Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - CFP Expert Hints That ACC Will Lose Teams? | FSU vs ACC Battle Updated | Selling Out To Corporations

Starting point is 00:00:00 Does Josh Pate from 24-7 sports, does he know something about conference realignment that the rest of us don't know just yet? You are Locked-on ACCC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Shout out to the everydayers for making Locked-on ACC your first listen and your first watch each and every day. We're available free wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:38 These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high-stakes wager for your small business. That's why LinkedIn jobs helps you find the right people for your team faster and for free. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash locked on college. Terms and conditions apply. On this episode, we will talk about the Big 12's creativity in finding new ways towards revenue and whether the ACC should be copying some of the things that the Big 12, is doing right now. The Attorney General in Florida has taken the gloves off in her fight against the ACC. Does she have a point or is she ignoring the bigger point? But yes, Kenton Gibbs,

Starting point is 00:01:20 by the way, he's Kenton Gibbs from Locked on Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Locked on Caines. It's fair to say people are talking about the future of the ACC. We'll talk about what's happening in a courtroom today. But Josh Pate from the late kick, very, very popular content creator. on 24-7 sports and CBS put out this for those listening, I will describe it. He's got the gift of you remember that infamous cup of water in Jurassic Park. When the T-Rex's footsteps are getting closer and closer and closer, you start to see the ripple effect in the cup of water. Josh Pate sent out that gift with the caption, ACC,

Starting point is 00:02:00 which is very cryptic, Kenton. And people were trying to guess as to what Mr. Pate was talking about. One of the responses had a gift that says expand to which Pate responded. The league is about to do the opposite of that. So it seems like Mr. Pate is expecting exits, perhaps in the form of Florida State and Clemson, to come soon. Right. And here's the thing about this that I find very interesting. It's not a new revelation that Florida State and Clemson want to leave.

Starting point is 00:02:35 Now, maybe I'm crazy here, but this feels like there is something beyond that happening. Like one of those other teams that was on the cusp is about to make it official. Like North Carolina is potentially throwing their hat in the ring. Like we're maybe looking at some of these other schools who've looked into it saying, you know what, it's time for me to go. It's time for me to exit stage left, which is why he's saying this because, and maybe I'm wrong here, but not. North Carolina, although, again, they are very directly the reason that we're in this mess.

Starting point is 00:03:10 There is absolutely an argument that if there is, if there are, rather, multiple teams left that could potentially go find some of us, North Carolina is undoubtedly one of them. Well, there are, there are a couple of important benchmark dates this summer. And you and I, we've gone on record and saying we don't expect anything drastic to happen this soon, right? we think that this is going to get dragged out in the courts a little bit longer. But if you were to have multiple exits before July 1st, then the ACC could get under the current 15 member minimum. Because remember, Cal and Stanford and SMU haven't officially joined yet. If the ACC gets under 15 members before July 1st, you could potentially have the rest of the teams collude and just vote to dissolve the conference completely. That's been one of the theories out there is.

Starting point is 00:04:06 hey, maybe if Florida State and Clemson can get out by June 30th, the entire conference can collapse. So June 30th is a date to look out for. Not that we expect anything to happen. Kenton certainly doesn't. We're looking out for that date. Now, for a team like, or for a school, I should say, like Florida State or for Clemson, if they want to actually have a landing spot in another conference by the 2025 football season, so not the one coming up, but a year from now, they would have to announce their exit from the ACC. They would have to notify the ACC by August 15th of this year if they want to go somewhere else by the following season.

Starting point is 00:04:45 So August 15th is another date to look for. So June 30th and August 15th are a couple of benchmark dates if you're expecting something to happen soon. Yeah, for sure. Those are two, the thing that are, the thing that is important about these dates is the reality has to set in at some point in. At some point in time, the speculation dies down and we have to jump back into the real world. In the words of Anita Baker, the fairy tale is over.

Starting point is 00:05:12 My life must now begin. And that's what we're looking at with the ACC in terms of these two dates. At some point in time, either there is or there isn't. Either these teams have officially announced or they have not. And that's what we're looking at in terms of these two dates. And I'm interested to see how this thing plays out in what Pake knows that the rest of us don't, because you're very right. It could be that a major ruling, a major battle in the war that is ACC Clemson or

Starting point is 00:05:42 ACC Florida State could go in one of these schools' favor, it could be a newsfighter joining their arena. Who knows what it could be? But one thing that I do know, which is undoubted, which is something that I am as sure of as the sun rises on the east and sets on the west, it objectively does. doesn't do most of these schools any good to leave the ACC. And I know that some people are going to hear that. Oh, my school can go.

