Clemson football: 5 biggest questions about ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 alliance

The Clemson football team is busy preparing for the start of the 2021 season, but there is something bigger happening behind the scenes that could affect the program for years to come.

The SEC added Oklahoma and Texas to its member institutions a few weeks ago and there has been plenty of speculation as to how the other conferences would go about responding to the SEC’s power move.

Now, the next reported move might be the one many have been waiting for.

It was reported on Friday that the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 were having “high-level discussions” about forming an alliance. The conferences have had multiple conversations about the potential alliance and what it might look like.

Today, we’re going to take a look at the biggest questions on how it might affect Clemson.

Five biggest questions for Clemson football with the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 alliance

1. How do television rights play out?

The Pac-12 and Big Ten have deals with both FOX and ESPN. The ACC has a deal with ESPN and the network owns its conference grant of rights.

We’re not so unsure about how television rights play out for individual games– it would be the same as if Clemson had scheduled a non-conference game with Ohio State on its own– but what we’re intrigued by is the revenue that would come out of these games if the three conferences allied.

Would it be worth it?

For example: Is Pittsburgh vs. California going to bring in enough television revenue to make the alliance worth while? The whole point of this alliance is to combat the power of the SEC and one of the ways that is done is through revenue.

How do television rights play out? That’s one of the biggest questions we have in all of this, but it’s certainly not the only one.