TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida State University Board of Trustees voted to authorize a lawsuit by the school against the Atlantic Coast Conference as it looks to possibly exit the conference.
FSU is currently locked into the ACC through 2036 through the conference's media rights deal. If FSU ever wanted to leave the ACC, it could cost the school possibly hundreds of millions of dollars.
Specifically, FSU's lawyers said the cost of leaving the ACC as of 2023 would be $572 million over the breaking of the media rights contract and the conference penalty.
"After exploring all options, I fear we're only left with this option," FSU President Richard McCullough said during the meeting. "This is certainly not where I would prefer to end up. I think that I would have preferred a different pathway. But I feel we have exhausted all of our options."
The Seminoles have been the talk of the college football world after being left out of the College Football Playoff. It was a moment briefly noted by President McCullough when he called it "the College Football Playoff Invitational."
But the Board and its lawyers went to great lengths to emphasize the lawsuit set to be filed electronically Friday wasn't over the CFP, but instead over the ACC's media contract and exit fees.
"The ACC is locked into a deteriorating media rights contract," said FSU Board of Trustees Chair Peter Collins. "At the same time, the ACC has the most draconian exit costs of anything in football."
FSU's lawyers outlined a complaint during the meeting that would allege a violation of Florida law, unenforceable penalties, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and more by the ACC.
According to lawyer David Ashburn, who filed the complaint and discussed it with the Board of Trustees, the lawsuit will be filed electronically, and it should be available after Christmas to the public.
Florida State University vs... by ABC Action News
That will set in process the legal process and require an answer from the Atlantic Coast Conference. However, FSU will not ask for immediate relief through such an action like a preliminary injunction and instead will "pursue the normal course of litigation."
ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips and Virginia President Jim Ryan, chairman of the conference's board of directors, said Florida State's actions are “in direct conflict with their longstanding obligations and is a clear violation of their legal commitments to the other members of the conference.”
“All ACC members, including Florida State, willingly and knowingly re-signed the current Grant of Rights in 2016, which is wholly enforceable and binding through 2036,” their statement said. “Each university has benefited from this agreement, receiving millions of dollars in revenue, and neither Florida State nor any other institution has ever challenged its legitimacy.”
If the Seminoles successfully leave the Atlantic Coast Conference, the question then becomes, where will FSU go for a new conference?
The two most powerful conferences in the nation are the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Big Ten Conference.
The Big Ten is at 18 teams, and it was a battle to get to 18. Earlier this year, several schools in the conference pushed back against the plan to admit Oregon and Washington.
The SEC is adding Texas and Oklahoma next season to get to 16 teams. So it will have two fewer teams than the Big Ten. Complicating the fact of possibly adding the Seminoles to the SEC would be the Florida Gators, who would have a major say in whether the Seminoles could be admitted into the conference.
FSU could look at joining the Big 12 Conference, but with it losing the flagship schools of Oklahoma and Texas, it might not be a big step up from the ACC. Plus, there is already one Florida school (UCF) in the Big 12 and Orlando is a much larger television market than Tallahassee.
With the Seminoles' lawsuit, college football's next round of realignment may begin in the courts.