Starting point is 00:06:11 My school can go. My school is special English. Listen, I'm not arguing about Clemson or Florida State. I've told people many a times they are two of the biggest brands of football. They go wherever they want. They have the power to do that. A lot of these other schools do not have the power nor cachet to go elsewhere. You know who you are.

Starting point is 00:06:33 If your school does not draw in, hey, our biggest game of the year might get a 900,000, maybe a million viewers. If that's you, sit down and be quiet during this conversation. I'm not saying you got to go sit at the kids table, but it's not realistic for you to go to the Big Ten or the SEC. Because why would they add your school? What's so special about your school that the big. 10 or ACC that the big 10 or SEC will want you right and you're hoping you're hoping because let's be honest if you are a school that in essence is the beneficiary of being in the ACC why would the pack 12 i'm at the uh big 12 watch it why would they want you why would they want to that really added

Starting point is 00:07:24 value exactly why would they want to split up their pie to add you so yeah you would get out for free and be free to make that lateral move, but would the Big 12 want you to make that lateral move? Or would you be stuck out as an independent that then has to join the American, that then has to join, you know, reconfigure the Big East in terms of football or something? Like, what do you really see as your alternative? So I think whatever Josh Payton knows is, you know, he's a very well-connected man. He's been doing this for a while. He's big time.

Starting point is 00:07:57 I want to see the T-Rex. I want to know what the T-Rex is what's coming. Because it's the T-Rex or is the Indominus Rex? Which one is? Those are two very distinct animals and one of them is much worse than the other. Yeah, yeah, I've been following Pate's content for a long time. And he's definitely, he's right more than he's wrong. Now, that ex post that he put out there, it's definitely, it's vague and it's emotional

Starting point is 00:08:22 manipulation, right? But at the same time, I see some people saying, well, he can't be right because he was wrong about one other thing because I guess he really overhyped the spring transfer portal window. Like he basically said this is going to be the most chaotic thing you've ever seen and that it was kind of chaotic, but it was not the most chaotic transfer portal ever. So a lot of people are like, well, you remember how he overhyped the April transfer portal? Therefore, he's definitely overhyping this. We'll see.

Starting point is 00:08:50 I mean, I think the man's been right more than he's been wrong. But I'm curious to see how this plays out. Speaking of how it's going to play out, I am maybe by the time some of you, listen to this. We will already have the resolution at the end of today's court hearing, but I'm expecting the latest hearing between Florida State and the ACC, which is ongoing as we record this, I'm expecting it to end a certain way. We'll talk about that. Plus, does the Florida Attorney General have a point? We'll get to that and so much more when we come back. My friends, we're only getting started on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. You want to keep it locked.

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Starting point is 00:10:05 Hire professionals like a professional on LinkedIn. 2.5 million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring. So post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash Lockedon College. That's LinkedIn.com slash Lockedon College to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Thank you so much for making this episode of Lockdown ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. Hey, Locked On has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. And now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app. Locked-on

Starting point is 00:10:40 Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Lockdown plus our national shows covering every league. Find Locked-on sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app. I'm going to play psychic here for a moment. So at the time we record this, the hearing, the latest hearing has. just started in the Leon County Florida courtroom, Florida State versus the ACC. And what's expected to come down today is Judge Cooper's ruling, final ruling, on the ACC's motion to dismiss the case in Florida. I would be flabbergasted if he doesn't officially deny the ACC's motion to dismiss. Because if you followed Judge Cooper's language and his interpretations

Starting point is 00:11:26 of the law up to this point, he's been very clear that he thinks. thinks the ACC intentionally engaged in forum shopping, that they tried to rush to file first in North Carolina. He seems to feel strongly that this case should be heard in Florida. So I am going to predict. I know some of you may watch this after the ruling. I am going to predict that Judge Cooper will deny the ACC's motion to dismiss. Yeah, that's not really much of a surprise here.

