JD PicKell: What needs to happen for the ACC to come to an agreement with teams

The ACC is divided, with a group of seven schools — dubbed the “Magnificent Seven” — trying to get a bigger media payout. The group, comprised of Miami, Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia and Virginia Tech, are exploring possibly leaving the conference in pursuit of more money.

However, the ACC’s current media rights deal — which runs through 2036 — is viewed by a number of analysts and experts as more or less unbreakable, or at least too financially burdensome to break. Even still, On3’s J.D. PicKell thinks the end game will still involve the unhappy parties finding a way to split from the conference.

“To have half the ACC trying to make a move here, I think that means something. I think that will bode well for it getting done. You have too many people with too much power wanting change for this to just stay stagnant. To say, ‘Yep, sorry. Grant of rights, ironclad. Ironclad, can’t get through. Sorry, you’re going to have to wait 10 years, wait 13 years, whatever it ends up being.’ I don’t think that’ll happen,” PicKell said. “So, I think that the magnificent seven, Florida State, Clemson, NC State, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech all have a legitimate case. I think they will find a way out of this. And the timeline, I don’t know, but this was going to happen at some point.”

While Florida State and Clemson might be publicly heading up this movement, PicKell noted that half the league being on the same page signals there’s enough political will to make a change.

“Sounds like they’re leading the charge, but right now you have half the conference in the ACC saying ‘How do we get out of this? Hey, you’re smart. You’re a lawyer, you went to law school, passed the bar. How do we get out of this? You know more than us, let’s talk about this.’ That’s the conversation being had right now and it’s not just one school,” PicKell said.

PicKell ultimately thinks the ACC gets something done to either raise the payout for the seven schools or allow them to exit the league.

But Syracuse, Pitt, Boston College, Louisville, Duke, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest (and Notre Dame) will surely have something to say about it before a deal is done.

In the end, it could shake down somewhat like Texas and Oklahoma’s collective exit from the Big 12. For a while it appeared the rivals wouldn’t be exiting the league early. In short order, a deal was done and the Longhorns and Sooners will be in the SEC.

PicKell could see a similar result for the ACC.

“Remember how quickly that happened? I mean, there are so many people with power and money and motivation to get this done. But at the same time, the room isn’t that big. This is not a thing where we need like, 5000 people to all be on the same page,” PicKell said. “I think it’s a small number of people need to come to an agreement and they need to figure out a way through this grant of rights. What I’m trying to say is I think it’s going to happen.”