Clemson lawsuit over $140 million exit fee penalty backfires as ACC legally challenges FBS powerhouse amid rumors of teams leaving Atlantic coast

The Clemson Tigers made headlines in the college football world after filing a lawsuit against the Atlantic Coast Conference in a bid to make its exit from the ACC. The program sued the ACC on Tuesday in South Carolina court, joining the Florida State Seminoles in a legal battle over the Grants of Rights deal that runs through 2036.

Now, according to a new report, the ACC has retaliated to Clemson's lawsuit and has filed a challenge in North Carolina court. The conference filed a complaint on Wednesday, arguing that since the contracts in the league are North Carolina contracts, the legal dispute should be within the jurisdiction of the same and not South Carolina or Florida.

The legal challenge that the ACC filed starts with quoting Clemson's President James Clement's statements back in 2016 describing the amended Grants of Rights and the agreement with ESPN.

"The ACC is a great conference, and this increases the national exposure, brings in additional revenue and offers great opportunities for student athletes...For us and the Florida State and others, it stabilizes the conference long term."

In the complaint, the ACC argues that the Tigers cannot get out of the Grants of Rights or the exit fee levied for leaving the conference. This is similar to the arguments they had for Florida State's lawsuit. The ACC wanted six declarations in their complaint:

1. The withdrawal payment to leave the conference is valid and enforceable over the program.
2. The program's GOR is exclusive and irrevocable.
3. The program is stopped from attacking the GOR or the withdrawal payment for acting as a member institution under the GOR for over a decade.
4. The program owes fiduciary duties to the conference as a member institution.
5. Seeks damages for breach of Grant of Rights.
6. Seeks damages for breach of 'good faith' and 'fair dealing'.

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What does Clemson demand in their lawsuit?

According to a tweet posted by Rob Dellenger, the Tigers had three major demands with the hopes of the court ruling in their favor. The first ruling was to remove the ACC's rights to their broadcast after they left the conference.

The second was to nullify the nine-figure exit fee that they needed to pay to leave the conference and the third demand was to have no fiduciary duties to the conference following their departure.

The ACC conference is now in a fight to avoid a fate similar to the Pac-12 in the college athletics scenario. It will be interesting to see how this event unfolds in the coming days.