Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Clemson Goes Gun Blazing in Court Against the ACC w/ Grayson Boone

Episode Date: May 6, 2024

In today's episode, Kenton and Grayson discuss the antitrust cases and Clemson absolutely cooking with their latest argument.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

March Madness is over. B ball is done. And yet we can't escape the damn courts. You are locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up, everybody? I am Kenton Gibbs here with Grayson Boone, who is filling in with Donnell. We've been a little bit of traveling and whatnot.

But folks, before we get into today's show, show I've got to tell you all about Monopoly Go. This thing is something that is amazing. This fast-paced game lets you team up with friends in tournaments. I unlock awesome prizes like unique stickers for trading, cool playing pieces and a ton more. Go get the Monopoly Go app on. It's free in both Google Play and the App Store today.

Game on. Now, Grace, I'm tired of talking about this. I'm tired. You know, play. Labrith. Hey Lord, you know I'm tired, but we got some massive lawsuits. We got the NCAA being sued and what that means for players and teams. We got Clemson. Let me tell you something. They said, Florida State, y'all don't know which way to go. I'll make it easy. Follow me. Y'all, y'all came out. If you ever seen Harlem Knights when, what's that man's name, Arsenio Hall was shooting the Tommy gun

and the other guy was shooting the little 22 and he said, stop shooting that little stuff. That's what Clemson just said to FSU. And we got to get your two early predictions for the ACC. You're ready to get into it, Grace? Let's do it, man. All right. Well, let's start here. Because of the latest antitrust whooping, I'll tell you what.

I'll tell you what. All of the teams and the people filing lawsuits against the NCAA, they like Kendrick Lamar. They're whooping feet right now because this is terrible. The NCAA got to protect their self at all costs. But, in a little, because of the newest antitrust ruling, 3.7 billion, or I believe 3.17 or 3.7, not sure on that exact number, I'll get back to you in just a moment, is order to be paid out to players over the next 10 years with all powerful teams having the option to pay their players or to pay their athletes between 17 and 22 million.

It is not mandatory. It is optional. You can pay as much as you want or as little as you want direct from the school. Grayson, what are your thoughts on this as far as how it affects you? ACC so far. It's wild times. If you put your ear to the ground, you can really closely hear the NCAA losing their grip on everything they've had control over for decades now. And all of this new information about the antitrust lawsuit, it's fascinating to sort of dive into. Now, truth be told, I typically stray away from all of the court kind of stuff because it bores me. However, it's $2.7 billion, by the way. That's the exact number, $2.7 billion. However, the implications coming down the road, you simply cannot ignore.

And so the potential for back pay for hundreds of athletes for plenty of schools, and then plus each school getting an allotment around of 20 million a year, you talk about looking at leveling the playing field, which I've seen is thrown around a lot in discussions like these ones. It's a really big deal. And, you know, when you look further down the road about what may or may not happen with college football, potentially branching off to become essentially its own entity, entity.

These types of lawsuits just inch a little bit closer to the end of the NCAA, essentially. And it's so crazy to think about the potential of something like that happening because it's like, what happened to this level of athletics that I love? What is going on in the schools wanting out and the TV viewership and this, that, and the other? It's so much to try and keep track of. But the SparkNotes version of it is, things are not going well for the NCAA. AA. And each article gets released, you get a little bit closer. You appear a little bit more behind that curtain to see an office starting to go up in flames here. Absolutely. And what do you think

about the angle that many people are producing with this latest information coming out? There's not mandatory, but it's optional based on what the schools and the NCAA's funding can do together in terms of this may not be a leveling of the playing field between the haves and the have-nots and the power forward. This may just be the rich getting richer as certain teams may not even be able to hit the 17 to 22 million. Which one do you see it as or do you see it as a mix of both? Are you waiting on the results? I think it could be a mix of both. You could certainly see the rich getting richer. I think that's a very real scenario. But, you know, looking at, you know, well, us two being Wolfpack guys in particular, I see this could really benefit a school

like NC State because it could help them, you know, spread around anything they need in facilities or keeping players paid or anything else to to keep, you know, starting to raise the floor of that program. And I mean, the same is true for many schools in the ACC in particular. But, you know, you look at schools like a Florida state or a Clemson, however, however much longer they're still around in the ACC, you know, them getting an extra 20 million to throw on top of everything else they already got going on, it could certainly help them keep a leg up on the rest of the competition.

