IT's not that cut and dry. The ACC commish told members that ESPN would only sign the deal if the GOR was extended, but does not automatically mean the GOR is invalidated if ESPN does not extend.
It's like if I said I will only buy your house if you agree with your three neighbors that you will all split the cost of street repairs on a private road equally. Right now the repair % is based on house size. You have the biggest house, so you pay more. As a buyer I don't like that. You convince your neighbors to agree to the deal (let's say because they may want to add on to their house in the future and don't want have to pay a larger % for repairs if they add an extra floor). They sign a contract agreeing to split costs equally. If I don't buy your house, you still have an obligation to split repairs equally because that is between you and your neighbors. If your neighbor triples the size of his house, a road repair comes up and your neighbor wants you to pay 1/4 cost, you are paying the 1/4 cost. It doesn't matter that I didn't buy the house unless you expressly put into the contract that if I don't buy your house, the contract with your neighbors is invalidated. As far as we know, the GOR doesn't say that. Even if ESPN doesn't pick up the tv deal, the ACC brass may try to hold the remaining teams together in the conference and enforce the GOR because it gives the smaller programs more leverage in another tv deal with a different network. BC and Syracuse may get far less money if they are forced to look for a new conference, so it's in their interest to try and lock in UM, VT, GT and other remaining football schools in the ACC with a larger market to get themselves a better tv deal. They aren't going to do UM any favors.