Florida State's 'Barking' About Leaving No Good for ACC, North Carolina AD Says

North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham is unimpressed by Florida State's consideration of exiting the ACC.

Florida State president Richard McCullough told his board of trustees Wednesday the university would "very seriously" consider leaving the ACC without changes to the conference's revenue distribution system, ESPN's Andrea Adelson reported.

"I don't think it's good for our league for them to be out there barking like that," Cunningham said Thursday on 99.9 The Fan's The Adam Gold Show in Raleigh, North Carolina (h/t ESPN). "I'd rather see them be a good member of the league, support the league and if they have to make a decision, then so be it. Pay for the exit fee, wait for your grant of rights that you've given and then in 2036, when those rights return to you, do whatever you want."

ACC members signed a grant-of-rights agreement in 2013 that allows the conference to control schools' media rights through 2036, the length of the ACC's current deal with ESPN.

Any school leaving the conference would have to break the agreement and pay a $120 million exit fee, according to Adelson.

The ACC extended its 2013 grant-of-rights agreement in 2016 as part of the 20-year media deal with ESPN that formed the ACC Network. Florida State was one of the 15 member schools that signed the original contract in 2013.

"I'm not sure how you can just say, 'Just kidding. I didn't like the deal that was struck and now I want to get out of it,'" Cunningham said. "Any contract, it obligates you to what you agreed to on the front end. So I'm scratching my head, wondering what are you talking about."

This agreement, which allows the ACC to collect revenue from the media rights deal and distribute it among members, includes a clause stating that each member school "irrevocably and exclusively grants to the conference during the term all rights necessary for the conference to perform the contractual obligations of the conference expressly set forth in the ESPN agreement," according to The News & Observer's Steve Wiseman.

That means revenue brought in by a member school through the ESPN agreement is still bound to go to the ACC until 2036, whatever that school decides to do about its ACC membership status.

Florida State is reportedly not the only school considering looking for a way out of this deal, which leaves schools an average of $30 million in annual TV distribution revenue behind Big Ten and SEC schools, according to Adelson.

Action Network's Brett McMurphy and Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger reported in May that Florida State, Clemson, Miami, UNC, Virginia and Virginia Tech had met together with lawyers to examine the grant of rights and "determine just how unbreakable it is."