Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Florida State vs. ACC: FSU Scores A New Court Victory, Does The ACC Have An Achilles Heel?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Florida State was in court throwing haymakers at the ACC on Tuesday. Not surprisingly, Florida State doing better in Florida than they did in the courts in North Carolina. Let's talk about it. 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. Locked on ACC is proudly brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code Lockdown College for $20 off your first purchase. I am Alex Dono from Lockedon Caines. He's Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack. We're part of the awesome

Starting point is 00:01:00 Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. So the judge in Leon County, Florida on Tuesday morning had joked that, oh, this should only take us about 90 minutes. It took a lot longer than that, from 9.30 in the morning to about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. But the Honorable Judge Cooper said the ACC's motion to stay must be denied. So this is a win for Florida State the same way the ACC had a win in North Carolina last week. Florida State gets a win in Florida. The judge says he's more persuaded by the argument of Florida State. And he highlights the taking of media rights in air quotes.

Starting point is 00:01:38 And according to this live blog from the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper, they kept me informed on this all day. It sounds like Cooper, the judge, believes Florida State filed for a lawsuit first, and the ACC's filing was anticipatory. He says that's a form of forum shopping. And I think one of the first points that stands out to me, Kenton, not only the forum shopping, but Florida State is alleging, and this is yet to be definitively proven, I'm anxious to see where this goes, that the ACC, according to the grant of rights,

Starting point is 00:02:12 that you and I haven't been able to actually read it. Very few people have, but they claim that according to the grant of rights, the ACC should not be allowed to retain future TV rights for a team that leaves the conference, that if Florida State were to leave, the ACC then only owns their past TV rights and games and does not hold the future rights,

Starting point is 00:02:32 which is a very big sticking point, because if Florida State were to leave the conference, and the ACC has their future media rights for the next 12 years. It's not really feasible to leave the conference if that's the case. I would love to see the grant of rights in and of itself. I would love to see it and read it myself. But apparently, and this was, you know, I watched the actual Florida State Board of Trustees meeting before or the Board of Directors. I can't remember which it was, but whichever one it was.

Starting point is 00:03:05 Yeah. Yeah. So when the trustees had their live meeting, I watched every second of it from start to close, and even their lawyers on that call said that they had not seen the grant of rights in person. And so to see them going into this lawsuit and still proceeding with that not being public is so interesting to me. But if they read it and it says, hey, you don't get our future stuff, you only get our paths. The ACC is an extremely hot water. But something tells me that's not the case.

Starting point is 00:03:34 I have a very strong inclination that that's not the case. based upon the fact that if that were the case, wouldn't they just pay the $130 million or whatever and leave? Wouldn't they not go through all of this process over their past stuff and just pay out the current? Yes, $130 million sounds like a lot to you or me because you're Alex Donnell, I'm Kenton, Gibbs. We don't have coffers of people who have paid to go to Gibbs University or Donnell University. That just ain't the reality. I'm a few petty short of $140 million. Yeah, I'm just a couple dollars short.

Starting point is 00:04:07 matter of fact, might be starting to go fund me something, but don't worry about it. We're trying to buy our rights back from ACC, too. So the reality is very simple. I think that this is a situation of if they could have, they would have. If they could have simply said, hey, we'll take, we'll pay you whatever the buyout is. You all don't get our stuff going forward. You get our stuff going back. That would be it. But it seems clear to me that the grant of rights is something that they have to get nullified or that they have to get the courts to say, this is voided in order to have that type of situation going forward. And if the grant of rights must be nullified in order to have that type of situation going forward, then that de facto means

Starting point is 00:04:48 the grant of rights spells out. We get your future rights through the duration of this contract. Yeah. And so Florida State is, and listen, I'm sure that there are some truths here about how, you know, shady the ACC has been during this whole process with TV rights. And one of the one of the big claims by Florida State that the judge seemed to take very seriously is that, you know, Mr. Rush, the representation, legal representation for Florida State, says that the ACC went against its own rules to file its lawsuit against Florida State. He says they never took a vote. He says that it's what he calls, I'd never heard of this before full disclosure, but it's an ultra vires acts, which is when a corporation, in this case, the ACC exceeds the power it was given by

Starting point is 00:05:34 law. And there was also talk about the special meeting that the ACC held back on January 12th to discuss with certain member institutions apparently about the lawsuit against Florida State. And Florida State was not notified or invited to that meeting. So they, Florida State claims, and it does, it does feel this way, Kent, and that the ACC's already treating them like they're not a member. So Florida State's kind of talking out of both sides of their mouth. It's like we don't want to be a member of this conference anymore, but you already not treating us like one is wrong on your part. I could see some truth to that if they can prove it. So when the ACC held this special meeting and apparently no actual vote took place is what Florida State is claiming, Florida State was not

