SI:AM | A New Threat to NCAA Conference Stability

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Congrats to Wagner and Colorado State on winning the first games of March Madness.

In today’s SI:AM:

🧑‍⚖️ Clemson challenges the ACC

📸 Ohtani lands another SI cover

🏀 Men’s tourney teams, ranked

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See you in court

The NCAA basketball tournaments have started, but that doesn’t mean that we can stop thinking about the existential threats facing college sports.

Clemson yesterday became the second school to file a lawsuit against the ACC in an attempt to leave the conference. The Tigers’ suit is similar to the one filed by Florida State in December. Both suits focus on two issues: the ACC’s exit fee and Clemson’s “grant of rights.” The exit fee is the fee the conference would charge either school should it choose to leave for another league. The grant of rights is the agreement between the schools and the ACC granting the conference control over the broadcast rights.

The current grant of rights runs through 2036 and the penalty for leaving the conference before then would be enormous, possibly in excess of $500 million. Clemson’s lawsuit argues that the exit fee is unenforceable and that the grant of rights should be invalidated if and when it leaves the conference. The school argues that the grant of rights and the ACC’s contract with ESPN “when read together, plainly state that Clemson controls its media rights for games played if it is no longer a member of the ACC.”

“The ACC remains confident that its agreements with all its members will be affirmed by the courts,” the conference said in a statement. “Clemson, along with all ACC members, voluntarily signed and re-signed the 2013 and 2016 Grant of Rights, which is binding through 2036. In addition, Clemson agreed to the process and procedures for withdrawal. The Conference’s legal counsel will vigorously enforce the agreement and bylaws in the best interests of the ACC’s current and incoming members.”

The lawsuit is the latest step in a rebellion against the ACC that has been brewing since last May, when it was revealed that seven members of the 14-school conference (Clemson, Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia and Virginia Tech) had met to discuss abandoning the ACC. While the Pac-12 was able to dissolve last year because it was without a broadcast contract, the ACC’s current grant of rights appears to be the only thing keeping the league from splintering—and now two of its marquee members are seeking to nullify it.

A court ruling in favor of Florida State and/or Clemson would clear a path for other ACC schools to flee the conference and cast serious doubt on its future. Would the ACC be in danger of collapsing just as the Pac-12 without seven of its top football programs?

It isn’t hard to see what the endgame is here. The Big Ten and SEC are expanding, swallowing up key members of weakened conferences. There was always a hierarchy within the Power 5, but the demise of the Pac-12 and the decision by Texas and Oklahoma to leave the Big 12 in favor of the SEC have widened the gap between the nation’s two most powerful conferences and the rest. Clemson and Florida State would be perfect candidates to join an expanded SEC. Virginia and North Carolina, which were also part of the group last year that explored leaving the ACC, have the sort of academic reputation that would make them attractive to the Big Ten (if conference administrators still want to pretend that academics are a factor in these decisions).

If the collapse of the Pac-12 was the first domino to fall leading to the creation of two mega-conferences, the ACC’s current instability feels like the second. How much longer until the structure of college sports is completely unrecognizable?

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Richard Johnson has more on Clemson’s lawsuit against the ACC and what it means for the future of the conference.
• Shohei Ohtani is on the cover of the latest issue of SI, with a compelling cover story by Tom Verducci.
• Ohtani was the target of a bomb threat hoax before the Dodgers’ season opener against the Padres today in South Korea.
• Pat Forde ranked all 68 teams in the men’s NCAA tournament field.
• Between trading for Damian Lillard and firing coach Adrian Griffin just halfway through his first season, the Bucks have made some risky moves in pursuit of another championship. Now, Chris Mannix writes, time is running out for those moves to pay off.
• Mannix’s latest NBA power rankings feature the Knicks making a big jump.
• Albert Breer looks back at the 2014 pre-draft debate over Aaron Donald that seems absurd in retrospect.
• After covering him for most of his career, Greg Bishop accumulated tons of great Jason Kelce anecdotes. Here are a few of the best.

The top five...

… things I saw last night/this morning:

5. Howard’s frantic final possession in its First Four loss to Wagner.

4. This Colorado State fan’s shirt that took a clever swipe at both Virginia basketball and Iowa football.

3. The unlucky break for the Padres in their opener against the Dodgers. A ball went right through the webbing of first baseman Jake Cronenworth’s glove, allowing Los Angeles to score the go-ahead run in the eighth. The Dodgers won 5–2.

2. Howard player Bryce Harris’s eloquent explanation of what basketball has taught him about life.

1. Zion Williamson’s absurd hops on this alley-oop. (This photo by Getty Images photographer Nathaniel S. Butler shows just how far Zion was from the rim when he caught the ball.)

SIQ

The first televised NCAA men’s basketball championship game took place on this day in what year? Hint: It was tape-delayed.

• 1954
• 1960
• 1972
• 1979

Yesterday’s SIQ: Which team won the first Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women basketball championship on March 19, 1972?

• Delta State
• Delaware
• Queens College (N.Y.)
• Immaculata

Answer: Immaculata. It was the first of three straight national titles that the Mighty Macs won.

Immaculata, a small Catholic school located west of Philadelphia, defeated its nearby rival, West Chester University, in the title game, 52–48.

The championship was the start of a dynasty. The Mighty Macs went undefeated the following season, ending the year with a championship victory over Queens College (N.Y.). Queens got its revenge in 1974, though, handing Immaculata its first loss in two years, but it was the only loss Immaculata suffered that season as it went on to win a third straight title.

The Mighty Macs made history in the 1974–75 season, playing in the first nationally televised women’s basketball game (a win over Maryland in College Park) and the first women’s college game at Madison Square Garden (a win over Queens). Their run of dominance ended with a loss in the national championship game to Delta State.

In 2014, the Immaculata teams of 1972, ’73 and ’74 were inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. The team’s coach, Cathy Rush, was inducted in 2008, and in 2022, players Theresa Shank Grentz and Marianne Stanley were inducted individually into the Hall.