So it perhaps it's a little bit early. to tell exactly how it will play out. But I do think overall there is more benefit than non-benefit. Yeah, I think there is more benefit. I think that a lot of people, I don't think that there will be a leveling of the playing field. I think there will be a bigger gap. I think that the rich will get richer, but for everybody, right? Like the bottom of the power four will gain another leg on the teams in a group of five and all that.

And the richest of the power five or power four will gain another leg on the poorest of the power four. Because the way that this looks and the way that this sounds, even if the universities don't have a penny to their name, nor a pop to piss in nor window to throw it out of, as my people would say, you're looking at a situation where the NCAA is still going to inject you with a certain amount of money that gets you close enough to where you can pay player or something. But one thing that you and I talked about a lot is the idea of having scholarship changes to different sports, which is also a new part of these new rules that the NCAA is coming up with. to counteract or stay in front of this antitrust law thing. And now it's like there's the potential of having 31 baseball scholarships if your school can afford that, which I think is big time, man. I think that's massive because to me, yes, your sport is very different from football. Yes, every baseball player, you're a baseball guy, so you know the sport much more to me.

I personally believe that it's much less violent, much less taxing on the body than a football. but that still doesn't in basketball almost everybody has a scholarship the vast majority of the roster has scholarships in baseball when i found out that 31 guys were splitting like 15 when i tell you my job was like on the ground i'm like what and so something like that i think is big time regardless of what it what happens with the haves and have nots i think that alone is amazing and that more players will have their scholarships or have their education fully funded 11 11.7 is the number in baseball. That's a real number. They're splitting 11.7 scholarship. And so, yeah, when you're looking at schools getting these gigantic allotments, you think about the potential, I mean, me in particular, because I'm a college baseball guy, you could see college baseball's landscape change entirely. And everyone's just going to focus on football and basketball. I get that. But all the other sports that, you know, could really see a drastic change to their landscape is a very real situation. And a baseball team

getting a full allotment of scholarships, I can only imagine how that will change for various schools across the country because, I mean, the SEC and the ACC have dominated college baseball this year. So you're looking at, you know, the rich getting richer in that scenario. I mean, you could, you could flip the entire league on its head per se. So it's very interesting to see where this all is headed. You know, again, me personally, I try and stay out of the weeds on this type of stuff. I'd much rather just talk about the X's and O's and scoreboard, but, you know, it's,

it's reaching the point where you simply can't ignore. It's going to be in your face. It's going to be in our faces all throughout the summer with nothing going on here at the school year coming to a close. So, I mean, changes are coming to the landscape of college sports, whether you like it or not. Changes are coming to the landscape of college sports. And another place where changes are coming potentially is conference realignment.

That's still apparently happening. I know you said you don't like the courts, Grayson. And so I'm going to be a generous co-host to you today. And I'm going to give you more court stuff. Stick around because we're about to talk at Clemson and what they're doing in South Carolina that's got some folks all up in the tizzy right after this break, folks.

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We want to talk about fun stuff. Y'all don't want to hear a say courts no more. I get it. I get it. But here we are talking about it regardless. Clemson's coming out firing. And I'm going to read this excerpt because there's a lot in their argument. But I believe that this is the most cogent and important.

part of it. Clemson took the disagreement to another level when they said that the malintent of, or the malintent was to harm Clemson and deter its exit from the conference by, among other means, seeking to diminish the value of Clemson's intangible property. And this last part is the part where they added a little to Padillo, they add a little Texas Pete, they added a little Frank's Red Hot, if you will here. We're looking at Clemson saying, and I quote, this is directly from their argument here, as a result of the ACC's misstatements, the value of Clemsonsons media rights has diminished in the eyes of these and other third parties. This diminution in value, this diminution, I apologize, these words are beating me up today. This diminution in value injures Clemson impedes this ability. to negotiate future media rights agreements and worsens its negotiating position with potential future collaborators.

Grayson, I'm not a lawyer. As you all see, I'm not a professional speed reader either, but this seems very intense and very pointed from Clemson to the ACC, basically saying, you're holding me back. Let me go be free. What do you make of all this? It's wild because,

Because, you know, for a lot of the, a lot of the way all of this has played out. As an NC State fan, we're kind of just sitting back and watching Clemson and Florida State, you know, like their torches and have at it here. And, you know, the latest in this specific article basically states that the ACC is like, all right, well, if you all want to get out of this conference, whether you like it or not, we have your TV rights until 2036 because that's the grant of rights. That is the deal. And Clemson's like, are, wait a minute, we have receipts. So we're going to, we're going to provide those receipts now because y'all are looking funny in the light. The ACC's providing their receipts. It's just a whole back and forth.

