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After months of politicking, Florida State took its first official step toward leaving the ACC on Friday.

Spurred into action by a College Football Playoff snub earlier this month, FSU voted to sue the ACC over the grant of rights. The school alleged restraint of trade, breach of contract and failure to perform over what it describes as years of mismanagement that has locked ACC schools in a ‘deteriorating’ media rights agreement while preventing schools from leaving with ‘draconian’ withdrawal penalties.

Translation: Florida State is ready to depart.

But can it? Here are the most pressing questions after Friday’s decision put Florida State into uncharted waters as the first school to challenge a grant of rights agreement in court.

Why is Florida State doing this now?

Florida State has made it clear that missing the College Football Playoff is not the only reason this is happening. The school has not been shy about stating its displeasure with the conference, and it vowed in August that something had to be done about its future sooner rather than later.

Missing the CFP was the last straw. At that point, the board felt the university simply could not wait any longer to take action. Florida State has been working on its legal argument since the summer. Had Florida State made the playoff, the school would have still challenged the grant of rights at some point in 2024. At its board meeting in August, trustee Justin Roth asked for an exit plan to leave the ACC by August 2024.

How much would leaving the ACC cost?

In the lawsuit, Florida State estimates it would cost $572 million to leave the ACC without a legal victory or settlement. It would forfeit $429 million in media rights through 2036, when the ACC contract with ESPN expires; $13 million in unreimbursed broadcast fees; and an exit fee of $130 million (three times the league’s total operating budget).

What is a grant of rights again? And why is it so important?

The grant of rights is a legal document signed by each current member of the ACC that transfers ownership of media rights from the school to the conference. What this means is that the ACC, not Florida State — or any other member school — owns the rights to broadcasts of games. Schools signed this in 2013 as a reaction to the departure of Maryland to the Big Ten, under the rationale that the grant of rights acts as an insurance policy that would prevent anyone from leaving the league during the duration of the agreement, which in this case is through 2036, because a school without TV revenue would have little value to any other conference or enough revenue to stand as an independent.

In other realignment scenarios, schools either waited out the grant of rights (the Pac-12’s agreement ends in summer 2024) or paid a hefty buyout to leave early (Texas and Oklahoma paid $50 million each to the Big 12 to leave that agreement just one year early).

For Florida State — or any other team looking to leave the ACC — the dollars and duration are far more imposing. With 12 seasons remaining on the existing deal after this school year, the Seminoles would need to either wait far longer than they feel is acceptable or pay a nearly impossible buyout to get their media rights back. And this is in addition to the exit fee.

Hence, option No. 3: Go to court and hope to find a legal framework for exiting sooner and at a lower cost.

What are people saying about FSU’s chances of winning?

The short answer is no one knows. One high-level administrator who has worked with legal teams to evaluate various grant of rights agreements said there are potential legal avenues that could negate the contract, but the truth is no school has ever tried to challenge a modern grant of rights in court, and no one is quite certain how a judge might interpret legal arguments.

While the grant of rights and the league’s TV contract are different documents, there is some overlap, and, as one league administrator noted, with the additions of Cal, Stanford and SMU, the ACC has enough teams to insulate itself against a dissolution of the TV deal even if FSU departs. In a technical sense, that means FSU could leave without costing any other schools TV revenue through 2036.

On the other hand, the loss of FSU would certainly devalue the overall product in the minds of TV partners, and no one would see Florida State for Cal, Stanford and SMU as an even trade.

Moreover, “winning,” in this case, is a nebulous term. Certainly Florida State hopes for a ruling that would entirely negate the grant of rights and the exit fee. Its lawyers argue in the filing that both are “unreasonable restraints of trade in the State of Florida.” They argue that the GOR and withdrawal penalty “operate in a way that prevents Florida State from competing and making the highest and best use of its media rights, and restrains the trade thereof which directly and adversely impacts not just Florida State, but all its student-athletes, coaches, staff and employees connected with its athletic programs.”

