Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC Commissioner Vows To Keep Fighting Amidst Florida State And Clemson Legal Disputes

Episode Date: July 22, 2024

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips spoke passionately on Monday about the ongoing legal disputes with Florida State and Clemson. Phillips, on opening day of the ACC Football Media Kickoff, promised to fight to protect the ACC and its members “for as long as it takes.” Phillips referred to the lawsuits as “damaging, disruptive and harmful” to the conference. He noted that every member of the conference willingly signed the Grant of Rights agreement twice. He referred to the ACC’s relationship with ESPN as stronger than it’s ever been, hinting that the relationship with Disney is not in jeopardy of coming to an end. Hosts Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs react to the commissioner’s comments. The guys discuss a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel, saying FSU and Clemson will not make any formal declarations that they are leaving the ACC this summer. The deadline to announce their exit would be August 15th, in order to find a different conference by the 2025 football season. The guys discuss how well FSU head coach Mike Norvell handled questions about the conference disputes today.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM and add a big win to your summer bucket list!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The ACC Commissioner has vowed to keep fighting for as long as it takes. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Shout out to the everydayers and thank you so much for making Locked on ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. We're available free wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

Today's episode is brought to you by Fanduel. Make every moment more. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to, but this summer, Fandul is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily. That's right. There's something for everyone, every day all summer long. Visit Fanduel.com to get started. On this loaded episode of Lockdown ACC,

we will discuss Mike Norvell's comments about the conference. He was asked about the ACC today, the Florida State coach. We'll talk about the ACC's growth and whether that's sustainable or not. And Kenton Gibbs, I want to start with pretty gosh dang passionate comments made by ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips today. I am Alex Dono. I'm on location here at the Hilton Uptown in Charlotte at ACC Media Days.

I'm from Locked on Cains, Kenton Gibbs from Locked on Wolfpack. So Kenton, you know, all the times we've seen Jim Phillips speak over the past six months about the ongoing legal disputes with Florida State and Cleveland. Clemson about keeping the conference together and buying for survival. I've never seen him as passionate as he was today. He referred to the legal disputes with Florida State and Clemson as, quote, unquote, damaging, disruptive, and harmful. And he promised to fight to protect the ACC and its members for as long as it takes. Now, I took that to mean the ACC is nowhere close to settling Kenton.

They're going to keep fighting this, as the commission said, literally as long as it takes to get some kind of a resolution. Yeah, and apologies for looking down on my phone because I was confirming something with one of my sources that's out there as well. You are not the only person who said Jimmy P. was fired up today. Jimmy P. was in a different bag today, which honestly, it's about damn time. We've been waiting on this Jim Phillips to show up.

We've been waiting on him to show up with authoritative statements to say, this is where we are. This is where I am. We are not backing down. there is going to be no retreat, no court giving. We will do whatever we have to do as a conference to fight for our survival. Jim Phillips has always been this mild manner. Oh, you know, we're looking at all our options.

Well, you know, we're disappointed in their decision. But, you know, well, Notre Dame wants to maintain their independent status. And if they change that, we'll be here. No, make some definitive, put some ump in it. You know what I'm saying? You know when something's got that extra little ump in it. His statements never seem to have had that until today, which is why I got people blowing up my phone, man, I wish you were here.

This is going great. Because Jim Phillips, again, is coming out in a more impassioned way than we've ever seen before. Yeah, and something he was very passionate about today, Kenton. And I thought he did a good job kind of explaining how, like, they compartmentalize the legal stuff with the regular conference business. But as far as the legal stuff goes, I mean, Phillips, when he talks. about how destructive these disputes are. Like, his greater point was it, it just, it damages the reputation of the conference. And obviously people can argue as to who's to blame for that.

Well, the conference is to blame. No, the lawsuits are to blame. But this whole situation, it's damaging to the reputation of the conference. But, you know, he also talked about just how, how you separate the litigation from the student athletes. I thought it was pretty clear the way that Phillips said, like, hey, we. We don't treat Clemson and Florida State any differently than we treat anyone else in terms of the coaches and the players. Because coaches, the players have nothing to do with it, right? If it's your legal team versus the board of trustees, legal teams from these schools, at the end of the day, you can't take that out on the Florida State and Clemson players and on their coaches.