On this, on this front in particular, I think Clemson has, has some, they have some, you know, momentum behind them. I think they're probably in the right on this, this instance in particular. Where this is headed, I think we all probably know. I think Clemson, Florida State, are eventually going to break free of these ACC chains here. How long that will continue to take, that remains to be seen. But I think Clemson has, they have some legitimate beef. I think the changing of,

the changing of what's going on behind the curtain is a very real thing with the ACC. I think they're just struggling and backpedaling at this point. So I don't know. I think Clemson turning up the heat, you know, trying to step into their shoes, I think they're doing the right thing here. You know, I absolutely understand the idea of taking this aggressive approach in terms of what you want and what you're trying to get out of this thing. And you don't want to have to have a similar situation of what Florida had in their county where, or in their court case in Florida, where Florida State was forced to basically go back, rewrite your argument, come to something more concise, more clear, more in plain language.

But man, this is, these are two unsalvageable marriages at this point because, you know, everybody said, oh, the Florida State situation is unsalvageable, but maybe Clemson, Clemson took the gloves off to it. They said it's over. There's no more marriage. There's no reconciling. And your mom's ugly. Her cooking is gross. That's what just happened here. This thing got very intense.

And so let me ask you this. There's a lot of speculation going around about when these teams. leave the conference. So I'm going to ask you two questions, actually. When do you see these teams leaving the conference? If you do see these teams leaving the conference, when do you see them leaving? And actually, I'm going to throw a third part on there. What do you see happening to the ACC after these two teams? Oh, man. Loaded question for a guy like me. You know, very low. We sit here in 2024. The grants go until 2036. I think you'll probably see it end somewhere in between maybe like a 2027-ish, 7-20-8.

What happens to the rest of the conference after that? Who knows, man? I mean, you could try and pull other schools from, you know, close by in the region to try and salvage the ACC. But, I mean, there's really no disputing that Clemson and Florida State are two of the, I guess, gems, you could say, of the conference. It kind of gave me chills trying to say that out loud. But it's true.

They are carrying the water for the ACC. they are bringing eyeballs and in dollar valuations to the ACC. That all is very true. And so them wanting a rightful slice of that pie, I get it. As an NC State fan, I get it. Many of us get it. And so, you know, for them to get out, I think it is not a matter of if, it is much more of a matter of when.

And I think you're looking at probably four or five years down the road. Eventually, they're going to build up enough momentum that they can pull the trigger here. You know, I absolutely agree that they're going to pull the trigger very shortly. And my prediction is somewhere in the two to three year range. I think this all is over and done with because that number will be much more manageable by that time for these two teams. But I don't think either one of these teams are going to win the court case or that the ACC is that hard up to keep their, you know, grant of rights from going to discovery to where they just. There's nothing they want to say and nothing they want to show to the world and they'll do anything. They'll let them out for any amount to not have to show it to the rest of the world.

So let me ask you this. In terms of looking at where the conference goes after cleansing, what do you see it looking like? Do you see there being no conference? Do you see it being out of the conference will go on? It'll just look different. What does that look like to you? I tend to think that the conference will survive in the end. I think it'll just be obviously a much lesser version of that.

But it's also hard to predict, you know, if slash when Florida State and Clemson do leave, who's to say that, you know, North Carolina is not the next out of the door. And then after that, Virginia Tech, NC State, it's hard to say. And the way these schools have been voting over the last couple of years, it makes you think that there would be more to follow them out that door. And, you know, I see a lot of speculation about potentially adding schools in the future, like a Yukon or a USF. Respectfully, they just don't bring the same flavor that a Clemson or a Florida State bring. And so that would make me feel that eventually the conference will indeed fold.

And then you'd have full-blown chaos on the front of conference reallignment. But it's so hard to predict, I think, at this point in time, although I do think the ACC will survive. but I don't think the most of the current schools you currently see in the ACC, I think they will end up going elsewhere. You know, the way I see this thing, I look at it and I say the ACC and the Big 12 aren't smart enough to say, hey, we need to get out of our own way and merge here. Again, you're not going to beat the Big Two by quality or by the amount of eyeballs drawn. And by quality, I mean the amount of eyeballs drawn because I'm not saying it's a lower quality of foot.

football. Hell, Clemson has won multiple national championships more than all of the big 10 teams combined in terms of during their run and all that good stuff. So I'm not saying the ACC doesn't play good ball, but what I am saying is even if Florida State and Clemson were to remain, I still think of Merger is one of your better options because you're looking at a case where you cannot go one for one blow for blow with the Big Ten or the SEC. You can. You can have more of a product. You can have your product on four to five days out of the week.

