Here's a copy of the contract keeping the ACC together for now

A very short contract currently binds the Atlantic Coast Conference schools together.

2022-07-05

A 2013 Grant of Rights agreement between the league's schools runs less than four pages, but the contract grants the league home media rights from each school "whether such Member Institution remains a member of the Conference during the entirety of the term."

WRAL obtained a copy of the ACC's 2013 Grant of Rights agreement, which was based on a contract extension between the ACC and ESPN dated May 9, 2012. The agreement covers all 15 current league schools, runs through June 30, 2027 and was signed by former UNC Chancellor H. Holden Thorp on April 19, 2013.

In 2016, the ACC extended its grant of rights through the 2035-36 academic year as part of a 20-year agreement with ESPN that included the launch of the ACC Network. WRAL does not have a copy of any amended grant of rights agreement.

"Each of the Member Institutions acknowledges that the grant of Rights during the entire Term is irrevocable and effective until the end of the Term regardless of whether the Member Institution withdraws from the Conference during the Term or otherwise ceases to participate as a member of the Conference," the agreement reads.

In other words, the schools not only would lose the money they receive for media rights from the ACC, but they'd forfeit any media rights money from their new conference. The agreement applied to the league's current members and accepted members at the time. It also applies to future members, who would have to accept the agreement as part of a condition for joining the league.

The document says it was required for ESPN to "offer additional consideration to the Conference."

The latest big moves in college athletics have been tied to the end of grant of rights agreements. Big 12 members Oklahoma and Texas announced last year that they would leave for the SEC after the Big 12's grant of rights expires on June 30, 2025. The schools could negotiate an earlier exit. Pac-12 members USC and UCLA announced last week they would leave for the Big Ten after the Pac-12's grant of rights expire on June 30, 2024.

The grant of rights are tied to the expiration of television contracts in the case of the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12.

The defections of huge brands to the SEC and Big Ten have set off a new round of conference realignment. With those two conference expected to command huge television contracts, their annual payouts to league members are expected to dwarf those to schools in the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12. No ACC school has announced its departure.

The ACC generated a conference-record $578 million in the 2020-21 fiscal year, according to federal tax documents. The conference distributed an average of $36.1 million to its schools, including Notre Dame which was a full member of the ACC in 2020 due to the pandemic. Notre Dame shared money from its NBC contract for home football games with the league that year.

The SEC, by contrast, had a record $777.8 million in revenue and distributed $55 million per schools. Those figures will grow after a new lucrative agreement with ESPN replaces its below-market deal with CBS for an exclusive Saturday afternoon football game and, likely again, when Texas and Oklahoma join the league. Some project the Big Ten will distribute more than $100 million annually to league members when its new television contract kicks in.

The ACC is locked into its deal with ESPN for another 14 years. Unlike typical coaches' contracts which include langauge about what happens if the agreement is terminated by either side, the short document does not include any explicit instructions for how a school or schools would attempt to exit the agreement.

In the 2013 agreement, the "current members" of the ACC were Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, N.C. State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, while Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Notre Dame and Louisville were "accepted members."