Starting point is 00:06:18 invited to the meeting. Allegedly Clemson was invited to the meeting but rejected their invitation and I guess the other institutions. I don't think Notre Dame was invited because they're not like a member, but 12 teams apparently showed up to it. Florida State was not invited and Clemson didn't show up either. Well, as the old saying goes, until the divorce is final, she's still your wife, right? And that's the situation that is going on here. The ACC, I feel like they did commit an error in, you know, not officially saying, hey, Florida State, this meeting is happening, but you all are not being invited based on these parameters or not having something along those lines of an official vote or something along those lines. But,

Starting point is 00:07:00 They, you know, it's the same way that I say Florida State and Clemson can't just unilaterally decide, hey, we're not going to play this season. The ACC still has certain things on its end that it cannot do to those universities as part of its deal. And one of those things is to now treat these two universities as non-members. You can't do that, right? You can have, you can make the argument of, well, do we not want them to have a vote in certain matters going forward? because it is clear that they want to be out. That's a very good question. It is clear and it would make sense for them to have different questions about,

Starting point is 00:07:36 you know, what do we want to do with the X, Y, and Z or A, B, and C in terms of their votes for certain matters. But you cannot unilaterally cut them out of the decision-making process altogether or not even make them aware that certain decisions are being made. Now, obviously, when you talk about the legal battle, yes, there are going to be certain decisions made that, like, we're a nemesis in court. We're no longer in lockstep, sure. But when it comes to the actual proceedings, you've got to follow the rules that were set in place. And if the ACC violated those rules, then they violated them. Whatever the punishment or penalty for that is, I'm not upset to see a levy.

Starting point is 00:08:16 Yeah. Well, we'll talk about some of the other final fine points that were discussed Tuesday in court and how this all might end. And what would happen if, like, Florida State is allowed to buy their. way out for $130 or $140 million. What would the result of that be in the big picture? You want to keep it locked right here. Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs with you on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Oh, and I know you're keeping it locked to Fanduel, my friends. It's playoff time in the NBA and NHL. Baseball's in full swing and Fandual is your place to bet on every game. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets guaranteed. That's $150,

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Starting point is 00:09:24 Thank you so much for making this episode of Locked on ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. Alex Dono from Locked on Caines, Kenton Gibbs from Locked on Wolfpack. So again, this 130 to 140 million. The ACC lawyers have admitted that that's the price to essentially buying your way out of the conference. But Kenton, that's not the price for buying your way out of the grant of rights. These are two different contracts. And I know that that's a hard thing for some people to understand because you're on Twitter now X and you see somebody saying, hey, the ACC admitted 130 to 140 million. They didn't specify it's maybe somewhere between those two amounts.

Starting point is 00:10:08 That's what it costs to get out of it. But the big sticking point here is if you can pay 130 million and then you're no longer a member of the ACC, does the ACC own my TV rights for the next 12 years or not? And unless you can get out of that part of it, now there's also a price tag on, you know, if you go to the Big Ten or the SEC without breaking the grant of rights, the ACC, the ACC did admit, yeah, you can, you can buy those TV rights back. They didn't specify how much that would cost. Is that an additional $300 million? Is it an additional $250, $400 million or something like that? But yeah, I think the $130 to $140 million buyout of the conference is doable when you talk

Starting point is 00:10:50 about one of those power two conferences if they're looking to add Florida State. But potentially buying those TV rights, if it does cost you that for the next 12 years, that's probably where you're not footing that bill yeah that's i mean at the end of the day there's always going to be a lynch pin that changes the math in situations like this the 130 to 140 that's not the math changer is the rights is the tv rights the media rights all that good stuff if that is i i can say this and i i say this comfortably we've known all along that the media rights was the big part about it that's as far as i have had it explained the actual cost to leave the conference was always like the side dish. It was the salad or the potatoes of the deal.

