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The ACC, Florida State and Clemson ended their ongoing litigation Tuesday after agreeing to a settlement that changes the league’s revenue distribution model and significantly reduces exit penalties for members wanting to leave the conference before 2036.

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips thanked all parties for their “patience and dedication” in getting a deal done, solidifying the conference for the near future.

“Today’s resolution begins the next chapter of this storied league and further solidifies the ACC as a premier conference,” Phillips said in a statement. “As we look ahead to our collective long-term future, I want to express my deepest appreciation to the ACC Board of Directors for its ongoing leadership, patience and dedication throughout this process. The league has competed at the highest level for more than 70 years and this new structure demonstrates the ACC embracing innovation and further incentivizing our membership based on competition and viewership results.

“The settlements, coupled with the ACC’s continued partnership with ESPN, allow us to focus on our collective future — including Clemson and Florida State — united in an 18-member conference demonstrating the best in intercollegiate athletics.”

Shortly after the ACC board approved the move, the boards of trustees for Florida State and Clemson approved the settlement terms. Clemson athletic director Graham Neff told his board the settlement is “consistent with the objectives we set out with initially” with its lawsuit against the conference.

“The ACC is an excellent fit for Clemson,” Neff said. “The academic prestige and reputation we so emphasize here at Clemson is a natural fit with other members of the ACC. The historic football success the league has had and that Clemson has had in the ACC and access to the College Football Playoff currently — this is a great home for Clemson.”

Both schools filed lawsuits against the ACC in their home states challenging the grant of rights agreement, that, according to Florida State’s attorneys, could have meant paying as much as $700 million to leave the conference. The ACC sued both schools to preserve the grant of rights agreement through 2036.

As a result of the settlement, the penalty to leave the conference has been significantly reduced. The grant of rights remains in place through 2036, but beginning next year, the exit fee will be $165 million. That fee then declines by $18 million per year, leveling at $75 million in 2030-31. Any team that pays the exit fee can leave with its media rights intact.

Currently, any school that wants to leave before June 2036 must pay three times the operating budget — a figure that would be about $120 million — plus control of that team’s media rights through the conclusion of the grant of rights.

The timing of the exit penalty reduction is significant. Television deals for the Big Ten (2029-30), Big 12 (2030) and the next iteration of the College Football Playoff (2031) come up for renewal just as that fee goes down to $75 million.

The new revenue distribution model, or “brand initiative,” will be based on a five-year rolling average. Sixty percent of total ACC television revenue will go toward this initiative. More weight will be given to more recent viewership. A team’s total viewership will then be divided by the total ACC viewership to equal its percentage of the money available in this pool. The other 40 percent of the television revenue will be distributed evenly among all league schools.

Florida State athletic director Michael Alford brought forward a similar proposal to reward teams that rate well on television to the ACC Board in February 2023 but there was no support for the move at that time.

“We started this path on what was best for not only FSU but for the conference and this really incentivizes everyone in our conference to have the opportunity to go out and choose a path,” Alford said. “That’s all we ever asked for, was for the opportunity for us to compete nationally amongst our peers, and it’s also going to make the league better.”

Clemson began pushing for changes to the revenue distribution model after is six straight CFP appearances, believing teams should be rewarded for athletic success. Florida State pushed for the changes, too, and in 2023 the ACC adopted the first of its revenue distribution changes with “success initiatives,” giving more money to teams that do well in football and men’s and women’s basketball.

With the success initiatives and brand initiative now in place, Neff told his board that Clemson will have an opportunity to earn an additional $120 million over six years. That number does not include potential College Football Playoff money. Every ACC team that makes the playoff earns $4 million for a first-round appearance; $8 million for a second-round appearance; $14 million for a semifinal appearance and $20 million to make the national championship game.

Clemson has had the highest viewership in the ACC over the past six years while Florida State consistently ranks in the Top 4. Those are not the only two schools that stand to earn more money, though. Last season, for example, Georgia Tech led the ACC in viewership thanks in part to a Week 0 game against Florida State and a seven-overtime thriller against Georgia on the final Friday of the regular season.

Basketball ratings will be included in the brand initiative, too, but at a smaller rate than football, which is responsible for about 75% of the league’s TV revenue.