And they're still member institutions. At the end of the day, there's still member institutions. This is not a situation where there should be any retaliation. I'm telling you right now, as somebody that works in HR, I can tell you firsthand, it never works out well for the retaliator. It does not,

especially if those being retaliated against have the type of legal firepower that Florida State and Clemson are working with. It's best for all parties to go along, to get along as amicably as possible, outside of the courtroom. And then when you get to the courtroom, fight like hell.

Do what you got to do and all that good stuff. But again, outside of that, those young men had nothing to do with that city. I don't remember DJ you saying, hey, I don't want to play an ACC. If I come back, y'all got to go. I don't remember Patrick Payton saying, hey, I can't do it. I can't do it. I'm not an ACC type of guy.

I'm more of a big 10 guy. None of the players had anything to do with that, nor did the coaches. So it wouldn't be fair to punish them or to, you know, have a situation where you're basically making their lives harder for the sake of what the board of trustees has done. The Board of Trustees does not run things by the players and vice versa. That's not how this goal. So, you know, it makes sense to say, hey, we're disappointed by this. It's not ideal, but it is what it is and we'll move forward from there. Yeah, Jimmy P. today was finally talking like a commissioner who knows if we don't defend what we've got,

this entire thing could come into jeopardy, right? When he talks about fighting as long as it takes down, something Kenton that he He did emphasize today was because there have been a lot of rumors and reports about, oh, is ESPN? Are they going to drop the ACC if and when Florida State and Clemson League? They've got that look-in provision coming up for 2025, where if ESPN really wanted to, they could just walk away from their TV deal. They have that option coming up to 2025. And Phillips, you know, he talked today saying that the relationship with Disney, who opposed

Corso owns ESPN and ACC network. He said, it's never been stronger. Quote, our partnership with ESPN is not going away, he said. He also added that ESPN is as motivated as the ACC is, he says, when it comes to generating more revenue. So specifically, I could tell that Phillips was talking about some of the specific bullet points that people bring up. Of course, the lawsuits and the relationship with ESPN, he says that relationship has never been stronger than it is right now. Obviously, Jim Phillips is incentivized to say that. So I want to start there, right?

Like we're obviously sitting in a situation where this is not an objective third party saying, hey, our relationship is as strong as ever. And even I am not, you know, to be seen as the arbiter of truth in this situation. However, when you look at the ACC's TV deal in comparison with all of the other conferences, I am sorry to tell you, ESPN has them raped over. ESPN has no reason to discontinue. ESPN is winning out of the deal. They're winning out of the deal.

You are not having to pay as much for anything. Where's the ACC's fine bar? Where's the ACC's Marty Smith? Yeah. They don't. And again, this is not to denigrate the folks over agency number. They do a fantastic job. This is not saying that anybody is less talented or a lesser personality or anything like that.

I'm saying from top to bottom, the ACC is getting less from ESPN than the other conferences that they are in. a deep relationship with. So what motivation does ESPN have to say, hey, y'all aren't generating the eyeballs. We're going to clip all of them. Because if you look at a lot of ESPN's lowest rated games, it's the ones that they put on ACC network.

That's just the reality. It's the ones that they put on ESPN 8 the Ocho or only online on the plus. If you put ACC football on TV, people are going to tune in. People are going to watch. The numbers have bored that out for quite some time. So when I,

look at this. I struggle to find a situation where ESPN says, you know what? We got a sweetheart deal. We know we got a sweetheart deal. We got them locked into this sweetheart deal till 20 36, but we're going to end it early for the sake

of, well, your two top dogs aren't there anymore. So what that we're still making out like bandits? We don't want to make out like bandits if it's not with Clemson and Florida State until. That does not make sense. It doesn't job with reality. Now, There was another update earlier this morning, probably not so coincidentally from Pete Fammell of ESPN on when Florida State and Clemson might actually get out of the ACC.

And it's not as soon as some of you hoped. You want to keep it locked right here. Alex Dono from Locked on Cains, Kenton Gibbs from Locked on Wolfpack. We're only getting started on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. You want to keep it locked. And I already know you're keeping it locked to Fan Duel. Guys, we're making money. We're having a great time.

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You can head over to Fandul right now, bet on who's going to win the ACC, bet on the over-unders. It's Fanduel.com. Start making the most out of your summer. FanDuel, official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball. Thank you so much for making Locked on ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. For your second listen, make sure to check out our other shows. I host Locked on Cains. Kenton hosts Locked on Wolfpack.