But even a favorable ruling would invariably be followed by appeals from the ACC or lawsuits from other member schools. Fighting this to the end figures to be extremely ugly for all parties concerned, so the best outcome might be a negotiated exit fee that would recoup some portion of FSU’s media valuation but not require the Seminoles to pay the whole amount.

Did any other ACC schools think about joining FSU in this suit?

The ACC has been split into various factions since Texas and Oklahoma announced their intended move from the Big 12 to the SEC in summer 2021. A seven-school contingent made waves in spring 2023, effectively pushing the league toward an agreement on imbalanced revenue sharing. Another included a narrower, four-school network of Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina and Miami, seen as the four most valuable commodities should they all hit the market, although UNC athletics director Bubba Cunningham was perhaps FSU’s loudest critic in August when the Seminoles made noise about leaving, and Virginia appears to have eclipsed Miami over the past year as a viable realignment candidate. Then there’s the dialogue between FSU and Clemson, which multiple sources have described as “working in lockstep” for the better part of the past two years as they considered their options.

Still, FSU’s decision was made alone.

Clemson — and perhaps others — could follow Florida State’s lead, but for the time being, those schools are content to let the Seminoles test the uncertain waters and take the initial heat for the decision.

Ultimately, only a handful of ACC teams are likely to have greener pastures elsewhere, but learning just how bulletproof the grant of rights is would be of interest to all 15 existing members. Florida State would welcome other league schools to join and fight the GOR together.

What would happen to the ACC if Florida State leaves?

It’s impossible to know the answer without knowing how many other schools might try to follow FSU’s lead, but the league watched the demise of the Pac-12 this past summer with enough wariness that 12 school presidents voted to add Stanford, Cal and SMU to the league to help shore up its numbers to protect its TV contract.

Aside from Clemson, North Carolina and perhaps one or two others, there’s little incentive for any other ACC schools to leave in the short term. For one thing, there’s not another landing spot that would provide TV revenue (not to mention a TV network) that would match what the league currently has — with or without FSU. Moreover, schools that stick it out would be able to get their cut of the exit fees and media rights buyout from any programs that depart — an amount that could serve as a nice golden parachute long term.

And, as one ACC athletic director told ESPN, the future of the top level of college football is so uncertain at the moment that it’s entirely possible the entire system will get upended in the next three to five years anyway, so waiting out the coming storm long enough to better project what constitutes a safe harbor might be the wisest course of action.

There is one caveat to all of this. The lawsuit claims that the ACC’s current deal with ESPN contains a unilateral option for the TV network in 2027 that must be exercised by February 2025 to extend the deal to 2036. So, if that were the case, ESPN could walk away from the deal in 14 months. Although the grant of rights is a separate document from the television contract, the two are tied together. If ESPN walks away, does that mean the grant of rights is no longer valid because there is no longer a multimedia rights deal? Or does the grant of rights carry on through 2036 no matter what? That remains unclear.

What comes next?

Under the Florida rules of civil procedure, the ACC has 20 days to file a response, which could be a motion to dismiss. Because of the holidays, the league could ask for an extension of 30 days. There are several potential outcomes to watch for: a summary judgment motion, in which a judge decides the outcome of the contract; mediation in which the ACC and Florida State work out their differences; a negotiated settlement; or a jury trial, which would happen if both sides continue to litigate with no end in sight. What remains unknown right now is what approach the ACC will take to fight this in court. The league could ask for a judge to dismiss the case with one simple argument: Florida State willingly signed the grant of rights twice: in 2013, and then again in 2016 when the league’s long-term deal with ESPN was announced.

Those briefed on the discussions are not expecting this to be resolved quickly.

What is a timeline for an ultimate resolution here?

As one ACC AD told ESPN, realignment has ruined the past two summers, and they already told their staff not to let this latest unrest unravel any holiday plans. The takeaway: This is just the start of a very, very long process.

