NC State among seven ACC schools probing for outs from league’s grant-of-rights

Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger reported this morning that seven ACC schools have been holding meetings together, perhaps having a spot of tea, and discussing what options may exist for breaking the ACC’s grant-of-rights, which runs through 2036:

A subset of seven schools in the 14-member conference has coalesced over what many of them describe as an untenable situation. Officials from the seven schools, led by Florida State and Clemson, have met a handful of times over the past several months, with their lawyers examining the grant-of-rights to determine just how unbreakable it is.

NC State is among that group of seven, along with the aforementioned Clemson and FSU, plus Miami, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and UNC. This means what, exactly? At this point, probably not a whole lot, aside from the implication that these schools aren’t entirely invested in the future of the ACC.

Who knows, maybe they think if they bring all of their lawyers together, forming some sort of Voltron legal entity, they can punch through the grant of rights through sheer force of will (and big robot punches).

Dellenger outlines several potential scenarios, none of which sound especially likely, or particularly compelling. If these schools are trying to figure out a way to blow up the ACC, they’d all better be certain of a next step. It’s difficult to imagine that any of them could be.

Nothing wrong with doing a little homework, though,