College football realignment: Florida State mulls ACC exit
Another major domino could be about to fall in the ongoing college football realignment scene as Florida State president Richard McCullough put his cards on the table during a meeting of the university's board of trustees, saying outright that the school is not happy with where the ACC is going and must consider leaving the conference at some point in the future.
What FSU's chief said
"Without increasing revenue, we're going to be facing major challenges to compete in football," McCullough said at the meeting.
"Obviously, we are not satisfied with our current situation. We love the ACC... But staying in the ACC under the current situation is hard for us to figure out how we remain competitive, unless there was a major change in the revenue distribution within the conference. That has not happened."
McCullough added, notably: "I believe FSU will have to, at some point consider very seriously leaving the ACC unless there is a radical change to the ACC's revenue distribution."
Florida State is not happy
It has been known for some time that Florida State was not pleased with the financial situation in the ACC. This offseason, it was revealed to be one of the so-called "Magnificent Seven" schools that were scouting a possible exit from the ACC's grant of rights agreement that expires in 2036.
The ACC responded by announcing a plan to direct revenue in a different way going forward, revealing an "incentive initiative" in the hopes that it would satisfy those schools. Judging by McCullough's comments, it doesn't appear that will be enough.
Even so, it remains a question how exactly Florida State, or any other ACC school, could leave the conference.
Initial reporting valued the exit fee at around $120 million, but some members have since called certain aspects of the grant of rights into question in an attempt to legally bypass the current deal and take part in conference realignment.
Speaking at the board meeting, Florida State trustee and former Seminoles quarterback Drew Weatherford hinted that the school will in all likelihood have to exit the ACC.
"It's not a matter of 'if we leave', in my opinion, but how and when we leave," he said.
Florida State, and any other ACC member, has until Aug. 15 to inform the ACC of their decision if they intend to leave the conference by July 1, 2024.
"At some point, we're going to have to do something," McCullough said. "I'm not that optimistic that we'll be able to stay. I just don't know that. It could occur, but something radically different is going to have to happen. All options remain on the table."
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