Clemson’s value recently increased. It may have triggered suit against ACC.

Well we knew it was coming. Another school is sueing to try and get out of the ACC. This time it was Clemson.

As many expected to happen, Clemson joins Florida State in filing a lawsuit against the ACC in a likely initial step to exiting the conference.

We wrote briefly about it two weeks ago in the below storyhttps://t.co/uD8HXYlkxv https://t.co/OqtHaQ2cC0

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) March 19, 2024

Speaking as a Clemson grad, and season ticket holder – if they end up in the Big 12, those season tickets will be sold. I would assume Clemson feels comfortable enough that their potential future home is in the Big 10 or SEC.

They may have good reason to think that as well. Clemson was always one of the top expansion candidates for the ACC, but recently their value significantly increased.

With the announcement of the new CFP deal through 2031-2032  via ESPN, the payouts to the SEC and Big 10 further separate those two conferences from everyone else.

The financial distribution for the expected 14-team playoff will look radically different. On an annual basis, for example, Big Ten and SEC schools will each be making more than $21 million — a drastic increase from the nearly $5.5 million that schools in Power 5 conferences are currently being paid.

In the ACC, the schools will get more than $13 million annually and Big 12 schools will get more than $12 million each. Notre Dame is expected to get more than $12 million as well and sources told ESPN there will be a financial incentive for any independent team that reaches the CFP.

The Big 10 and SEC valuations were partially based on the historical appearances of their members in the CFP in the last decade.

Which school has more appearances in the CFP over the last decade that isn’t the SEC or Big 10?

That would be Clemson. Suddenly the conference that ends up with Clemson garners another 6 CFP appearances. When that 2028 renegotiation happens, that’s even more separation from the Big 12, ACC, and everyone else.

I’d expect Clemson to make the playoffs a couple of more times between now and then.

Throw away what you know about duplicating markets, and cable subscribers. The next increase in dollars for a conference appears to be playoff dollars.

That’s where Clemson has the most value. While the suit to get out was always coming, Clemson went from an attractive expansion candidate to possibly 1 or 2 from the ACC – all based on the recent playoff distribution.

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