9 ACC schools lock eyes on FSU's $572 million GOR as legal tussle might lead to ACC collapse in chapter of conference realignment

The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) has been dealing with a lot of issues over the last few months, and the legal battle between the conference and the Florida State Seminoles could create many issues.

The ACC is trying to fight in court to keep the grant of rights deal, which the Seminoles are fighting that it's not legal. They say that it creates a barrier for programs to leave the conference unless they pay an estimated $572 million.

College football insider Greg Swaim has reported that we may know more about the case in the next 30 days and that the ACC may know its chances to hold onto the grant of rights are dwindling.

That will be very interesting to see, with nine other programs leaving the conference, as his hashtags indicate. It could mean the end of the Atlantic Coast Conference, but only time will tell.

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What will the ACC do if Florida State University wins the legal battle?

If the ACC is unable to win the legal battle against the Florida State Seminoles, it could spell the ending of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The main reason the grant of rights deal was inserted into the contract for teams in the first place was for the conference to get as close to a guarantee as legally possible so that the teams in the conference would not leave in conference realignment.

However, their media rights deal requires the conference to have 15 full-time members at all times, otherwise the media rights partner could open a renegotiation clause for less money.

If Florida State figures out a way to win the case and leave the conference, nothing could stop other significant programs from following suit.

If that happens, expect to see ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips on the phone with the American Conference or another Group of Five conference to merge and keep the members where the television deal is not jeopardized.

At this point, there would not be too many teams interested in a conference that's a lot closer to looking like the Pac-12 than any other Power Five conference in college football.