And, of course, with ACC Media Days, the ACC kickoff going on here in Charlotte. We're going to be loaded with content throughout. the week. So Kenton, I woke up this morning to a pretty significant update from Pete Thammel of ESPN, who's one of the more reliable sports reporters in the business, quite frankly, because there's been a lot of chatter. We did talk about it on this show about a month ago based on some of the reports that were out there. There's been a lot of chatter that Florida State and Clemson were strongly considering, especially Florida State, making a formal declaration this summer, a formal declaration that they were leaving the ACC.

Now, that formal declaration wouldn't have been much more than a formality because they still have ongoing court cases out there that would really decide when they can leave the conference. But there was all this talk about formal declarations being made. And then Pete Thamel wrote on his ex-account this morning, have been told by multiple sources that there's no expectation for Florida state or Clemson to notify the ACC they intend to leave by the August 15th deadline. to depart after the upcoming year.

That would be the deadline to declare intentions to exit for the 2025-2020-6 year. So based on that timeline, Kenton, the earliest Florida State in Clemson could or would get out would be for the 20-26 football season. Nope, you're muted. I'm shocked. I'm so shocked. I forgot to turn my mute off, Donna. I'm shocked.

I'm shocked. I'm so flabbergasted. I'm taking the back of gas, if you will. if only we would have known this. If only we would have said, hey, that again, the timelines that y'all are kicking don't really match up. And the most interesting thing about this

is how many folks that scream and yelled and shouted, oh, we're played our last game in the ACC. Oh, we'll be going by next year. Ain't that so interesting? If only somebody told you, court takes time and it's not Judge Judy, and even if it were Judge Judy, you would still have to have a lot of,

Judge Judy's a small claims court. This is different. This hits differently when you're talking about tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. Very different situation. So, you know, the ACC and their legal battles with Clemson and the Florida State kind of dragging on here, not a shock, not a surprise, not something I look at. And I'm like, oh, my God, like, this is just an all out. This is a twist that could only be on days of our lives.

because I never saw this coming. This was very predictable. It was right in front of you if you weren't wearing orange or maroon-shaded glasses. That's just what this was. Yeah. And even Bud Elliott, who covers Florida State, so, you know, you could maybe say a little bit biased towards FSU on the cover three podcast recently said. He thinks the earliest they get out is 2027. Like that would be the earliest they would start a season with a new conference.

And honestly, Kenton, like, you and I both agree, they're going to get out. Like, we know if any FSU fans want to get angry at us, like, why are you defending the ACC so much? We know you guys are getting out. There's no question about that. But it would also, it may be to their advantage if it takes a couple of more years. Because if the landscape really is what's been reported in recent weeks that the Big Ten and the SEC aren't keen on further expansion right now, two, three years from now, that could change. Not to mention Kenton, assuming Florida State and Clemson don't win in court by such a large margin that they get out for free, we assume there's going to be some kind of a buyout.

The longer this thing drags out, the cheaper the exit fees would be because those exit fees would go down every single year as you get closer to the expiration of the ESPN contract. So it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if it does take two or three more years to get out. Well, it would be the worst thing in the world according to some folks. It would be. You know, having to stay in this backwater conference, there's nothing good here. The ice ain't cold. The water ain't wet.

Ain't nothing good about the ACC. You know, ACC Media Days probably only has one row of media there because nobody cares about the lowly old ACC, according to some folks. And yet, lo and behold, you know, like I said, there's definitely a cheaper to keep a dynamic I play here. There's definitely a situation where everybody keeps talking about Clems and the Florida State can't come back. I am betting dollars to donuts. If they lose, if this case goes definitively in ACC's favor, they'll be sitting there happy tails right there saying, hey, hey, big head, how you doing, wait for us?

Hey, Boston College. You all right? No, no, no, no. We was just playing. We were just kidding. It was a goof. It was a goof. I'm sorry, guys, it was a goof.

So, you know, I'm not really too keen on, you know, saying definitively one way or another a thing will happen. But I do know that if then statements are very true. if Florida State and Clemson find that smoking gun, if they find that moment where they get to walk out freely, they will. But Jim Phillips has made it clear. He is going to fight.

