FSU calls unique meeting in the middle of cloudy ACC future

Andrea Adelson, ESPN Elder WriterDec 21, 2023, 09:04 AM ET

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• ACC reporter.
• Joined ESPN.com in 2010.
• Graduate of the University of Florida.TALLAHASSEE, Fla.– Florida State has actually called

  a special board of trustees satisfying for Friday morning.While no main reason was given for the meeting, sources showed to ESPN that the board is expected to discuss its long-term athletics future.The meeting, announced Thursday, comes almost three weeks after the Seminoles ended up being the first undefeated Power 5 champion left out of the College Football Playoff, a decision that angered university authorities, its board and athletic department after a year spent voicing their unhappiness with the ACC for a host of factors– consisting of a widening revenue gap with other conferences, earnings distribution and its place in the college landscape.The board should vote on any action the school decides to take, consisting of a possible challenge to the grant of rights.Any ACC school that wants to leave the conference would need to challenge the grant of rights. Florida State and all other ACC members signed a grant of rights with the league that goes through 2036, the length of its tv agreement with ESPN, that gives the league control over its media rights– consisting of tv profits and home game broadcasts in all sports. In addition, any school that wants to leave the ACC would need to pay an exit charge of 3 times the league’s operating expense, or roughly$120 million.Editor’s Picks 2 Related No one has ever legally challenged the grant of rights. ACC authorities have actually previously explained the grant of rights as”ironclad,” and firmly believe in the strength of the document. But Florida State has had its legal counsel review it at the league workplace in Charlotte, North Carolina.If Florida State decides to challenge the grant of rights, it would not leave the league immediately, as the process would spend some time. There also is substantial danger to challenging the grant of rights. In 2022, one ACC athletic director informed ESPN:”There would be a hell of a court fight, I will tell you

  that.”Nearly every ACC school has studied the grant of rights since conference adjustment began once again in the summer season of 2021, when the SEC included Texas and Oklahoma. The following summer season, the Big Ten included USC and UCLA. Those relocations sent shock waves through college football however likewise a dosage of reality to the ACC, and in specific, league

  schools fretted about falling even more behind in revenue and relevance.Florida State started sounding alarm bells about its misery with the ACC in February, when athletic director Michael Alford informed his board of trustees the school will fall behind SEC and Big Ten schools by$30 million yearly when their respective brand-new television contracts begin.In May, it was exposed that 7 ACC schools– Florida State, Clemson, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech and NC State– had discussions amongst themselves about the grant of rights and securing a path forward.Though the ACC eventually agreed to alter its earnings circulation model– in large part due to the fact that Florida State promoted it– an FSU board of trustees satisfying in August in Tallahassee took into clearer focus just how dissatisfied

  the school had actually ended up being as another wave of realignment moved conference affiliations again.University president Richard McCullough made it clear the school would “very seriously”think about leaving the league. Board chairman Peter Collins made it clear the grant of rights

  “will not be the file that keeps us from acting, “as one board member after another pushed the school to come up with an action plan for its long-term future. In a different interview with ESPN in August, McCullough said he was “not that positive that we’ll be able to remain. At some point, we’re going to need to do something.”A couple of weeks after that board meeting, the ACC added Stanford, California and SMU in reaction to the Big Ten including Oregon and Washington, and the Huge 12 broadening as well. Florida State, Clemson and North Carolina all voted no to growth. The relocation was viewed as a method to secure the league’s long-lasting future ought to it lose schools to other conferences.Watching Florida State end up being the first undefeated Power 5 group to get left out of the College Football Playoff on Dec. 3 only served to speed momentum toward outlining its course forward. The anger and emotion resulted in questions about the ACC as

  a whole, and whether being an ACC school is what ultimately kept the Seminoles out. The reality that an ACC athletic director– NC State’s Boo Corrigan– worked as committee chairman just worsened the situation.Multiple school authorities expressed frustration with the league and ACC commissioner Jim Phillips for not being out front openly to press the Florida State case after quarterback Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending injury.Those concerns were just highlighted when CFP executive director Bill Hancock wrote in a letter to U.S. Sen. Rick Scott(R-Fla. )about the Florida State snub that the Seminoles did not have a strong enough strength of schedule and described the ACC as a”so-called Power 5 conference.”While Hancock later clarified that declaration, Florida State officials took that phrase as a slap to the

  ACC.Phillips issued statements in assistance of Florida State after its win over Louisville in the ACC national championship and a scathing declaration after the Seminoles were left out, and assisted in discussions with the CFP.By then, though, discussions had actually already warmed up about

  FSU’s long-term future. Now it depends on the board to choose its next step forward.