Are we about to see the end of Florida State in the ACC?
That’s the possibility at the moment, but there’s A LOT that needs to happen before Florida State leaves the conference, like so many other universities and their athletics programs have done in recent years.
On Thursday, there were reports that Florida State had called a special, “emergency” board of trustees meeting on Friday morning, with the agenda reportedly focused on steps that could be taken to leave the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Why would the school want to do that? How could it happen? Let’s dive in with what we know so far:
Here are the details of the board of trustees report
Per The Athletic‘s Nicole Auerbach:
The school has not been shy about its interest in potentially suing the league to challenge its grant of rights, a legally binding document that controls the publicity rights of a conference’s member schools and extends throughout the length of the ACC’s media rights deal with ESPN, which runs through 2036. Florida State has not taken legal action, but its representatives have talked often about the possibility, and the school’s lawyers have spent more than a year examining the document.
What would happen next?
Probably a lot of legal action, which would take a lot of time. From ESPN:
Nobody has ever legally challenged the grant of rights. ACC officials have previously described the grant of rights as “ironclad,” and firmly believe in the strength of the document. But Florida State has had its legal counsel review it at the league office in Charlotte, North Carolina.
If Florida State decides to challenge the grant of rights, it would not leave the league immediately, as the process would take some time. There also is significant risk to challenging the grant of rights. In 2022, one ACC athletic director told ESPN: “There would be a hell of a court fight, I will tell you that.”
Nearly every ACC school has studied the grant of rights since conference realignment began again in the summer of 2021, when the SEC added Texas and Oklahoma. The following summer, the Big Ten added USC and UCLA . Those moves sent shock waves through college football but also a dose of reality to the ACC, and in particular, league schools worried about falling further behind in revenue and relevance.
Does this have anything to do with the football team missing out on the College Football Playoff
… Maybe? There was A LOT of anger about how the team became the first undefeated squad to go undefeated and NOT make the playoffs, and rightfully so! As our Mike Sykes wrote on Thursday as all this broke:
Obviously, the Jordan Travis injury meant a lot there. But conference play mattered, too. FSU’s undefeated ACC schedule meant less to the committee than a one-loss SEC or Big 12 schedule. That mattered.
Leaving the conference is the only way for FSU to change that. It seems like FSU is doing it. And, with that, yet another conference shakeup will shift college football as we know it.
Where could the program go?
Uh, that’s a great question, and that’s being asked on social media:
Florida State leaning toward leaving the ACC? Is there a conference its expected to join? Big 10? SEC?!
— Chris Trapasso 🏈 (@ChrisTrapasso) December 21, 2023
Florida State at SEC and Big Ten headquarters pic.twitter.com/LCdLe5EKUt
— Pregame Empire (@PregameEmpire) December 21, 2023
Florida State ➡️ Big Ten
Miami ➡️ Big Ten
Virginia ➡️ SEC
Va Tech ➡️ SEC
North Carolina ➡️ SEC
Clemson ➡️ SECwho says no? https://t.co/Mwc21nNiC3
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) December 21, 2023
There’s some talk about them going independent like Notre Dame:
If they go independent, how would they make money? No tv network is going to throw a bag to cover just Florida state
— Tucker Ganley (@GanleyTucker) December 21, 2023
Stay tuned. This whole process could take a while, but the aftermath of getting out of the ACC seems like it’s Part II of this plan.