Starting point is 00:11:56 I mean, objectively, this judge has been very friendly. per se to a lot of things going on in this case in terms of FSU. And I'm not saying that there's home cooking or anything illegal happening there. But this has objectively been a scene where you have seen that at multiple points in this thing that it's like, hey, I'm going to give Florida State their best shot to kind of find a path to success here. So again, not saying that there's any illegality going on here. Words are hard this morning. Not saying if there's anything like that going on. not saying there's any violation of the law.

Starting point is 00:12:31 It just seems like this is very obvious that the judge in Leon County is not really going forward. He saw the tricks. He saw the ploy that was put out by the ACC and is decidedly saying, hey, this is not how this is going to operate. You weren't going to sue them if they weren't going to sue you. So, you know, we're going to take this thing. We're going to make it happen right here. Yeah, no, absolutely. So the attorney general, Ashley Moody from Florida, as you recall, is also suing the ACC.

Starting point is 00:13:06 And here she is now petitioning for a judge to rule. She wants the TV agreements, the TV contracts to be public record as part of Florida's public record laws. Whereas ESPN is very protective of those contracts because they deem them to be trade secrets. In fact, the other power conferences have actually come out and defended the ACC and ESPN saying, yeah, we also, we don't want those contracts out there. They are trade secrets. Ashley Moody is arguing the opposite. This is per the complaint, contrary to the ACC's representations to a North Carolina court, the 2016 multimedia agreement does not state without exception. It does not conclude the sentence that, quote, each party shall maintain the confidentiality of this agreement.

Starting point is 00:13:54 terms. That was something that they argued verbally in court. Instead, she says the agreement specifically states that the disclosure is permitted to Florida State University who shall maintain confidentiality subject to applicable law, applicable laws, which includes the Public Records Act in Florida. So she's saying that by the letter of the law, if Florida state is to abide by confidentiality in their home state, their home state calls for those records to be public. Now, the ACC, ESPN, I should say, Actually, ESPN responded to that and said she's clearly ignoring the fact that there are trade secrets in there. And she's intentionally ignoring the fact that there are trade secrets. So it does not apply in this case according to Florida law.

Starting point is 00:14:39 So somebody's right. Somebody's wrong here. But the AG is fighting this, Kenton. Yeah, absolutely. The AG is putting up all the she's got against this thing. But I think that you're running into the problem of you're going up against Disney. don't get me wrong i know that florida has had many bouts against disney recently but you're talking about on a national level going up against disney that's going to be a little bit problematic there i mean there's

Starting point is 00:15:05 the the reality is their lawyers don't get paid what they do for no reason and the i'm not saying that the ag is exactly a slouch in any regard but the reality of this situation is if a business says this is ip this is proprietary anything along those lines at that point you're not you're not generally all conversation for releasing to the public stops. Generally speaking, you know, and I'm not a lawyer, so I could be wrong here. I'm not a Perry Mason of any sort, but there is something to be said about the fact that there is a business proponent to this where they're saying, hey, there's secret sauce behind here that if we give you this, if we put this out there, this would be equivalent to putting the crabby

Starting point is 00:15:46 patty secret formula out there. You know, it just doesn't happen. Yeah, and actually what ESPN slash Disney is asking for, like all they're asking for is we need this to be discussed in a hearing where the Florida AG is like we don't need a hearing. The judge should just rule on this behind the scenes. I'm right. They're wrong. Disney just wants a day in court to explain why there's confidential stuff in here that we don't need to be to be made public. So I can't wait to see how that plays out. Now, we've talked a lot on Locked on ACC about opportunities.

Starting point is 00:16:20 for conferences, especially conferences like the ACC and the Big 12, which are behind the SEC of the Big 10 when it comes to the media deals and the automatic cuts of revenue. How can you try and bridge some of that revenue gap? How can you try to increase revenue? We've talked in the past about logos at the 30 yard lines. We've talked about sponsorship patches being worn on jerseys. How about naming rights to your conference? The Big 12 is about to do this.

Starting point is 00:16:49 should the ACC do this? You want to keep it locked right here on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. And I already know you're keeping it locked to Fandul. My friends, summertime is here. The NBA finals may be over, but the Stanley Cup finals might end tonight. You guys know I've been writing these Florida Panthers money lines all throughout the playoffs. I didn't do so well in game four, but overall throughout these playoffs into the Stanley Cup finals, I've been doing very well.