That's where you win. Those are the margins where I can see victory for the ACC. But again, the powers that be, well, there can only be one commissioner, where there can only be one deputy commissioner. Or there can only be in this like, dude. here's what's going to be fun when it happens when neither of you have a job anymore. That's going to be really fun to see all because nobody wanted to say, let's do what's right for the conferences.

But Grayson, we're finally off the court and no, we're not talking to Hardwood. We're going to get on the field. We're going to get your predictions for this upcoming season. And we'll see if you're on your Playboy Cardi and you're seeing a whole lot of red, or if you're going to not be as much of a homer as some hosts on this show are in terms. of who your picks are. Stay told folks. Stay locked in with locked on.

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So go download it now for free on Google Play or the App Store. Folks, game on. All right. So, Gracie, we're about to get out of here. But before we do, let me ask you this. What do you see in terms of the ACC championship game in 2024? Who are the two teams that are going to punch their ticket on, down to Charlotte, and who you got coming out on top? Man, predicting this in May is really something. It's way too early for a reason. Go for it. Fire from the hip. Tell me what you got. I will do my best. to keep my red tinted glasses off. However, I do think NC State this is the year,

that at least they make it to Charlotte. They have the offense, they have the firepower, they have the schedule, which is really something that needs to be addressed because it really does feel like the stars have aligned for the Wolfpack to finally break through and get to that ACC championship game. So I do think NC State will be one of the two teams. the other team, I think it might be Florida State.

And they have some new pieces to try and, you know, throw into the system. Mike Norvell, I really do think he's building something down there in Tallahassee for quite some time to come. Whether or not DJU will pan out at the QB position, that will remain to be seen. Me personally, I am a big skeptic of DJU. I was fairly unimpressed during his time at Clemson. his return to the ACC will be something to watch. But I think Florida State has picked up so many stellar athletes in the portal, a lot of which coming from Alabama after the mass exodus, including Nick Sabin.

So I think Florida State has enough, they got enough dogs and their dog pound to make it back to Charlotte. And I think it's going to be the Seminoles in the Wolfpack. Who do you think, Wednesday? Oh, man. There's no right answer. Fine, I'll be a homer. I'm going to pick my wolf pack, but do I feel good about it in May? That's a whole other story.

I couldn't give you a straight answer on that one. But my answer might change a million other times before we get to August and kick this thing off. But as of now, I will buy into the hype for NC State and I'll take the wolf back. Which players are you buying into the hype for? Who's your offensive player at a year in the ACC? It pains me to say it, but I'm interested. to see what Cam Ward does at Miami. And I think Miami is more often smoke and mirrors than it is substance.

I'm very skeptical of Mario Cristobal down there. But Miami, you know, they also picked up Martinez from Oregon State at the running back position, a little bit more firepower for him on offense. Cam Ward's a dog, though. I saw weirdly a lot of him when he played with Washington State. Really, really good quarterback, really superb athlete. And so I think if you build enough around him and just let him cook, he can take you to heights that you maybe didn't expect to get to. So offensive player of the year for the ACC, I'm leaning Cam Ward.

I think he can do it. Defensive player of the year, who you got? And this is the last one. So make it the best one. Defensive player of the year. Y'all are going to yell at me because this is another Homer pick. I'm going to go Aiden White, NC State. And it was a really, really big deal for the Wolfpack to bring him back.

And we thought we were losing him either to the portal or to the NFL draft. He sikes us all out and he comes back. This is a guy that has not allowed a coverage touchdown in not one, but two consecutive years. So he's a really big deal. I think it's virtually impossible for a corner to win this award. But that's the first name that popped my hand. So I'm going Aiden White. Well, you heard it here first, folks.

Grayson Boone is an unmitigated homework who can't be by, I mean, who can't be objective. No, I'm messing around. But Grayson, seriously, it's great to have you on the show. Tell the folks where they can find your word. You can find me on Twitter at G Boone underscore or Locked on Wolfpack, capital L, capital O underscore Wolfpack. Anything NC State related you want to talk to us about, find us on there. We'll be happy to chat with you. All right.

Thank you all so very much for coming out with us. Y'all already know what it is. Donnell will be back shortly, but until then, I guess we need more riffraff like Grayson to come on and kind of say things, I guess. Keep it locked in. Exactly. Keep it locked in with locked on. Peace and love, y'all.