He is going to put everything that he has behind this thing legally into it, and that's all there is. Yeah, and he was shot out of a cannon today, truly. And a couple other things that Jim Phillips talked about, and it's funny, Kenton, like you talked about how animated he was today. He didn't really get to the good stuff until, like, 12 minutes into his opening address. For the first 12 minutes, I'm like, man, this guy's going to put me to sleep like he

usually does. And then all of a sudden he started to talk about the lawsuits. I'm like, all right, I woke up. He woke me up. But prior to getting to all that, Phillips was talking about the conference growth for the ACC. He noted that the ACC surpassed 700 million in total revenue last year. That was the first time they've ever done that. The annual payout per school was up to the highest it's ever been at 45 million.

He said the conference will continue to aggressively evaluate all areas that can enhance their financials. And interestingly enough, Kenton, he was asked about private equity. And he said, like, I'm not going to get into the specific conversations he's had with, you know, university presidents and member schools and all that. So he didn't divulge any specifics. But it sounds to me like, you know, Phillips is very cautious about getting into the private equity game because, you know, he had a pretty good quote saying, I'm paraphrasing here, like, well, nothing's free. Like, everything comes at a price.

Like when you're talking, it's not as if they're these billionaire, archangel investors are just going to swoop in and say, here, I'll just see, I'll pay you hundreds of millions of dollars with nothing expected in return. Like, he seems very cautious of that, but Phillips did admit they have definitely put everything on the table. Like there have obviously been discussions. He and board of trustees out there in university presidents. have done their due diligence on the option of going the private equity route.

Right. And I mean, it would be it would be him being derelict in his duties if he didn't explore every option to keep the band together. Right. Pay everybody what they need. Keep everybody happy. But with that in mind, it would also be derelict in duties if he was just like, whatever the first thing is, whatever the new hot thing is, we got to go. We got to roll it. If the big 12 is doing it, we got to do it to keep up. No, you don't. No, you don't. Sometimes you can watch other people, make that dumb move themselves. There's an old proverb,

I can't remember who said it or where I heard it at, but a fool learns from his own mistakes, a wise man learns from mistakes of others. You get what I'm saying? If you can watch somebody else go forth and take that risk and say, you know what, private equity is a way to be,

okay. And then if your conference is decimated because of it and all of you all are forced out and it's then ran like a business instead of a sporting conference, then what? You know what I'm saying? If things then get worse than what we currently have with the bicostal conferences and all that, then what? What are you looking at then? Well, it makes more sense fiscally for these players to play 15 games a year.

I beg your pardon? Why would we do that for a student? Y'all don't know what football intels. We don't care. There are 85 of them on scholarship. They'll be all right. You see what I'm saying? You don't know what's going to happen in these situations when you're going forth and assuming,

hey, whatever, whatever gets me the best return right now may not be best for you in a long time. Well, you mentioned Bicostal Conference, and Mike Norvell was actually asked about that. And I don't know who this reporter was, but I give this one reporter credit because he asked Mike Norvel, is it weird to be doing interviews right in front of an ACC logo considering what's going on at university right now? I thought, to his credit, Norville handled that question extremely well. We'll get to that and so much more. We're not done yet, folks, on this brand new episode of Locked on ACCC. You want to keep it locked.

Thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen and your first watch today. Locked on has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. Now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app. It's called Locked On Sports Today and it's here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts, of locked on plus our national shows covering every league find locked on sports today now available on the free fire tv channels app so uh you know kenton again i go back to something jim phillips said today and that's having to compartmentalize that you know these these legal disputes student athletes coaches have nothing to do with it right like you you can't take anything out on mike norvel or

his players today was Florida State Day at ACC Media Days. Clemson will be here later this week. Like it's certainly not Davosweeney or Novell's fault and company. And I also think on the flip side of that, I think Mike Norvell handled it pretty well. Because as you would imagine, there were a lot of questions coming his way about the current ACC disputes. So here's a clip I took today of Mike Norvel. First, he was asked if it's like sustainable to have, you know, a bi-coastal conference,

to have all these time zones involved. And then he was also asked a very blunt question about whether or not it's weird to be doing interviews in front of an ACC logo. How sustainable do you think these coast-to-coast conferences are, especially only two schools. Yeah, I mean, that's not, you know, for my opinion, doesn't matter in any of that.

But ultimately, we were able to add three themes that, you know, I think are very unique in their own right. and have talented, great tradition. It's one that I think is going to continue to push up the ACC for what we're trying to do and where we're trying to go. And it's going to be a very competitive league. You look at a group like SMU in their conference a year ago. It was a great team returning with all three of those wonderful coaching staff. So this is a competitive league and top to bottom.

