A wave of speculation regarding Florida State’s future conference home has flooded FSU’s social media channels. Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger sparked the discussion with his comments during an interview with Big 12 reporter John Kurtz regarding the conference’s future expansion. Dellenger said he believes Florida State and Clemson officials have engaged in preliminary discussions with the Big 12 about joining the conference after the schools leave the ACC.
Hours later, the FSU board of trustees scheduled a meeting for July 22, the same day Florida State will be in attendance for ACC media days and the day before Big Ten media days begin. It all left some Seminole faithful dismayed that FSU could go through the whole ordeal of leaving the ACC to make, at best, a lateral move.
Dellenger presented Florida State and Clemson’s preferences as follows:
1. A spot in the SEC or Big Ten
2. A reformed ACC with fewer teams sharing revenues
3. Join the Big 12
It’s not the major revelation some are making it out to be. FSU and Clemson wouldn’t be filing costly lawsuits against the ACC if they didn’t want to join the other powerful players in sports.
The lifeless Magnificent 7 reportedly considered kicking out the conference’s dead weight or starting a new league after leaving the ACC en masse. Any chance of that happening disappeared when Virginia, Virginia Tech, Miami and NC State voted to expand the ACC west.
What about the Big 12? Since Brett Yormark took over the league, it has done everything in its power to be the aggressor of conference realignment. The league openly courted members of the PAC-12 for over a year before the conference ultimately imploded. Yormark himself has said the conference is still “open for business” regarding new members.
Would FSU really be interested in joining the Big 12? It all comes down to money. Florida State has repeatedly tried to get the ACC to adopt an unequal revenue-sharing model that would have given FSU a larger share of television revenue. If the conference had accepted that plan, the Seminoles likely wouldn’t sue the conference to leave the conference early. If the Big 12 creates a revenue distribution model that would see the Noles paid the same as Big Ten and SEC teams, they’ll at least listen.
Update:According to WCTV’s Ryan Kelly, the July 22 board meeting is a routine budget meeting.
Are you the #FSU Board of Trustees meeting that covered the issue tonight. A university spokesperson told us the meeting was previously scheduled to approve the university’s legislative budget request for 2025-26.#Noles
— Ryan Kelly (@RyanLKelly) July 11, 2024
Florida State vs. ACC Game Schedule
July 8, 2010:ACC signs 12-year media rights deal with ESPN. As Tomahawk Nation previously reported and FSU’s lawsuit confirms, the ACC gave up more media rights and took less money in order to keep Raycom as a media partner. Chad Swofford, son of then-ACC Commissioner John Swofford, was a Raycom executive at the time and remains so to this day. Raycom would have gone bankrupt without this lifeline, as the company had already lost the broadcast/production rights to SEC games.
May 9, 2012:ACC renegotiates 2010 deal with ESPN, extending deal through 2027 for slightly more money.
November 19, 2012:Maryland, a founding member of the ACC, announces it will leave the conference to join the Big Ten. Maryland specifically cited the ACC’s lack of revenue in its 2010 media agreement as one of the reasons it was leaving the conference.
March 7, 2013:John Swofford and ESPN make a pitch to ACC presidents promising to launch an ESPN-backed ACC Network to help fill the revenue gap. In order for ESPN to get on board, ACC schools must sign a rights agreement like the one signed by the Big 12.
April 22, 2013: The ACC announces that all remaining members have signed a conference rights agreement. Neither the rights agreements nor the amended contract with ESPN guarantee that ESPN will launch an ACC Network.
June 2016:John Swofford tells ACC presidents that ESPN will not launch the ACC Network until 2019 and that they will not commit to that date unless the rights agreement is extended through 2036. The amended agreement with ESPN extends the existing contract beyond 2027 and gives ESPN the unilateral authority to extend the agreement through 2036.
March 29, 2019: The ACC Network is finally launching, but won’t get full coverage in ACC markets until August 2021.
November 18, 2022: Florida State Athletic Director Michael Alford makes a presentation to the Florida State Board of Trustees, showing that Florida State would be in the top 5 in revenue in the SEC and Big Ten. No comparisons are made to ACC schools.
February 7, 2023:Viral tweet from the official FSU athletics account touting Florida State as having the ACC’s largest television audienceTweets touting FSU’s TV ratings continue throughout the 2023 football season.
February 24, 2023: Florida State Athletic Director Michael Alford gives a presentation to the Florida State Board of Trustees, highlighting the growing financial gap between the ACC and the SEC/Big Ten. He sums it up this way: “Something has to change.”
May 15, 2023:Just before the ACC annual meeting, reports broke that Florida State, Clemson, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia, and Virginia Tech were considering leaving the conference. Dubbed “The Magnificent Seven,” the news cast doubt on the future of the conference.
December 21, 2023:The ACC files a preemptive lawsuit against Florida State in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The news only comes to light after FSU announces its own lawsuit against the conference the next day.
December 22, 2023:Florida State Board of Trustees votes unanimously to file lawsuit against ACC to challenge conference’s grant of rights.
March 19, 2024:Clemson files its own lawsuit challenging ACC’s grant of rights in South Carolina court.