Florida State officials threaten to leave ACC if they don’t get more revenue | College Football Enquirer
Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Ross Dellenger, and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde hop on the College Football Enquirer to discuss Florida State officials statements on potentially leaving the ACC over revenue disputes, and debate if the Seminoles have any real chance to leave the conference.
Video Transcript
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DAN WETZEL: Florida State is just pissed off, OK? They're not happy with the ACC because they're getting equal revenue. I don't know if they started believing all those made up reports that the Big Ten was about to add them. Here's FSU President Rick McCullough. "I believe that FSU will have to, at some point, consider very serious leaving the ACC unless there is a radical change to the revenue distribution."
They want more money than Boston College and stuff like that. They want extra dough to catch up. Can't fall more than $30 million behind the Big Ten and SEC per-year deals. It's frustrates them because we are one of the best media value teams in the United States. We, along with Clemson and others, help carry the value of media rights in the ACC. No offense to my colleagues, that's just the numbers.
Great, you guys want more money, or you want out of your deal that runs to 2036. Right now, you signed over your media rights to the ACC. So if Florida State even could leave, they would join a league that could make no money. They could sign a $100 million a game deal, and all $100 million would go to the ACC. They don't own their rights.
So thoughts on this temper tantrum? Great quotes, but what does it mean?
PAT FORDE: It's posturing/negotiating to, A, accelerate the new, uneven revenue plan and, B, perhaps even skew it further in their direction. If I'm in the ACC, I would be so furious, so offended at this just public assault upon the league by a school that, frankly, all right, hasn't won the league since, what, 2014, coming up on nearly a decade and has flat out sucked for most of the last five years?
If I'm one of the other schools in that league, I would just be furious with Florida State with this ridiculous power play. They're rattling their saber. We're not worried about the grant of rights. Well, if I'm the ACC, I'll say, hey, we'll see you in court on that one, brother.
ROSS DELLENGER: It was a signal to the SEC and Big Ten, a public signal of, we're ready to get out. We think we can get out of the GOR. Give us an invitation. We'll be ready.
The problem is I don't think the Big Ten or the SEC want to get involved in a legal battle that could go on for years and cost a ton of money. But this is a public display to the big boys to say, we think we can get out of the GOR. We're ready to get out of it. We just need a spot.
DAN WETZEL: They agreed unanimously to this deal that holds them through 2036 a few years ago. So that's kind of the thing. I get the frustration. They're way behind in finances. The SEC is hitting the gas pedal. I get the frustration. I just don't know what this accomplishes.