Here are my (somewhat, not expert, but decent) law-educated takes on this.
1. As
@TheOriginalCane already said, FSU has a landing spot if they leave the ACC. You´re a complete and utter braindead ****flap if you leave any situation in life without an exitplan. As my father would say "Secure yourself before you quit your job. Its much easier to get out of a ****** situation than it is to enter a good one, so be prepared". And they have, which is not surprising to me. As much as we can **** on FSU, if you go by purely based TV numbers, they are the hottest shot in the ACC.
2. The reason why other programs have not followed suit is, as
@TheOriginalCane has also alluded to, that they do not have such exit plan in hand. There is an old GOR document available on the internet, even with an analysis from a Harvard Law student and how GORs can be taken apart in a legal battle. It was pathetic. I was stunned that a bunch of universities with billions of dollars behind them would agree to something like this, but then again, revenues back then were not as seperated as they are now. College Football has realised its money making capabilities and the ACC plainly did not, as a whole.
3. Which leads us to the question why ACC officials would not let lawyers review their current GOR in a public setting. Fairly simple to answer: Because it would get killed in court. If you have nothing to hide, there is no problem. If you have something to hide, it smells really bad. And that smell goes all the way to Germany. The contents of that GOR must be so bad that ACC lawyers have advised officials to proceed that way. They likely can do that, but the fact that they are doing it that way is really bad. I remember that there was an article by The Athletic (
https://theathletic.com/3396108/2022/07/01/acc-grant-of-rights-staples/) that explains this really well. A document that clarifies media rights and essentially handles hundres of millions of dollars should not be a couple of pages.
4. Whoever agreed on granting ESPN to have an option for broadcasting rights that would automatically extend the GOR for another ten years without the universities choice needs to be fired and beaten up immediately. Whoever agreed on letting ESPN get off the hook by 2027 but locks you in a GOR for ten additional years without an exit that does not cost half a billion dollars should receive the same punishment. This may also conclude that the GOR is not a contract, as the parties do not enact on the same level and one party severely benefits whilst the other does not. But thats purely speculation that high-level-officials will likely discuss about. Tricky.
5. Miami should follow suit and probably will. I am 99% sure (the remaining 1 % is me lacking info) that Miami has been informed and updated over FSUs work over the past year, because the situation applies to us in the exact same way as it applies to FSU. The reason why FSU goes forward and attacks is because they are a publicly funded state university with an exit plan in hand and not a private university like we are. FSUs interest of exiting the ACC could very likely enter politics, as their playoff situation has already done so. And this matters waaaaaay more than people think.
6. Its completely impossible to say that FSU will leave for free, but they will leave with a much cheaper exit fee compared to the one that is existing now.
7. This case will set a precedent for all future GORs and likely cause every remaining conference to legally check and adjust theirs to prevent this from happening.
8. My prediction: FSU gets support from Miami, who join in this lawsuit. ACC buckles down to the pressure, essentially allowing both of them to leave at reduced pricing. The battle for power goes to the other remaining teams within the ACC and a completely new GOR will be negotiated to prevent other universities from suing in their respective states.