The majority of administrators who spoke with ESPN said they expected it would be at least two to three years before any final resolution, and given the dollar figures at stake and the existential threat FSU’s departure presents to the league, neither side has much incentive to roll over without a serious fight.

Where could Florida State ultimately end up?

To be clear, Florida State does not have an invitation to join another conference right now. Before being publicly available, the grant of rights must be resolved. But let’s play this out if Florida State becomes a free agent.

The ideal conference might be the Big Ten — where it would give that league its first foothold in Florida, and allow the conference to challenge the SEC by making inroads south. Florida State president Richard McCullough arrived in 2021 from Harvard and has been working hard for admission to the Association of American Universities, which is valued by the Big Ten. A majority of the league’s schools are AAU members.

Florida State would not be choosy, though, and would certainly welcome an invite to the SEC, which would needle in-state rival Florida.

But there is one wild-card scenario out there. If a judge rules in favor of Florida State, the school would be forced to withdraw from the ACC and leave the league at the end of that athletic year. If that happens before the SEC or Big Ten is ready to expand, the Big 12 would be the only option remaining.

It is important to note here that the entire reason the ACC pushed for its schools to sign a grant of rights is because Florida State flirted with leaving the league in 2012 for … the Big 12.

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Stars’ Hintz remains game-time call for Game 4

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Stars' Hintz remains game-time call for Game 4

EDMONTON, Alberta — Dallas Stars forward Roope Hintz remains a game-time decision ahead of Game 4 of the Western Conference Final on Tuesday.

The club’s top skater has been sidelined since Game 2 in the series when he took a slash to the left leg from Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse. Hintz took part in warmups before Game 3 on Sunday but exited early and was ruled out. He was back on the ice for Dallas’ optional practice on Monday and told reporters he was “feeling good” and “trying to do everything I can” to get back in for Game 4.

It was early in the third period of Game 2 when Hintz — parked in front of the Oilers’ net — shoved Nurse from behind, and the Oilers’ blueliner responded by swinging his stick at Hintz’s leg. Hintz was down on the ice for several minutes after that before being helped off by Lian Bichsel and Mikael Granlund.

Nurse received a two-minute penalty for the slash on Hintz but no supplementary discipline from the league. The blueliner addressed the incident for the first time Tuesday, explaining it didn’t come with malicious intent.

“I was backing up to net and I got shot in the back. And I think it was just a natural reaction [to respond],” Nurse said. “It’s probably a play that everyone in this room, whether you’re a net-front guy or D man, probably happens a dozen, two dozen times in a year. It’s unfortunate that I must have got [Hintz] in a bad spot. You don’t want to go out there and hurt anyone. But it was just one of those plays that happens so often.”

Having Hintz unavailable hurt the Stars in Game 3, a 6-1 drubbing by the Oilers that put Dallas in a 2-1 hole in the best-of-7 series. Hintz is the Stars’ second-leading scorer in the postseason, with 11 goals and 15 points through 15 games. He was hopeful when taking warmups Sunday that he’d feel good enough to get back in but a quick discussion with the training staff made it clear he wasn’t ready.

Coach Pete DeBoer has since classified Hintz’s status as day-to-day.

“Of course you want to go every night, but sometimes you just can’t,” said Hintz. “I don’t know how close I [was to playing]. But I have played many years [and I] know when it’s good and when it’s not. I should be good to know that [when] it comes to that decision.”

The Oilers will have some lineup changes of their own to sort through in Game 4. Connor Brown is out after he took a hit from Alexander Petrovic in Game 3; he’ll be replaced by the incoming Viktor Arvidsson. Calvin Pickard — injured in Edmonton’s second-round series against Vegas — will return to back up for Stuart Skinner. And Edmonton continues to wait on defenseman Mattias Ekholm, who is getting closer to coming back from a lower-body injury.

