It feels like the idea of Florida State making a move out of the ACC had been dangling about for over a decade. But now, the discussion feels more real than it has ever felt before.
On Friday, Florida State trustees voted unanimously in favor of suing the ACC over the legality of the conference’s grant of rights and withdrawal fees, the two strongest reasons why the ACC has held on stable ground in the recent shifts of conference realignment changes. But Florida State supporters have long felt those were merely hurdles yet to be cleared. Now, Florida State is backing up the talk with actions.
In short, Florida State is filing a lawsuit with the hope of having the grant of rights and withdrawal fee voided, thus making it easier to swiftly move to a new conference. Which conference that would be, of course, remains to be seen, but you had have to expect the Big Ten would be mentioned as a possibility. And if Florida State cracks the door open with this lawsuit, other ACC members could follow the lead of Florida State. And some of those options could be interesting expansion candidates if the Big Ten keeps an eye open for additional expansion moves.
The Big Ten is already set to add four new members in 2024 from the Pac-12; Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington. That will bring the total membership count up to 18 full-time members, which equals the number of teams in the soon-to-be-expanded SEC with the additions of Oklahoma and Texas in 2024. The Big 12 scooped up more members from the collapsing Pac-12 (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah), and California and Stanford are set to join the ACC, ironically. The last two Pac-12 members, Oregon State and Washington State, are hoping to continue carrying the Pac-12 banner while organizing affiliate memberships and scheduling agreements for football and other sports.
Talks of Florida State’s frustrations with its ACC membership are nothing new. They have been bubbling ever since the first wave of seismic realignment changes that saw Texas A&M and Missouri leave the Big 12 for the SEC, Nebraska for the Big Ten, and Colorado for the Pac-12. The pair of Florida State and Clemson have typically been thrown together as an expansion candidate duo for the Big 12, SEC, and Big Ten. But to this point, the SEC has supposedly said it is fine where it sits now. The Big Ten will sell that message too with its last batch of expansion efforts, although it would be expected the Big Ten offices would at least entertain a phone call with Florida State leaders if the school came looking for a new home.
The Big 12 may be the most likely option for Florida State if the program does find a way out of the ACC, although it may lack the profits and revenue Florida State ultimately desires that would be offered with membership in the Big Ten or SEC.
This may ultimately lead to nothing if a court rules in favor of the ACC, and Florida State willingly signing off on the conference’s grant of rights and withdraw terms seems like a possible open-and-shut case to some, in which case Florida State’s frustrations will continue and grow louder and louder.
But if Florida State gets its way, could the school be the next big expansion move for the Big Ten?