Multiple sources told Yahoo Sports that Florida State and the ACC are expected to enter mediation in their legal dispute next week.

While it is an important step in the process, the mediation phase – a face-to-face discussion between the two sides before a neutral mediator – is an expected phase and there is no guarantee that an agreement will be reached. The neutral mediator has been selected and, barring anything unforeseen, the two sides will meet next week to talk, people with knowledge of the talks told Yahoo Sports.

Representatives from the ACC and the state of Florida both declined to comment when asked.

The ACC and one of its most important brands are embroiled in a legal battle. The Seminoles are attempting to leave the conference without paying both the exit fee and the cost of buying the media rights they granted to the conference years ago. The cost of such an exit is estimated at more than $500 million, according to court documents.

The case is being fought in two separate trials in two states, FSU’s home state of Florida and ACC’s home state of North Carolina, with each side seeking to conduct the proceedings in its own jurisdiction. During an April hearing in Florida, Leon County District Judge John C. Cooper ordered the school and conference to attempt to resolve the dispute through “good faith” mediation.

Mediation is a conflict resolution process designed to reach a mutually beneficial compromise. Unlike a judge or arbitrator, the mediator does not decide the outcome of the case, but simply helps the parties by encouraging each side to reach a solution. Mediation can take days, weeks, or even months, but usually has a deadline attached.

ACC officials have shown no willingness to settle the dispute through a settlement that would likely include a compromise on the multimillion-dollar exit fee. In fact, just two weeks ago at the ACC’s annual football media days, Commissioner Jim Phillips sharply criticized Florida State and Clemson for what he called “disruptive and damaging” attempts to exit by suing their own conference, and stressed that the league is committed to fighting the schools in court “for as long as it takes.”

Perhaps coincidentally, next Thursday is a key deadline. Schools in the ACC must give the conference one year’s notice before participating in sporting events in another league the following school year. The annual deadline for such notice is Aug. 15. It has long been believed that FSU does not plan to give notice in August.

Clemson is also battling the league in two separate lawsuits spanning two states (South Carolina and North Carolina). Although the lawsuits brought by Clemson and FSU are not identical, they share the same goal. They are seeking a low-cost exit from the conference and its rights deal – an agreement signed by the two universities and others that binds them to the ACC and transfers their television rights to the conference.

The rights award is tied to the conference’s television contract with ESPN, a document at the heart of Clemson and FSU’s desire to leave the ACC. The ESPN contract, which was celebrated at the time, will pay ACC members only a fraction of what SEC and Big Ten members receive from their television contracts.

By 2027, members of those leagues could receive $30 million more annually in conference media revenue than ACC programs – a gap that many administrators and coaches fear will negatively impact the two giants’ on-field success and that of the ACC and Big 12.

While the ACC schools are expected to earn more on average than the Big 12, the two conferences lag behind the SEC and the Big Ten. Finding untapped revenue streams is a top priority for both leagues. For example, the Big 12 is currently negotiating a multimillion-dollar naming rights deal with Allstate.

In the ACC, Phillips led a movement to create a “success initiative” that rewards success in football with millions of dollars in payouts. The league is using its College Football Playoff payouts and additional ESPN-related funds from expansion ($600 million) to create the system. It pays units to individual schools that meet certain benchmarks, including qualifying for a bowl game, finishing in the top 25, and participating in and advancing in the CFP.

An ACC team could earn as much as $25 million, Phillips said. Officials say the initiative will narrow the gap but not close it completely, Florida State athletic director Michael Alford said in an interview with Yahoo Sports in March.

Because of the new CFP distribution model – 58 percent of the funds go to the SEC and the Big Ten – ACC teams would lag behind the schools in those two conferences by about $40 million annually, he said.

Over the past year, Florida State officials have rattled their sabers more than those of other ACC programs when it comes to publicly criticizing their own conference. The Seminoles are embroiled in a legal battle to free themselves from an assignment agreement 12 years before it expires and are now using legal means to disclose ACC contracts that are normally kept secret.

The internal dispute continues to affect the entire league.

“We had six months of disruption. I think we handled it incredibly well,” Phillips said at the league’s media days in July. “Not a day goes by that I don’t spend some time on the (Clemson and FSU lawsuits). And I don’t think that’s going to change.”

Clemson and FSU believe that there will be interested parties if the ACC legally revokes their rights.

However, it is unlikely that any SEC or Big Ten school will agree to reduce its TV distribution in order to add a school. For the SEC, this is especially true given its influence: The league already has a foothold in South Carolina and Florida.

For the Big Ten and SEC to expand, they would likely need more money from their television partners — a lot more money (more than $100 million a year). That’s primarily Fox for the Big Ten and ESPN for the SEC.

Could the ACC appease its two restless members with more money? Maybe.

There is another possibility for unused revenue: the ESPN contract itself. Although it is widely believed that the contract runs until 2036, that is not true. The deal does not end until 2027.

ESPN has until next February to decide on another nine years. The ACC and ESPN are currently actively negotiating the extension, talks that Phillips described as “positive and productive.”

Could the network increase the value of the deal?

“That’s what we’re talking about,” Phillips said.