Puck drop for Game 4 is 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

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‘That’s wonderful’: Canes finally see ECF skid end

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'That's wonderful': Canes finally see ECF skid end

SUNRISE, Fla. — Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin is happy to never get another question about his team’s record-setting NHL playoff losing streak.

“Wonderful. That’s wonderful,” he said after Carolina’s 3-0 win over the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night. “The guys in here worked hard tonight and that’s all you can ask for.”

The Hurricanes avoided a sweep by the Panthers, sending the series back to Raleigh, North Carolina, for Game 5 on Wednesday night. In the process, Carolina snapped a 15-game losing streak in the conference finals — the longest losing streak by a team in a playoff round other than the Stanley Cup Final in NHL history.

The Hurricanes’ last win in the Eastern Conference finals was in Game 7 against the Buffalo Sabres in 2006, a game that saw current Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour score the winning goal.

“It’s been a story. So, yeah, it’s nice to not have to talk about that [anymore],” Brind’Amour said.

When the streak began in 2009, Carolina captain Jordan Staal was helping the Pittsburgh Penguins to a conference finals sweep of the Hurricanes. He said the win over Florida in Game 4 showed how much pride was in the Canes’ locker room, as they refused to allow the Panthers to end their season.

“There’s a lot of guys that didn’t want to go home,” Staal said. “We know we have a huge hill to climb here. We’ve got a great team on the other side that is going to come back with a better effort. It’s a great challenge.”

Florida coach Paul Maurice, whose team had a chance to advance to a third straight Stanley Cup Final with a victory, gave credit to the Hurricanes for a solid and disruptive game while acknowledging that his team could have gotten to its own game better.

“I haven’t been nearly as down on that hockey team as you fine people have been over the last three games, and I won’t be as down on my team tonight,” he said. “[The Hurricanes] were good. They had good sticks. They had good quickness. You see that happen more often when the possessor of the puck’s feet are not moving.”

Three factors changed the vibe for Carolina in Game 4.

Goalie Frederik Andersen had his second shutout of the postseason after being pulled in Game 2 and benched for Game 3. Andersen was 7-2 with a .937 save percentage and a 1.36 goals-against average in nine playoff games before facing Florida. In two games against the Panthers, he gave up nine goals on 36 shots (.750, 5.54). Andersen had given up just 12 goals in his previous nine postseason games.

In Game 4, he was a great last line of defense, stopping all 20 shots.

After the game, Andersen declined to discuss being benched.

“I don’t really want to talk about my feelings. It’s not about that. It’s about the team and trying to put the best lineup on the ice that they feel like gets the job done. So I’m ready for when I’m called upon and glad to be able to play,” he said.

Andersen played a key role in another factor: the Carolina penalty kill. The Panthers were 4-for-5 on the power play in the first two games of the conference finals. The Hurricanes killed off four power plays in each of the past two games.

“Our goalie was great when he needed to be. The penalty kill was phenomenal,” Brind’Amour said. “We gave ourselves a chance, and that’s all we can ask.”

Perhaps most crucially, the Hurricanes scored the first goal. Carolina is now 6-0 when scoring first and 3-5 when it trails first in these playoffs. In the regular season, the Hurricanes were 30-7-2 when scoring first and 17-23-3 when trailing first.

They scored first and then played the type of close, low-scoring game they excel at. As winger Taylor Hall said before Game 4: “We’re thinking about winning the game 1-0. If it’s close, then we’re in a good spot.”

“It’s been a story. So, yeah, it’s nice to not have to talk about that [anymore].”

Rod Brind’Amour on Carolina snapping 15-game losing streak in conference finals

Forward Logan Stankoven opened the scoring at 10:45 of the second period, giving Carolina its first lead of the series. Rookie defenseman Alexander Nikishin made a terrific backhand pass across the neutral zone to spring Stankoven ahead of the Panthers’ defense, and he beat goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for his fifth goal of the playoffs.

Stankoven said he called for the pass from Nikishin, who was playing in his third postseason game.

