The GoR and its ironcladness: "Over the past two years, a number of schools have sent teams of lawyers to examine the official grant of rights document, either looking for a potential pathway out or assurances that the biggest brands can't leave without a serious fight. As one administrator told ESPN, those reviews have established several potentially compelling arguments for breaking the agreement but have uncovered no obvious loophole that would provide a pathway out without engaging in protracted litigation. 'Is it worth the paper it's written on?' one AD said. 'If one school starts to leave, then another, how strong is it? It would involve a major legal battle.'" Discussions wrt unequal revenue sharing: "Yet, after lengthy discussions at the ACC's winter meetings, ADs emerged without anything approaching consensus on a new distribution plan, something that would require a two-thirds majority vote. Indeed, they can't even agree on what to call the plan -- 'weighted distribution,' as one AD said, 'alternative revenue," as the league called it or 'unequal' as most administrators opposing the plan have said. Even the most seismic shifts in distribution don't exactly paint the picture of a financial windfall for power programs like Clemson and Florida State, however. Estimates shared by sources with knowledge of the discussions suggest a net shift of between $250,000 and $3 million annually -- 'pocket change,' as one AD called it -- leading some administrators to wonder if it's worth all the trouble." The ACC's future: "To the mind of FSU athletic director Michael Alford, the longer term picture remains bleak compared with the immense growth of the SEC and Big Ten. When the ACC signed its 20-year TV deal with ESPN in 2016 -- a deal approved by several of the current athletic directors and school presidents, it should be noted -- the payout wasn't entirely out of step with the rest of the country, and it opened the door for the league to launch its own TV network. But six years later, the landscape has changed markedly, the frustrations have grown exponentially, and the financial constraints, which several ADs noted are already being felt, will soon become an existential threat. Alford's comments (last week) were a warning to his colleagues that time is running out to change those fortunes, and several administrators privately offered a similar lament to Alford's public statements. Change isn't about appeasement. It's about survival. 'At the end of the day, we need to try. And if, if we can't get things done, then, at least we can look around and say, 'All right, we attempted to get something done, we weren't able to do it,' Miami AD Dan Radakovich said. 'And then, if down the road, schools do choose to leave, it should not be a surprise.' " Tik, tik, tik ...