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Starting point is 00:18:09 Alex Dono from Locked on Cains alongside Kenton Gibbs from Locked on ACC. So the Big 12, Kenton is about to do a couple of things. One of these things I support. The other thing I think is incredibly risky. So the Big 12 is considering selling its naming rights to a commercial sponsor. So they might even take the word big out of Big 12, which kind of makes sense because the Big 10 sort of, they kind of own that word in a way the Big 12 won't really do. So apparently the corporate sponsor that they're in the most advanced talks with is Allstate.

Starting point is 00:18:44 So coming very soon, instead of being the Big 12, it might be the Allstate 12 in what would be a multimillion corporate sponsorship. And to me, Kenton, again, I know that a lot of people, they hated when they started adding the corporate names to bowl games, but this to me seems like a very easy, relatively harmless way

Starting point is 00:19:05 to make a lot of extra money. Yeah, I agree. And the other thing about this is it's not money that's expected to be paid back. That, to me, is the biggest part of this. It's not a loan. It's not, you know, anything along those lines.

Starting point is 00:19:20 This is a business contract where you're purely receiving, and the only thing you're giving is the naming rights or anything like that. And that's much more lucrative and much more low risk than some of the other opportunities. All the fans will moan and complain about it and say, oh, we hate this. It's the ugliest thing in the world. And just like all the other logo moments we've seen, they'll get over, right? The NBA patches on the jersey.

Starting point is 00:19:45 Oh, my God, this is crazy. We can't do it. It's going to ruin the game. Lo and behold, the NBA is doing just fine. the patches on the hockey players. I remember specifically during All-Star weekend, there was like, insignia's on either the helmets or the jerseys.

Starting point is 00:20:00 One of those two. Everybody was, oh, my God, this is crazy. How can we do it? Shut up. We've already separated it from being East versus West. It's now all these divisions and everybody's playing three on three. It's a different.

Starting point is 00:20:10 It's different. Things are changing. It's part of deal. So I think that the naming rights is the easy, low resistance path to some good money there. Yeah, because you think about, you have to get creative when you're at a disadvantage in revenue, whereas you could obviously argue that right now the Big 12 and the ACC are at a disadvantage in their revenue deals compared

Starting point is 00:20:32 to the SEC and the Big Ten. I compare this to what, and I'm a big soccer fan. And if you watch a soccer game, there's a couple of things that'll stand out. One of the reasons why my son loves soccer, he hates commercials. And in soccer, you go 45 minutes continuously no commercial. then you only get commercials at halftime. You get another 45 plus minutes continuous. And so obviously that puts soccer at a disadvantage compared to traditional American sports

Starting point is 00:21:00 where you've got TV timeouts every five minutes, right? So what does soccer do? They basically turn their telecast into a billboard, right? You have those green screens at the side of the pitch where they put sponsor patches on there. The jerseys are basically like NASCAR jerseys, like they've got sponsors all over the jerseys. And listen, at the end of the day, okay, are the jerseys? is he's kind of an eyesore. Maybe, maybe not. But, you know, those are creative ways to get extra revenue when you don't have commercial breaks every five minutes like you do for traditional

Starting point is 00:21:29 American sports. So you kind of have to look at this from the same way with the Big 12 and the ACC. You may have to find more creative ways to bridge some of that revenue. And Kenton, I think that there is an opportunity for a corporate sponsorship with the ACC. And this is an Atlanta, Georgia-based company. The ACC has representation. in Atlanta. This is what we need. We need the Chick-Fill ACC. A-C-C. We need this. Yeah. I mean, listen, I'm not mad at it. I'm not mad at it. You know, I think that's a, I think that'd be a very good, very good kind of sponsorship to have in terms of the ACC because you get to keep the name. And nobody's going to call you the Chick-Fill-A-C when they're talking about sports. You're still the ACC. So it's still like, oh, yeah, you're the ACC.