“The play happened so fast and it was a great feed by him to make that play off the turnover. It all starts with him,” said Stankoven, who was acquired from the Dallas Stars in the Mikko Rantanen deadline trade.

It remained 1-0 until Sebastian Aho and Staal added empty-net goals in the last 2:11 for the 3-0 win.

Slavin said Game 4 was in the Carolina’s comfort zone.

“A thousand percent. It was 1-0 up until the end there. You can’t get any tighter than that,” he said.

With that, the Hurricanes ended their historic losing streak and turned their attention to making more NHL history. Only four teams in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs have rallied to win a best-of-seven series after trailing 3-0, although two have done it in the past 15 years (Philadelphia Flyers in 2010 and Los Angeles Kings in 2014).

“You watched the way we played tonight. Everyone put their heart on the line,” Slavin said. “We know we’ve got a good group in here. We know we’ve got all the pieces. We just have to bring it every night.”

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Stars-Oilers Game 4 preview: Can Dallas punch back to even it up?

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Stars-Oilers Game 4 preview: Can Dallas punch back to even it up?

The good news for the Dallas Stars is that if the Western Conference finals get to a Game 7, they have the NHL’s master of Game 7s behind their bench.

The bad news is that they need to get to Game 7 for that to matter. And after going down 2-1 in the series to the Edmonton Oilers via a 6-1 loss in Game 3, another defeat could make that difficult.

Can they punch back in Game 4 to knot the matchup at 2-2 heading back home to Dallas for Game 5?

Here are notes on the matchup from ESPN Research, as well as betting intel from ESPN BET:

More from Game 3: Recap | Grades

Matchup notes

Dallas Stars at Edmonton Oilers
Game 4 | 8 p.m. ET | ESPN/ESPN+

Following the Oilers’ win in Game 3, ESPN BET has adjusted the series winner odds to Oilers -375 (previously -140) and Stars +280 (previously +120). The Oilers’ Cup winner odds are now +140, while the Stars’ are +700. Connor McDavid is atop the Conn Smythe odds leaderboard at +175.

The Oilers are now 10-2 in their past 12 games, after losing the first two games of the first round vs. the Los Angeles Kings, and are 20-3 at home in the playoffs since 2017 when leading after two periods.

The Stars lost consecutive games for the first time in the 2025 playoffs, and have one goal total in their past three road games (Games 2 and 5 of the second round against the Winnipeg Jets and Game 3 against Edmonton).

McDavid powered the Oilers to a Game 3 win with his 44th multipoint and sixth multigoal game of his playoff career. McDavid has as many playoff games with multiple points (44) as he does with no points (20) or one point (24).

Teammate Evan Bouchard opened the scoring with his sixth goal this postseason, tying Leon Draisaitl for the team lead. Bouchard is the first defenseman with six goals in consecutive postseasons since Rob Blake in 2001 and 2002. Bouchard also recorded an assist, marking his 24th career multipoint playoff game, which extended his record for defensemen in a four-postseason span.

Stuart Skinner was remarkable in goal once again, stopping 33 of 34 shots to earn his fourth win this postseason. It was his first win of these playoffs that didn’t end in a shutout, as the Stars’ goal with 4:25 left in the second period ended Skinner’s shutout streak at 99 minutes, 33 seconds. With the win, Skinner tied Andy Moog for the third-most playoff wins by a goaltender in Oilers history (23); Bill Ranford is next on the list at 25, and Grant Fuhr is well ahead at No. 1 with 74.

Dallas’ Mikko Rantanen recorded an assist on the goal from Jason Robertson, but has gone without a goal in his past six games. In his previous six games before the drought, he scored nine goals, which remains tied for the NHL lead this postseason.

Jake Oettinger allowed six goals in the loss, tied for the most in a playoff game in his career; the previous occasion was Game 6 of the 2023 Western Conference finals against the Vegas Golden Knights.


Scoring leaders

GP: 14 | G: 5 | A: 17

GP: 16 | G: 9 | A: 12

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