It's consistently shown that. as good as any league in the country, my belief of just what it takes and look at the scoring margin of victory. I mean, within this league, it's going to be competitive. And I think those three teams will come in and be able to continue to advance that. Is it where for you to be sitting here in one of the agency logo of the conference you guys are trying to leave? We have a great history and, you know, obviously, new time here at the ACC, continue to push to elevate this conference and what we do and how we push for representatives. I loved how, like Norvel, first of all,

handle those questions with a lot of grace. And I like how what he was asked, is it weird in front of the ACC logo? Like he looked over at the ACC logo. No, it's not weird at all. The Florida State obviously has accomplished a lot in the ACC Kenton over the years, including winning the conference just last year. Yeah.

And this is a situation where why would it be weird for him? Yeah. It does not. People don't understand what type of. of maniacs football players and coaches are okay i give you a prime example this is well documented you can ask coach dorin about it when you see him all that type of stuff i tore my bicep in practice i didn't know that i tore it i taped it up and kept practicing like the the part of your arm that's responsible for pushing and pulling by and large was gone and i was just like yeah you got to keep doing

what you got to do people don't understand that mentality is not just in me because i'm like insane and a maniac it's in most football players and coaches So with that being said, it doesn't matter if there's an ACC logo behind them, there's a MAC logo behind them, if there's an American Congress logo behind them, but there's a Big 12, SEC, Big 10. Put the ball down, do what we got to do. You got to be at your lips. You got to go to class.

You got to be prepared. You got to go to film study. You got to eat right. You got to get your rest. That's all that matters. If you're in the SEC, do you need to rest less? No. If you're in the Big Ten, do you need to eat less?

No. If you're in the Big 12, do you need to study? anymore? No, all of these things are, you know, they're very much so functions of at the end of the day, ball is ball as ball and to say anything else or to make it a big situation or big stink about, hey, you know, there's a lot going on in the conference. Are you sure this is where you want to be? I think it's a fool's errand and no coach, no smart coach at least, would do such a foolish thing. Yeah. Now, throughout the week at some point, Kenton, I'm going to have to fill out my media a ballot here for who's going to win the conference, among other things. Now, I think we may know

who I may fill out to win the conference, but I will definitely give the Seminoles consideration, given that they are the reigning champions. And I do think that they're a very well-coached and talented team. And we're going to be seeing other teams throughout the week. Clemson will be here this week, NC State. Miami's going to be here on Wednesday. I did have a chance to talk to a couple of SMU players today, Kenton. We're going to have those interviews on our YouTube channel throughout the week, including Preston Stone, quarterback of SMU. Now Stone said something, Kenton. This is going to challenge us to do our research throughout the week. Preston Stone said they've got the best wide receiver core in the ACC. So I'm going to take that challenge. I'm going

to take a look at what his guys have done, what the rest of the conference has done. We will evaluate throughout the week. But he's got faith in his past catchers. In terms of returners, I don't think that there's too much of an argument for anybody to say that they're beating SMU in that regard. But you and I's questions about here's the thing, right? I love a quarterback with confidence or as they call it max. I love it. I love it. Here's the thing, though.

The reality is you nor I ever questioned their past catchers. At no point in time, did you or I say, we're not sure if their guys can win one-on-one on the edges out there. It was the big guys. It's the buff. fay busters that will determine the difference and whether or not they come on the scene and pull of Vegas nights and take it all the way in their first year, or if they're like a lot of soccer teams that, you know, you're a big soccer guy. Promotion often leads to relegation as it goes.

So, you know, it's going to be very interesting to see how this thing shapes out and plays out. But I don't think that I would disagree with him in terms of saying he has the best past catchers. But it's a lot like Carl Anthony Thompson saying that he's the best shooting big man in the NBA. Who? But like, there's more to being a big man than that. Hey, listen, Preston's stuff. Y'all know I love me some SMU. Y'all know I love me support press, baby. But it's not about the small guys on the outside.

I do think that if all things were even and I could trust their offensive line to stand up to ACC defensive lines weekend, week out. Hey, more proud to you. I'm there with you. We're here, Preston. We're here. But I'm not sure about that. That's why there's a question, not because of the past catchers. Yeah, well, we'll continue our coverage of ACC kickoff throughout the week.

He's Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack. Make sure you check out his show. I'm Alex Dono from Locked on Cains. Make sure you check out Lockdown Cains as well. We're here for you each and every day, part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.