The Mid-American Conference is re-opening television negotiations with ESPN while simultaneously contemplating a media grant of rights, according to multiple outlets, including CBS Sports and Cynopsis Sports.

Successful negotiations would likely increase the “less than $100,000″ each member school pockets under the current agreement, which runs to 2016-’17. Implementing a media grant of rights would frustrate further realignment possibilities involving MAC programs.

In short, a media grant of rights is a contract between a conference and its member schools. If a school decides to leave for another conference during the length of the contract, that school surrenders all media rights and revenues earned for a certain percentage of games in the new conference. For example, in the ACC, a departing school would surrender all “media rights and revenue for all home games” until 2027.

The media grant of rights is a relatively new concept in college sports and – like exit fees and other contractual obligations – could be challenged in court. At a minimum, it adds another layer of potential penalties should a member institution attempt to switch conferences.

It seems likely that a media grant of rights would receive a good deal of support among MAC institutions. Every school, save for UMass, has been in the conference since at least 1998 (Buffalo is the second-newest program), and bigger conferences are unlikely to come poaching anytime soon. The contract would also add stability to a conference that lost Marshall (2005), Central Florida (2005) and Temple (2012) during the past decade.

In the ACC, each of the current and future 15-member institutions signed the media grant of rights.

How a media grant of rights would interact with UMass’ current agreement with the conference is anyone’s guess. There are a lot of moving parts, and there have been no comments from either party regarding the future of their relationship.

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