Clemson Football: More conference realignment could be on the horizon

Today is the day that California, SMU, and Stanford are officially members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Meanwhile, two programs – Clemson and Florida State – are currently suing the league while being countersued by the league.

The two subjects are tied together. One of the most often reported reasons that the ACC ultimately decided to approve the addition of the three new members was because the league would need new members if Clemson and Florida State left. ESPN could force a renegotiation of the ACC contract if league membership fell below a minimum level.

Now that the league has hit a high-water mark of seventeen full members (with non-football playing member Notre Dame on top of that), the next question is whether any schools could be leaving soon.

We might get that answer within the next few weeks. The deadline for programs to leave the ACC at the end of the 2024-25 athletic season is in mid-August 2024. The deadline last year fell on August 15th.

We now stand roughly six weeks from that deadline. We are not likely to see any resolutions to the legal entanglements between the schools and the league, but it is possible that either Clemson or Florida State could decide that early rulings and discovery favor their positions against the ACC.

If the Tigers or Seminoles feel confident in their ability to challenge the Grant of Rights or negotiate a settlement, it is realistic that either school could give the ACC notice that they intend to leave.

Josh Pate from CBS Sports hosts The Late Kick Podcast, and he discussed the potential changes that could be coming in the next few weeks.

While Pate couldn’t point at specific evidence that a change could be coming, he said he does have contacts within the legal community that have insight on the subject and they have suggested that movement could begin sooner rather than later.

Pate has been hinting at such things for a couple of weeks on X.

Pate is a well-known name in the college football talk industry but he isn’t an insider, and he is upfront about that during his podcast. He is not, however, an X account that throws random things against the wall in the hopes that something will stick and they can later claim to be the person who predicted all along.

Pate is also quite clear about the most likely move. He mentions Florida State possibly leaving the ACC. He does not specifically refer to Clemson. This does fit with past patterns. FSU has always been bolder about its desire to exit the ACC. The Seminoles launched their lawsuits against the ACC before Clemson.

It is also important to note that just because Pate has sources on the legal side that suggest a move is imminent, plans could change. All it could take is a decision in either school’s case against the conference that could change their perceptions of their positions.

If the bombshell move by either school does not happen before mid-August, it could be several months before we hear anything else on the subject.