TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Conference realignment is the biggest story in sports right now, with Colorado's departure from the Pac-12 potentially leading to the downfall of the conference if other programs follow suit.
Realignment talk isn't only happening on the west coast, however, with Florida State President Richard McCullough telling the board of trustees that the university may have to "very seriously" consider leaving the ACC unless the conference's revenue distribution model is changed.
Of course, the ACC is not an easy conference to depart, as Florida State would be on the hook for a whopping $120 million exit fee and would also have to go to court to challenge the existing grant of rights, which gives the ACC media rights for its member schools through the length of their contract, which runs through 2036.
This leads Locked on ACC host Candace Cooper to believe these airings of grievances are performative more than they are substantial, and wants the conference to treat them as such.
"I think the ACC will be just fine, only because I think a lot of this is hot air," Cooper told Peter Bukowski of Locked on Sports Today. "I think it's just about time the ACC calls people's bluffs, because it really feels as if people are trying to test the ACC's game. I think Florida State's just mad."
The ACC ranks third in revenue behind the Big Ten and SEC, a fact that isn't expected to change even with the Big 12's flurry of moves.
However, the conference changed their distribution model to reward success in football and basketball, and FSU wants the model to reward higher television revenue and overall marketability, where they believe they have an advantage.
"FSU helps to drive value and will drive value for any partner, but we have spent a year trying to understand how we might fix the issue," McCullough continued. "There are no easy fixes to this challenge, but a group of us have spent literally a year. We've explored every possible option that you can imagine. The issue at hand is what can we do to allow ourselves to be competitive in football and get what I think is the revenue we deserve?"
Florida State is adamant they can't sit back and let schools from other conferences make significantly more revenue than them, but they haven't had a ton of success in either football or basketball recently which could temper excitement about adding them from the SEC or Big Ten.
Ultimately, the ACC's ironclad grant of rights and high exit fee will make any departures very difficult, and Florida State and any other school considering leaving will have to weigh the benefits over the risk.