Not odd ... they made their comments. Nobody ever said it would be "easy" but they did say there were weaknesses in the GOR. If you are actually following the FSU legal action and reading the attorney reviews OF the filings you will see that there ARE strong cases for FSU and any ACC member that wants to challenge the GOR.
There is NO issue getting out of the ACC ... that right is IN the bylaws and it is simply paying the ACC exit fee which is approximately $120 million (even though that figure is also something that CAN be challenged and potentially negotiated down a bit). The issue is getting out with media rights. Bob Thompson, former CEO of FOX Sports and founder of the B10 network stated "wow, leave it to the FSU legal team to find a hole in the GOR big enough to drive a truck through". He was referencing the FACT that the FSU attorneys discovered a). that the current ESPN media commitment / contract is signed only through June 2027, so there are only 3 additional seasons actually committed to by ESPN b). ESPN has an option to extend that initially was to expire in 2021, they didn't extend, and Jim Phillips unilaterally extended the option period to February 2025, without any notification to or approval by the ACC members. They are saying that extension option is not valid.
Given that the CURRENT ESPN media contract is effective only through the 2026 football season, it is feasible / likely that any team that leaves the ACC effective 2025 will only need to buy back TWO seasons of media rights ... 2025 and 2026. THAT changes the entire economic horizon of leaving the ACC. It is no longer "$400-500M" as many were projecting ... it now becomes $180-200M. There are also a host of other issues in the FSU action that have been brought to public attention (in 2010 ESPN was forced by Swofford to include Raycom in the new ACC media deal ... at a cost to the ACC that is estimated at $82M per season, skimmed off the top to keep Raycom in operation. That is $1.15 Billion in lost revenue to ACC members through 2024). There are also other issues that have not been made public. The ACC "screwed the pooch" big time for reasons of personal gain and nepotism, favoring the ACC conference employees, staff, family, and friends, at the expense of the ACC members.
If FSU / UNC / Clemson / UVA want to leave ... they are leaving ... if they have a P2 home. Not sure if Miami administration is fully on board or not. If they are, they really need to be back channeling their interest TO the B10 to get in line ... as the line, with the addition of ND, is definitely getting longer and may mean that UM might have to wait until the next cycle to get in. We will see. ND's new AD is Pete Bevacqua ... former Chairman of NBC Sports. So they have a new AD whose entire professional background is NBC sports broadcasting and contracts. While Miami has a former national health director from Mexico. Who is most likely providing the most up to date evaluation and recommendations?