Multiple sources told Yahoo Sports that Florida State is expected to soon begin the process of its long-discussed divorce from the ACC.
The Seminoles' conference affiliation is the focus of an FSU Board of Trustees meeting scheduled for Friday, and the meeting's outcome could lead to a formal legal filing, which many say is the first step toward achieving an exit from the ACC's mandatory grant-of- Rights Agreement.
The FSU Board of Trustees announced its meeting Thursday to comply with a state open meetings law that requires members to give 24 hours' notice to the public before the meeting. Multiple sources with knowledge of FSU's potential plans spoke to Yahoo Sports on condition of anonymity for this story.
Details of the specific legal action FSU leaders plan to take are unclear, but legal experts say the school could launch a so-called “declaratory judgment action” to get a judge to rule that the school is not bound by the contract with the ACC.
The goal of the legal action is to grant Rights, a legal document between the ACC, its members and TV partner ESPN that binds the parties throughout the 2035-36 academic year. Any filing would likely be in a local court that represents the school's interests.
The maneuver comes less than a month after FSU became the first undefeated major conference champion to be eliminated from the College Football Playoff, a decision that shocked Tallahassee residents and accelerated the school's planned exit strategy.
This week's possible legal action is not expected to serve as a parting message for the ACC. Leaving the ACC would take at least more than a year. However, such a legal push could lead to other ACC programs following suit and challenging the league and its rights allocation.
The focus of the discussions is the allocation of rights to the conference. Granting of rights is a fairly common means by which conferences can legally bind their member schools to a long-term commitment and thereby enter into a media rights agreement. The ACC agreed to its current deal with ESPN in 2016.
While the 20-year agreement was viewed as a positive at the time, the length of the deal has caused turmoil within the ACC as other power conferences, namely the Big Ten and the SEC, have signed new, more lucrative media rights contracts. Over the next decade, SEC and Big Ten schools are expected to earn significantly more in revenue distribution – up to twice as much – as schools in the ACC, numbers that ACC members say none more so than Florida State, caused trouble.
The Seminoles' conference affiliation is the focus of a planned meeting of the FSU Board of Trustees. (Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
FSU officials have been publicly threatening possible exit from the conference for a year. The school's president, Richard McCullough, said in August that FSU needed to consider the move “very seriously.”
In the same meeting, former FSU quarterback Drew Weatherford, a member of the Board of Trustees, said, “In my opinion, it's not a matter of if we go. It's a matter of who we go and when we go.”
Maybe the talk will turn into action.
The CFP's snub of FSU isn't the only factor that has accelerated the school's planned trajectory toward ACC exit.
In the most recent wave of realignment, the ACC gained Cal, Stanford and SMU despite aggressive opposition within the conference. FSU, North Carolina and Clemson voted against the additions. The league added this trio of programs while its major conference colleagues added Oregon and Washington (Big Ten); and Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State (Big 12). The SEC will also add Oklahoma and Texas next year.
The ACC's expansion campaign further divided the league of private and public programs with very different missions and resources. The league pushed through the expansion in part to maintain the conference in the long term given the possible departures of a few programs.
Officials from seven ACC schools met several times in the spring to explore the possibility of potentially leaving the conference and even considered disbanding the league entirely. These discussions largely died down after they became public in May. However, FSU’s – and others’ – desire to break away from the league has been a constant for many months.
Lawyers for FSU and Clemson have spent the last few months looking for ways to realistically exempt themselves from granting rights. While many believe the granting of rights is irrefutable, some believe schools will still try to find a way out.
By signing a rights agreement, the schools grant the league and its partner ESPN the right to televise their home games. Florida State's home contests for the next 13 years belong not to the school, but to the league – if it can't find a way out.
There is a precedent for an agreement. Later this year, the Big 12 and its TV partners agreed to an agreement under which Oklahoma and Texas would terminate their rights grant a year early and announce a $50 million penalty for each school.
The ACC Grant of Rights contains similar language to this document. However, FSU would leave the contract with up to ten years remaining. If the ACC and ESPN were to agree to a settlement, the removal of the rights grant would involve significant costs, estimated to be as high as $500 million.
This would be in addition to the $120 million the league owes as a separate exit fee. It's no secret in college athletics that Florida State, as well as other ACC programs, have been thinking hard about obtaining future private equity funding. When it comes to withdrawing from the ACC, schools must notify the conference of their withdrawal at least one year in advance of a move. For example, FSU's participation in the ACC next school year is guaranteed and it would have to notify the conference by August 15, 2024 if the school wanted to leave in time to compete elsewhere in the 2025 football season.
It also begs the question: Where would Florida State and every other exiting ACC school end up?
The SEC and Big Ten, its most attractive options, have signaled they are hesitant to add more members, but such statements have been made before. Big Ten school leaders publicly rejected another round of expansion before adding Oregon and Washington.
The changing environment in college athletics creates an unpredictable future landscape and creates potential pathways for exits from ACC programs. For example, a new governance structure is likely on the way. NCAA President Charlie Baker proposed the creation of a new FBS subdivision aimed at providing direct school compensation to athletes.