Starting point is 00:22:19 The Big 12, they became the Allstate 12 that changes the dynamic of what you call them. Yeah. Because you're like, you know, one thing that I think it could have a lot of value here is definitely giving away the naming rights to all of your rivalry games. I don't know if a conference could do that, but I think that that be a really, really big one. The textile bowl, bought to you by Bowtangles. The, you know, the, I don't know, what you would call Florida State, Miami. I don't think that one has an official name. But, you know, give it some type of name based on a regional or maybe even a national

Starting point is 00:22:54 sponsor who feels like, hey, that game is a big enough draw. I think you can see teams come out extremely equitably from that. And it encourages teams to grow their brand. Because if you don't have any rivalries that are stored or worth the, if the lemon ain't worth the squeeze, you're not going to get anything. But if you do put out a product to where it's like, hey, this game is pretty big. And a couple of million people turn out to see this thing. We might have to find a way to get our advertising dollars in there on a 50 yard line.

Starting point is 00:23:22 You know, it's one of those things that could be very big time for school. So I don't think that that's a bad idea at all, especially compared to some of the other ideas that are being floated around. Yeah, right. Well, here's another thing that the Big 12 is apparently looking to do. In addition to naming rights, the Big 12 is in talks with private equity firm, CVC Capital Partners, about selling a 15, to 20% stake in the league, potentially securing a $1 billion cash infusion. While some university presidents are skeptical about private equity involvement, the conference is keen to enhance its competitiveness and financial stability.

Starting point is 00:23:58 So again, I think naming rights seems like a very safe, very creative idea, easy money, private equity selling 20% of your conference to, you know, some corporate raider. Kenton, I don't know if that's a good idea. So, and maybe I'm crazy, all right? But you said that this is going to be an influx of a billion dollars for the conference. Okay. Now, quick question. How many Big 12 teams are there at time of this recording?

Starting point is 00:24:28 Well, more than 12. I know that. Okay. Let's just say, for kicks and gigs, let's say 15, right? Yeah. 15 teams. Okay. Now, let's break them.

Starting point is 00:24:40 14 teams. Okay, 14 teams. Let's break down a billion for 14 teams over three years. So now that- Sorry, sorry, after expansion looks like 16 now. Okay. So even better, right? Let's break down a billion divided by that 16 and over, let's say, four years.

Starting point is 00:25:03 What does that billion do? How far does that billion go to bridge that gap is what I'm saying here? You get what I'm saying? Like, this is a lot. This isn't a question of, hey, could you use a billion dollars? Would a billion dollars be good for you? No, that's not the question that you should be asking yourself at all here. The proper question is, is that billion worth it?

Starting point is 00:25:24 Is that billion worth all of the headache and stress that you will go through in terms of, again, if we just did this by three to four years, you're looking at a billion divided by 48, which equals 200 or I'm sorry 333 let me make sure I got this number right before I read it on air that's not like a complete idiot exactly you're looking at

Starting point is 00:25:50 2 million 800 I'm sorry 20 million 8333,333 that's how much each team would be coming up per year for that now mind you that's for three years that's for three years now

Starting point is 00:26:07 So objectively, you're looking at Britain the gap for three years and now these people own 15% of your company, not for three years, forever. Forever. Then what are you doing those three years are up and you need more? Do you go back to the well for more and then go back to the well for more? What's the deal there? You know, it's I'm wholly against getting private equity in college football because don't get me wrong. I am one of the people who have been screaming, hey, this is professionalized. for quite some time. However, this is not a situation where even in professional business entities,

Starting point is 00:26:46 I don't think that everybody should be going to private equity as much as they do. And here we are in yet another situation where I'm like, it's very clear this is not going to work out well for you all. This is not going to work out well. You're giving up 10 to 15% forever in perpetuity for something that will last you. If we stretch that out beyond three years, if we get to four, five, six years. Now all of a sudden, that number goes way down. So what are you going to do here? Yeah. I think it's dangerous. And a lot of people think that that's something that could potentially spell the eventual demise of that conference. Again, I think that the corporate

Starting point is 00:27:23 naming rights, great idea, low risk, high reward, private equity, high risk, high reward. Well, good times as always with Kenton Gibbs. You want to make sure you follow him on X at TGIF underscore Kenton. Check out his other show, Locked on Wolfpack. Check out my other show, Locked on Cains. Follow me on X at Alex Dono. And we'll talk to you again tomorrow on another episode of Lockdown ACC, part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.

Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - CFP Expert Hints That ACC Will Lose Teams? | FSU vs ACC Battle Updated | Selling Out To Corporations

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