With all of the talk in college athletics being centered around realignment, August 15th has the potential to be an important one in the Atlantic Coast Conference. But it also could just be another day.
The month of August has been an eventful one for realignment, and Florida State has expressed its desire to leave the conference. They are the only program to be vocal about that despite a report a few months back that seven schools were exploring that option.
But if Florida State or any school would leave the ACC, they would have to notify the conference by August 15 as Nicole Auerbach points out:
Any ACC school would need to give notice to the conference that it was departing by Aug. 15 in order to compete elsewhere the following academic year. So, if FSU were to tell the ACC it was leaving by Tuesday, it would be able to compete in another league, or as an independent, for the 2024-25 season.
But the formal decision to leave the ACC is just the first step. There’s a $120 million exit fee involved, plus whatever legal battle would follow between the league and the school trying to get out of a grant of rights that stretches until 2036. That grant of rights means the ACC owns the broadcast rights of every home game of each member school for the next 13 seasons.
There’s a lot that needs to happen for Florida State or any school to leave the conference and it would take a lot of work, too. August 15th is the deadline but barring any surprises, it looks like it will be a normal day and conference realignment rumors will continue on.
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