported earlier this week that the ACC and Pac-12 were talking about some sort of alliance that would allow them to enter into a joint television deal with ESPN. This plan, which supposedly comes from the ACC, sounds hackneyed and desperate at best.
It also shows that ACC schools have expressed their willingness to eventually leave the ACC if commissioner Jim Phillips and the conference don’t ease their concerns and find a way to compete for TV revenue with the SEC and Big Ten.
Phillips reportedly met with the league’s athletic directors and presidents on several different occasions this past week. I can tell you that Clemson is not sitting idly by and waiting.
The Clemson Board of Trustees met Friday to discuss several action items that had nothing to do with the ACC or conference expansion. However, as The Journal’s Riley Morningstar reported, the BOT went into executive session to discuss the items listed on the announced agenda as well as “obtain legal advice related to matters covered by the attorney-client privilege.”
It seems obvious that Clemson is putting in place or already has a plan.
Remember, if the ACC begins negotiations with ESPN and the Pac-12, then Clemson and any other ACC school that wants out of the conference will have their opportunity to abandon ship.
And in my opinion, if the ACC tries to align itself with the Pac-12, especially with all the travel that can be included for its non-revenue sports, then Clemson needs to get out and get out fast. Nothing good will come of the ACC and Pac-12 partnering, at least not anything that will compete with what the SEC and Big Ten will do.
Clemson can’t afford to be left behind and I doubt it will.