Florida State has called a Board of Trustees meeting for Friday which could produce a legal filing that could start the process of challenging the ACC’s Grant of Rights and could lead to the Seminoles getting out of the conference which could cause the league to splinter altogether.
That’s a lot of “coulds.”
Then again, this is conference realignment — aka the endless chase for television revenue — which has produced unthinkable developments such as the breakup of the 108-year old Pac-12, Cal and Stanford playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference and various Rutgers-UCLA match-ups to come.
A lot can happen.
FSU desperately wants out of the ACC and its 20-year contract with ESPN which pays out in the low $30 millions, per school, annually. The deal was supposed to bring stability but the SEC and Big Ten have since expanded and gotten far richer media rights packages. It’s expected that schools in those leagues will make upwards of twice as much as the Seminoles (and the rest of the ACC members) going forward.
For FSU, that is unappealing, if not unsustainable.
The question for Florida State is what if this works? What if they are the proverbial dog that catches the car? Now what?
There is no clear-cut landing place, but there is plenty of talk among SEC and Big Ten administrators that despite Florida State football’s storied past and present strength, FSU wouldn’t be a serious candidate for expansion. Same for Clemson even with its recent national titles.
On a competitive level, it doesn’t make sense, but the repeated conventional wisdom is that if ACC schools were available for poaching then North Carolina and Virginia might be the first choices. Academics, demographics and the ability to extend a league’s footprint into new territory would win out.
That’s what they say at least.
For now.
“Everything…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/florida-state-leaving-the-acc-would-have-massive-ramifications-for-the-future-of-college-athletics-154632042.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2023-12-21 15:46:32
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