The mass conference realignment ahead of last season turned college football on its head. Some of the biggest programs, even bluebloods, chose to diverge from their stations and then converge elsewhere. It led to the historic PAC-12 dissipating into thin air. A historic conference that was etched into CFB lore. Yet, it fell victim to modernization and, let’s be frank, money. A year on from this, another Power conference faces the same fate. As a result, they’re taking steps to avoid calamity. But in salvaging the present, they may have ruined their future.

When USC President Carol Folt pushed for her football program to join the Big 10 instead, she started a trend. Oregon, among others, followed suit, and then it also reverberated across from the Pacific coast to the south. Texas and Oklahoma, two behemoths, joined the SEC. All of this was essentially a ploy to maximize earnings from TV broadcasters. The cost of admission? Leave tradition and loyalties at the door. 2 schools, namely Florida State and Clemson, have been trying to get out of the ACC. Mike Norvell and Dabo Swinney fear falling behind the competition owing to members of the SEC and Big 10 racking in more money than them. In a desperate attempt to keep the big boys around, the ACC may have made a rod for their own back.

The ACC has signed an extension with ESPN to broadcast games up till 2036. Now the exact figures of this deal are veiled behind convoluted literature. However, each of the 17 members is poised to receive roughly $25 million as dividends each year as part of a $425 million payout. This number is only going to ramp up as years pass. However, certain stipulations have reportedly been added with a view to giving more money to the “bigger” schools.

Ones that pull more eyeballs in front of TV screens and ESPN. If members are paid out differently, it will inadvertently create a divide among the conference. Not only will it ruin the sanctity of fair competition, but it could also create a domino effect across other conferences. The existence of such a stipulation and its repercussions were discussed on the College Football Addiction YouTube Channel.

Host TJ Pittinger said, “The agreement that the ACC may come to with Florida State and Clemson is that they may lop some of the years off of the Grant of Rights penalties. Let them basically get out [Of the ACC deal] a little earlier, and they’re going to increase the revenue now. They’ve already done this through success initiatives, but they’re going to increase the potential revenue for the bigger brands.”

TJ also mentioned UNC with Bill Belichick and Miami becoming potential beneficiaries of this clause. As a Florida State fan, Pittinger acknowledged that this discrepancy of payment will be great for his Mike Norvell and co. They’ll be able to trample the competition on the recruitment front once revenue sharing kicks in. However, he also kept bias aside and remarked how it’s a poisoned chalice in the long run.

Pittinger said, “Is that really good for college football in general? Because what happens when Deion [Sanders] goes to the Big 12 and says, ‘Hey, you see what they’re doing over in [the ACC]? We got better ratings than the rest of the conference combined some weeks’” He also name-dropped Michigan, Georgia, and Texas, approaching their respective conferences and asking for more revenue since they’re bigger TV products.

“The problem it fixes for Florida State, if it goes through, suddenly becomes a problem again. If everybody else starts making more money,” This assessment implies that the process could become cyclic and solve absolutely nothing. This doesn’t even delve into a whole different can of worms. About how the other schools will rally against this and have legal grounds for action. With all these problems in the pipeline, are FSU and Clemson even getting what they bargained for?

Mike Norvell and FSU lured with more meat on the bone, but they’ll actually continue starving

FSU has been on record for wanting out of the ACC. They foresee the sport moving towards a Power 2 of the B1G and the SEC and know they’re at risk of being left behind. Even if Mike Norvell’s Seminoles are paid a bigger piece of the proverbial revenue pie, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. The figures will be nowhere near what members of the other two conferences rake in.

The aforementioned YouTube channel relayed the estimated figures of how much each program stands to make depending on which conference they’re in. For instance, an SEC member will get paid a share of about $102 million from the ESPN money in 2028. Conversely, an ACC team stands to make $52 million.

Over a long period, this figure becomes so big that it’ll cause the likes of Clemson and FSU to fall behind in the pecking order. Other members as well, but these two are blue-chip programs that cannot afford a discrepancy of this sort. The handicap on the recruitment front will be unassailable. Even if this $52 million gets bumped up to, say, $70 million, the difference is still vast.

So, as it stands, it seems like the ACC’s decision to sweeten the deal for a couple of schools actually helps nobody. It’s a middle ground that will leave all parties involved with persistent problems. On top of new ones. If Mike Norvell’s FSU and Dabo Swinney’s Clemson don’t become instant contenders, the ACC is setting a poor precedent for the other conferences, and the rest of the ACC is going to rebel. It remains to be seen what comes of this, but the signs do not bode well with this stopgap solution.