EA Sports releases the highly anticipated College Football 25 next week, but Florida State football is wrapped up in another game: the conference realignment rumor mill.
This time, there’s talk around FSU and Clemson leaving the ACC for the Big 12. Yes, that would mean the Seminoles would be conference rivals with Colorado and its head coach, FSU legend Deion Sanders.
The Big 12 might not be as big a prize as the SEC or Big Ten, a favorite for college football forecasters and fans to place the two schools. But as they wage a legal battle with the ACC over its media rights deal, FSU and Clemson might see new reasons to consider the ever-expanding conference, especially if it acquires the private equity funding that could be the schools’ answer to the price of exiting the ACC.
Here’s what we know about the Big 12 rumors and the Florida State and Clemson lawsuits against the ACC:
What are the rumors of FSU and Clemson joining the Big 12?
On July 9, Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger released a report from Big 12 football media day about the conference’s expansion so far and what might come next. The conference went from 10 teams in 2022 to 16 in 2024, but after losing Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC, Commissioner Brett Yormark said it’s not over yet.
Dellenger put it this way in his story: “‘I guess you could say we are still open for business,’ he said with a smile. ‘This is not time to press pause.'”
Dellenger went on John Kurtz’s YouTube channel afterward and discussed Florida State’s and Clemson’s options, saying he thinks “there’s been at least early conversation between the Big 12 and those schools.”
The discussion also brings up the Big 12’s attempt to bring private equity money into the mix, possibly allowing FSU and Clemson to pay the hefty fee it would cost to exit the ACC’s contracts if it comes to that.
“If it comes to adding blueblood football powers that you need, maybe there’s a shot,” Dellenger said.
Why is FSU leaving the ACC?
Florida State is trying to exit the ACC’s “grant of rights” media deal, which transfers each conference school’s media rights over to the conference. Similar agreements exist across college sports, but FSU claims the ACC’s deal, which is due to expire in 2036, puts the conference at a competitive disadvantage against the rising powers of the Big Ten and SEC.
On March 27, FSU wrote in a legal filing that it intended to leave the ACC. “The ACC’s objective is to take that Florida property for the next dozen years after FSU exits the ACC and ceases to be a ‘Conference Institution,'” the filing states.
Is Clemson leaving the ACC?
Clemson filed its own lawsuit March 19 in Pickens County, South Carolina, taking aim at the ACC’s claim that it “irrevocably owns the media rights of member institutions to home games played through 2036, even if an institution ceases to being a member” and “paying an exorbitant $140 million penalty to leave the conference, where members owe the conference fiduciary duties.”
The ACC countersued Clemson the following day in North Carolina, similar to what happened in the FSU case.
Why is Florida State suing the ACC?
For years, Florida State leaders have been vocal in their displeasure over the conference’s revenue sharing plan. Most complaints circle around the ACC’s TV contract with ESPN, which extends through 2036 even as the network made substantial cuts. The Big Ten signed a seven-year, $8 billion deal to air games between Fox, CBS and NBC that went into effect last season. This year, the SEC starts a 10-year, $3 billion deal to move from CBS to ESPN.
Those deals include huge payouts for the schools. Florida coach Billy Napier said projections show each SEC school would get millions more from the new deal, rising from $55 million to potentially more than $70 million. Florida State athletic director Michael Alford said Big Ten schools will receive about $80 million each year from its TV contract, whereas FSU currently receives $42 million. And on top of that, FSU officials have said it would cost $572 million to break the ACC’s grant of rights deal and exit the conference.
What is the FSU lawsuit about?
The final straw might have been the FSU football team going undefeated and winning the ACC championship but still being left out of the College Football Playoff. Outrage from all over Florida started immediately after the CFP announcement December 3, and on December 22, the FSU Board of Trustees voted to sue the conference over its media rights deal.
The ACC countersued in North Carolina, where the conference is headquartered. A Florida circuit judge denied the ACC’s motion to stay FSU’s lawsuit in Leon County in April (the ruling was made formal June 21), and a state appeals court upheld that decision on June 28. The cases in both states are ongoing.
Is FSU joining the Big 10?
Rumors around Florida State leaving the ACC in favor of the Big Ten have been around for years. A Penn State blog started a fresh new round of speculation on April Fools Day, and while that turned out to be unfounded, there is reason to believe it could happen.
For one, the Big Ten would be able to reach into the prized football state of Florida if FSU were to join, and adding Clemson as a regional rival would make sense and give it a proper foothold in the South. Over the past 30 years, the conference has expanded from its origins in the Midwest to the Atlantic Ocean (Penn State in 1995, Maryland and Rutgers in 2014) and now the Pacific (USC, UCLA, Oregon and…
Tallahassee Democrat
