ACC media rights deal with ESPN reportedly buried its own grave as 20-year GoR financially binds FSU to pay hefty price

The ACC media rights deal is one of the biggest stories in the college football world right now. The conference is amid a 20-year agreement with ESPN, but things reportedly are not looking good regarding its media deal.

There is a report that ESPN, the Atlantic Coast Conference's media rights partner, has potentially set the conference up for failure.

A big portion of the story is the discussion surrounding the grant of rights deal and how it being part of the contract makes it almost impossible for teams to leave the conference.

One detail of the ACC media rights deal that is now being thrown to the forefront is the fact in an ESPN article discussing the agreement in 2016, a school's media rights for all home games will remain with the ACC even if a program leaves the conference throughout the length of the media rights deal.

That wrinkle makes some teams feel trapped in the Atlantic Coast Conference, as even if they leave the conference, they still are not subject to their own revenue.

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Why would teams agree to the ACC media rights deal with this part of it?

A fair question is, if ESPN or the conference included that clause in the ACC media rights deal, why would the teams agree to it? Well, there are a few reasons why.

One of the more obvious explanations is that teams that are part of any college conference do not sign a deal, thinking of how it would affect a potential exit from the league. Another possibility is that ESPN or the conference itself could have said removing that clause would be a non-starter to negotiations.

However, those are plausible explanations but not the main reason. The most likely answer is that the Atlantic Coast Conference placed the clause so it did not need to worry about dipping below 15 members. This allows ESPN to renegotiate the media rights deal and likely would significantly decrease the revenue that the agreement would make.

With the Florida State Seminoles already having a lawsuit in place in an attempt to nullify the grant of rights and other programs considering the legal battle as well, things look shaky for the ACC. Could the conference continue to hold an estimated $572 million exit fee plus a grant of rights deal over programs' heads, or will the court nullify it?