Starting point is 00:11:37 But the actual state, the actual heart of the matter here was those media rights because that is what, you know, we love talking about money is the king of this thing and money is the driver of conference realignment and all that. Really, it's not money. It's the TV deals. The TV deals are the biggest source of money. So the TV deals are what is driving. this morning anything else. And the TV deal, we all knew was separate from the actual, from the actual conference buyout. And so, you know, hearing that didn't too much of a surprise to me, I'm very interested to see where these judges land on that, though, because that's the part where I'm like, you know, if you land in a spot where you say the TV deal is only

Starting point is 00:12:26 good up through when ESPN would have to renew, which I believe will be in. two years or so and then you'd have to pay out for all of those years at 40, 50 million, whatever the case may be, then you're looking at a total of 240, 230. That's much more doable than you'd have to pay that out through 2036. Like, you know what I mean? So I think that how this thing gets delegated out in terms of how much of the media they have to pay for is the biggest lynch for this. because if they have to pay through all 12,

Starting point is 00:13:00 I am telling you right now, you know, I know everybody keeps telling us that we sound like Utah and Washington and company last year. Well, let me let you all in on something because you're all very smart and special boys, and I'm sure boys and girls, and I'm sure you all got gold stars every day in school.

Starting point is 00:13:18 Well, let me help you get another gold star, okay? The PAC 12 was at the end of their media deal. Nobody had to pay a dime to leave. Did you notice how there weren't any court cases besides with the final, the two pack or whatever you'd like to call them against the Pact 12? Did you notice that, my special friends? Did you notice there was no lawsuit between USC and the Pact 12, UCLA in the Pact 12, Oregon and the Pact 12, Oregon and the Pact 12, Washington in the Pact 12? Did you notice it? Oh, I bet you didn't.

Starting point is 00:13:50 But that's why we're here to help you out, Buki, so you can keep getting your gold stars. So maybe don't compare conferences who once TV deal is up, and once TV deal lasts through when Donno's kid will be in high school, ready to graduate by that point in time. You know, that's two very different situations. Now, speaking of TV deals, there are some early season games where I'm looking forward to watching the ACC on television this coming August and September. Now remember the ACC and football, they actually went seven and five against the SEC last year. This is pretty impressive some of those victories. Let's take a look at some early matchups, ACC versus SEC and an ACC versus Big Ten matchup I want to take a look at as well. So my friends, you know what you want to do.

Starting point is 00:14:39 You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Oh, and you know I'm not done yet with game time because I'm finding these amazing last minute deals on tickets. I'm finding tickets sometimes under 10 bucks for Miami Marlins games. If you've been frustrated buying tickets last minute, that's never going to happen at game time. Game time is now an authorized ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball, which makes getting tickets even faster and easier. Prices on the Game Time app actually go down the closer it gets to the first pitch with killer last minute deals, all-in prices, views from your seat and their lowest price guarantee.

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Starting point is 00:16:22 watch today. We're free. Wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team every day. So not all of these games have odds on them yet, Kenton, but Clemson against Georgia. That's going to be a season opening game in Atlanta, which is not technically a home game for Georgia. It's a home game for Georgia. The Clemson Tigers, I knew they were going to be dogs in that game, Kenton, but they're 12.5 point underdogs. And you know what? I'm not going to argue. argue it. Carson Beck is back. I thought Georgia, you know, they didn't get into the playoff and I understand why had they gotten in, I think they would be national champions,

Starting point is 00:17:01 defending national champions another year. Can Clemson pull off an upset or at least keep that game close? In the words of that TikTok sound that's going to viral right now, give me that. I want that. I want that 12 and a half. Let me tell you something. Clemson is not touching that 12 and have. That Clemson team is going to get destroyed. And it's, you know, it's going to be a situation where they're going to face a very angry Georgia team. Like that Georgia team is still going to be reeling from the fact that they were denied the playoffs based upon the fact that they lost the SEC championship where, you know, they were the number one team all year, dominated all that good stuff all year, and then that one loss in one game then boost them

Starting point is 00:17:48 out, they're going to be pissed off about it. They're going to be a team that's like we cannot leave any doubt. And Kirby Smart is the master, the master of getting in his players' heads and getting them to believe that the world is against them. And it was really hard before. I remember he made Nolan Ryan sound like he was on some type of hard drugs telling people, y'all said we were a seven-win team. Nolan, nobody said that.

Starting point is 00:18:15 Nobody. I know that he probably had y'all locked up like the Winter Soldier and had your eyes forced open to watch like two podcasters who were like Georgia stinks this year. But nobody else said that. No serious person said that Georgia was a seven-win team. So with what we just saw, Kirby now has the ability to trigger something

Starting point is 00:18:40 from a place of urgency that he would not otherwise. And that thing that he has to trigger is, nobody wants y'all in the playoffs. Nobody wants y'all in the playoffs. If you give anybody any doubt, any suspicion, all you need to give them is one game, and you losing one game will be worse than Texas losing one game. It will be worse than Alabama losing one game.