“At the end of the day, this innovative distribution model, which further incentivizes performance and investment, will help strengthen the ACC — and a strong ACC is good for Clemson; and a strong Clemson is good for the ACC — while providing future flexibility to adapt to changes we should anticipate within the collegiate model,” Neff said.

Florida State sued the ACC first, in December 2023, over increasing frustrations over a widening revenue gap between the SEC and Big Ten and its belief the ACC was not doing enough to solve the problem. Clemson then sued the league in March 2024.

Though neither school ever declared their intention to leave the conference, Florida State was far more vocal about the looming issues it saw with a shifting collegiate landscape. President Richard McCullough, board chair Peter Collins and several board members publicly questioned whether staying in the ACC long-term was sustainable without a radical shift in the revenue distribution model.

Now Florida State has that shift it had been wanting, and it believes all league schools stand to benefit.

“We had to do something, and it had to be a positive outcome for Florida State,” Collins said. “We’re way better off than where we were 14 months ago, when we were being told we had no options. Now, we have options and we have a good fit. This is going to make the conference better. I think it’s going to incentivize people in the conference to really invest.”

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Yanks release Stroman with Gil return imminent

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Yanks release Stroman with Gil return imminent

The New York Yankees released right-hander Marcus Stroman on Friday, abruptly terminating the veteran’s underwhelming tenure with the club.

The Yankees signed Stroman to a two-year contract worth $37 million guaranteed before the start of last season and will eat the remainder of his $18 million salary.

Stroman, 34, has an $18 million vesting option for 2026 that would have triggered if he pitched 140 innings pitched this season, but Stroman, with 39 innings under his belt on Aug. 1, won’t reach that goalpost and will become a free agent this winter.

“Obviously, that was tough today,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “The perception around Stro for us, if you got to be around him the last couple of years, he’s an awesome competitor.”

Boone said Stroman took the news of his release like “a pro.”

“Had a good interaction with him,” Boone said. “I feel he’ll be a guy I’ll stay in touch with for the rest of our lives. Appreciative of him.”

In the end, Stroman, who is 3-2 with a 6.23 ERA in nine starts this season, was the odd man out of the Yankees’ rotation with Luis Gil scheduled to come off the injured list to make his season debut Sunday against the Miami Marlins.

As it stands, New York’s starting rotation will consist of Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Gil, Will Warren and rookie Cam Schlittler, who impressed team decision-makers enough in three starts since making his major-league debut on July 9 to convince the Yankees to pay Stroman to not pitch for them.

Stroman’s release also relieves a roster crunch with the Yankees adding four more players acquired before Thursday’s trade deadline to the roster: relievers David Bednar, Camilo Doval and Jake Bird and utilityman José Caballero. The Yankees traded Oswald Peraza to make room for Caballero while right-handers Ian Hamilton and Yerry de los Santos were optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday. Cutting Stroman opened the final needed roster spot.

Stroman’s brief time in the Bronx was turbulent. An All-Star with the Chicago Cubs in 2023, Stroman recorded a 4.31 ERA in 30 appearances (29 starts) for the Yankees in 2024 and didn’t pitch in a postseason game as New York advanced to the World Series. The Yankees, anticipating a starting pitching surplus, then attempted to trade him over the offseason but couldn’t swing a deal.

As a result, Stroman reported to spring training not projected to make the Opening Day starting rotation. Unhappy with the possibility, he scoffed at the notion of being a reliever upon reporting to camp for workouts two days later than the team expected. Manager Aaron Boone called the situation “awkward.” Injuries to Gerrit Cole and Gil over the following month, however, opened the door for Stroman to begin the season in the rotation.

The 11-year veteran was placed on the injured list with a knee injury in April, missing more than two months before returning June 29 to make six starts. His final outing with the Yankees came Thursday when he surrendered four runs on six hits across five innings against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Stroman finished his Yankees career with a 4.69 ERA — the 11th-highest mark in the majors among pitchers who have logged at least 190 innings over the last two seasons. He can now sign with another club on a prorated minimum — approximately $230,000 for the remainder of the 2025 campaign.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Yanks’ newcomers implode in 13-12 loss to Marlins

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Yanks' newcomers implode in 13-12 loss to Marlins

MIAMI — Xavier Edwards hit a tying two-run single in the ninth, then raced home with the winning run on Agustin Ramirez‘s chopper in front of the plate as the Marlins rallied to beat the New York Yankees 13-12 on Friday night.

