Clemson and FSU would make the media rights more valuable for the SEC. North Carolina and Virginia would make the media rights more valuable for the SEC. Conference realignment is all about making a conference’s media rights more valuable. How quickly we forget that the commissioner of the B1G was part of an Alliance with the ACC and PAC12 with the stated goal of working together which included not poaching conference members. Also, the commissioner of the SEC was working closely with the Big 12 commissioner on a new playoff model while at the same time he was secretly plotting to bring Texas & OU into his conference. What conference commissioners say publicly matters little. IMO, FSU and Clemson have never been interested in joining the B1G or the Big 12, but are seeking SEC membership and have been for the last two year. You can ignore the FSU lawsuit, the Clemson lawsuit, and the two ACC lawsuits against members. You can ignore the ACC commissioner comments about fighting for his conference (survival), but the way Phillips once again danced around the ACC’s media rights extension continues to raise questions about his conference’s future. It reminds me of the way George Kliavkoff danced around questions about his conference’s media rights during the PAC-12 media day last year. George Kliavkoff (2023): “The longer we wait for the media deal, the better our options get. He also pointed out that the conference is on track to ink a new deal at about the time the conference was initially supposed to do, had the Pac-12 not begun seeking a new media deal early. He said, “In the end, we are on track to announce our deals at about the same time everyone would have predicted before conference realignment. … [the Pac-12] will be rewarded in the near future. We are not announcing our media deal today on purpose because we want the focus to be on football. ” Jim Phillips (2024): “Our partnership with ESPN is not going away. It’s not going away. We have talked to them about additional resources and how do we monetize it. We’re 50/50 partners on that. They’re as motivated as we are to generate more revenue for the overall television deal. I’m very optimistic about where we’re going with them. They understand the importance. I’ll just leave it at that.” If ESPN had informed Jim Phillips that they have finalized the decision to extend the ACC media rights contract until the year 2036 then why not just say it. Why not make that revelation your opening statement? Why not make the announcement with ESPN officials at the podium with you? The future of the the ACC is riding on whether the media rights agreement ends on 2027 or 2036. The only reason I can think of why Phillips hasn’t emphatically stating when the media rights contract will end is because he doesn’t know and that should be concerning to all members.