Starting point is 00:19:00 It'll be worse than anybody else losing one game. You have to be a level of perfect that nobody else is demanded to be because you're the bulldogs and everybody hates you. And the unfortunate target, the unfortunate team were receiving in of that mentality in game one happens to be these Clemson Tigers. All right. So even though the ACC had a winning record last year against the SEC,

Starting point is 00:19:27 this will not be one, I agree, that goes in the ACC's favor. Miami at Florida in Gainesville in the swamp is an interesting one to start the season. Very tough place to play. I'm glad that from a Miami point of view that, Trevor E.TN will no longer be lining up for Florida. Neither will Ricky Pearsall. So Kenton, I think Miami's got the talent to get it done. Last I checked about one and a half point favorites at the swamp, which is saying something. But again, until I actually see it, right?

Starting point is 00:20:02 I mean, I've seen Cam Ward looking really good in practice. I've seen Miami's linebackers looking really good in practice, wide receivers. They have a true freshman tight end who's lining up at three different positions. and looking like a junior or a senior, that's all fine and good. To me, the big variable there is the swamp. And obviously, both of these teams will be motivated. I think there's more pressure on Florida to win that game when you look at the rest of their schedule and them being at home.

Starting point is 00:20:31 I'm cautiously optimistic Miami can get it done, though, in Gainesville. Your optimism should not be cautious. This is a Florida team that, you know, I'm glad Brandon Austin didn't produce in this show because you want to mute both of our mics after what I'm going to say. Yeah, you would have shut the whole thing down by now. Let me tell you something that those Florida fans keep lying in themselves and say, oh, all these players we lost were rock apples and it's addition by subtraction. It's addition by subtraction.

Starting point is 00:20:57 Have you heard what all of these subtractions were saying? Oh, these coaches weren't coaching us on how to be successful. They weren't developing us on how to be better players. So what does that mean? Florida has to have an intense. they have to have an immeasurable talent advantage over you, or you will beat them. Or at least you should beat them.

Starting point is 00:21:21 Now, if Mario can coach his way out of a paperback, congratulations Miami fans, you all will be walking out of the swamp, out of the muck, if you will, in game one with a victory, okay? I am, I'm not a believer in this Florida team at all. I'm not, and I'm not going to sit here and say I'm a huge believer in this Miami team,

Starting point is 00:21:42 but I believe in them enough to say, Florida has not impressed me at all during the Billy Napier tenure. And I think that this year is when it comes to a crashing and burning end. Now, we have not a week one game, but an early season game between your North Carolina State Wolfpack and the Tennessee Volunteers. That's going to be an awesome benchmark, not only for NC State, but I think for the ACC in general. Yeah, and I think that this game is going to come down with two things. how good is Nico and how good does NC State, how well does NC State's offensive line hold up? We all know, say what you want about Tennessee.

Starting point is 00:22:24 When they get those big three or four guys to put their head in the dirt and they say, go out field and make some disruption happen, I don't know what it is about. If they're wearing an orange jersey, they can generally do it pretty well. So what does that mean for NC State? It means that if you cannot win that battle at the last, of scrimmage, you're going to be looking at a very tough time. And then as far as Nico goes, I have seen that young man play and I have thought to myself

Starting point is 00:22:52 like, oh, this is the future of quarterback play. Like he just looks so relaxed and smooth when he's rolling and doing it. But, you know, the positive for NC State and this is what Hurley used to say about Yukon all the time. You better get us right now. You better get us right now because we're coming. Tennessee may be one of those teams that in a few, they're coming. But if you get them while Nico's Young, ain't seen disguise coverages,

Starting point is 00:23:20 ain't seen blitzes coming from all these different places, and at college speeds, you've got a shot. As opposed to, if you catch them at their highest clip in a year or two, that may be a little different. You may be in for a very different ballgame that you'd be in for that NC State will be in for week two, I believe. And you talk about a game that's not really a home game, but it is a home game, right? That game is in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Starting point is 00:23:48 Oh, you know, I'm sure that there will be just a tad bit more red than orange in those stands. And I think the Wolfpack come away with a close one, with a hard fought one here against Tennessee. Well, we'll talk more about some of these non-conference games on tomorrow's episode. I love talking football. And again, we're inching closer to a ton of spring. spring games over the next week and a half. So you want to keep it locked right here. Alex Dono from Locked on Cains. He's Kenton Gibbs from Locked on Wolfpack. We will talk to you again next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team

Starting point is 00:24:23 every day.

Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Florida State vs. ACC: FSU Scores A New Court Victory, Does The ACC Have An Achilles Heel?

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