Edwards’ hit came off new Yankees reliever Camilo Doval (4-3), and Edwards beat the attempted tag at home on Ramirez’s fielder’s choice grounder. After Edwards’ single off Doval, Jose Caballero, also a newcomer, committed an error in right field, allowing the Marlins to tie the score.

The Yankees had won 79 straight games when scoring 10-plus runs, which was the longest streak in major league baseball since 2019, according to ESPN Research.

Giancarlo Stanton and Trent Grisham each hit three-run homers that helped the Yankees build a 9-4 lead before the Marlins stunned New York with a six-run seventh.

Kyle Stowers hit a grand slam off newly acquired Yankees reliever Jake Bird, and Javier Sanoja hit a solo shot off David Bednar, another new acquisition. Ramirez singled twice, including a leadoff base hit and a go-ahead single that put the Marlins up 10-9.

Anthony Volpe then tied it at 10 with a leadoff home run in the eighth, and Bednar pitched a scoreless inning before Ryan McMahon‘s RBI single against Anthony Bender (3-5) in the ninth. Volpe, who had four hits, gave the Yankees a two-run cushion with a run-scoring double.

Yankees starter Carlos Rodon was lifted in the fifth after issuing his fifth walk. The left-hander shook his head as he left the mound, with his outing ending after he struck out nine and allowed two walks and four runs.

Rodon held the Marlins without a hit before Eric Wagaman‘s leadoff single in the fifth. Sanoja launched an opposite-field two-run shot off Rodon, and pinch hitter Liam Hicks drove in two with a single off Jonathan Loaisiga that made it 6-4.

Jasson Dominguez also had three hits.

Marlins starter Janson Junk went five innings and allowed six runs and six hits while striking out four.

The announced crowd at loanDepot park was a season-high 32,299.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Down 9 runs in 1st, Rockies rally to beat Pirates

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Down 9 runs in 1st, Rockies rally to beat Pirates

DENVER — Colorado Rockies outfielder Brenton Doyle had a hard time describing what had just taken place after he delivered the crowning blow in perhaps the wildest game of the major league season.

Doyle hit a two-run homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to cap Colorado’s stunning comeback from a nine-run, first-inning deficit in a 17-16 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.

“Honestly, pretty speechless,” Doyle told reporters. “It’s hard to put into words. Just so proud of everyone in this clubhouse, never giving up. Man, what a win.”

Colorado won despite allowing nine runs during a first inning in which Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz hit a grand slam and Andrew McCutchen had a three-run homer.

The Rockies are the first team to overcome a nine-run, 1st-inning deficit since Cleveland on August 23, 2006 against Kansas City, according to ESPN Research.

The Rockies are also the first team to win despite allowing 15 or more runs since the Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers 19-17 in August 2008.

“Getting down nine in the first, it’s tough to come back from, but we kept the energy high,” Doyle said. “We kept the fight in us. Oh my God, what a game.”

Colorado scored one run in the bottom of the first, three in the third, two in the fourth and four in the fifth to cut Pittsburgh’s lead to 15-10. The Rockies still trailed 16-10 before scoring two runs in the eighth and five in the ninth.

After Pittsburgh’s Dennis Santana started the ninth by striking out Ezequiel Tovar, Hunter Goodman‘s 425-foot homer reduced the Pirates’ lead to 16-13. Santana then walked Jordan Beck and allowed an RBI triple to Warming Bernabel.

Thairo Estrada singled home Bernabel before Doyle delivered a 406-foot shot to end the game.

The events in Colorado highlighted a night full of offense across the majors. According to StatsPerform, Friday marked the first time since June 23, 1930, that three major league games on the same day had at least 25 combined runs.

The Miami Marlins erased an early 6-0 deficit and scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the New York Yankees 13-12. The Milwaukee Brewers had 25 hits while trouncing the Washington Nationals 16-9.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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