The premise of Florida State’s lawsuit with the ACC all along was to seek out more revenue for its brand as well as determine a buyout amount if it were to exit the conference before 2036.
At the end of an 18-month legal battle — with court cases in three states between FSU, Clemson and the league — a resolution was reached to end the lengthy and expensive lawsuit. FSU spent more than $4.5 million in legal fees but got the answers it was seeking.
On Thursday, FSU released a 68-page PDF, which it called the “public version” of the settlement, as part of an open records request filed by the Osceola and other news outlets. Some chunks of the document are blacked out, with the notation “Trade Secrets Redacted Pursuant to Florida Law” and also listed four Florida statutes.
Much of the document confirms reporting by the Osceola and other news outlets in the weeks following the settlement on March 4. Some highlights of the document are below:
Most notably, a withdrawal chart outlines how much any school must pay the ACC to depart before the end of the television contract with ESPN on June 30, 2036. By June 1 of each year, an official notice of withdrawal sent to each of the ACC members as well as the commissioner must be filed that gives an official 12-month notice of departure from the league. (The prior date to inform of a departure was Aug. 15 annually.)
If FSU were to inform the ACC and its schools of a departure ahead of the 2029-30 fiscal year, the school would owe $93 million. Waiting an additional year would be $75 million. These years are important as they represent the approximate points where long-term deals with the SEC and Big Ten expire, which could prompt a major round of conference realignment or creation of larger superleagues.
This annual-step decrease is also the departure amount FSU was seeking, and it’s a significant drop from the $165 million that would be owed for a withdrawal in 2025-26. (See screenshot from the settlement document below with chart of withdrawal.)
The ACC’s success incentives are also outlined, with additional football revenues attainable if a school is selected for the College Football Playoff ($4 million) with an additional $4 million to the quarterfinal, $6 million for the semifinals and $6 million for reaching the championship game.
“Viewership distribution” has also been defined as part of the settlement, with football factoring in at 75 percent and men’s basketball at 25 percent. Schools will earn a 40 percent annual base payout as part of the ACC’s TV distribution, but “60 percent of annual base media revenue will establish the annual viewership distribution total amount, after withholding amounts attributed to the ACC’s Success Incentive Policy.”
This means schools like FSU and Clemson, both of which are valued for the high ratings, should benefit over the next five years from the “viewership distribution.”
After the base payouts to recent additions California, Stanford and SMU, “each ACC school shall then receive a viewership distribution proportional to their percentage of the ACC’s total viewership from qualified events in football and men’s basketball over the previous five years according to the annual weighting.”
Notre Dame is not eligible for viewership distribution from the allocation to football unless they join the ACC as a football member. The school is an ACC member in all sports but football and hockey.
The document was signed by FSU president Richard McCullough on May 24. Every ACC school’s president or chancellor signed the document, as did commissioner Jim Phillips.
