We all defined by our decisions, and historically, Florida State has made the decisions — some good, some bad — to hitch its football wagon to the ACC.
Let’s start with when FSU’s board of trustees made the unprecedented move to sue its own conference and challenge the legality of the ACC’s Grant Of Rights (GOR) and the more than half a billion dollars in fees it would take to exit the league.
Shouldn’t Florida State be suing former school president John Thrasher and former athletic director Stan Wilcox (yes, he’s the guy who also made the decision to hire Willie Taggart) for signing a bad GOR extension with the ACC back in 2016?
All of the ACC schools signed the original GOR deal in 2013 as a reaction to the departure of Maryland to the Big Ten. The thought then was: “Hey, let’s all band together, sign this contract and make sure our conference is steady and stable moving forward.”
FSU signed that agreement.
And then in 2016 — thinking they had a lucrative, long-term TV deal with ESPN — all ACC schools signed a GOR extension through 2036.
FSU signed that contract as well.
“All ACC members, including Florida State, willingly and knowingly re-signed the current Grant of Rights in 2016, which is wholly enforceable and binding through 2036,” the ACC said in a statement Friday.
In short, the Seminoles signed the GOR to ensure the conference would be stable and secure moving forward, and now they’re trying to blow up the conference into smithereens.
As we know now, the SEC and the Big Ten have since expanded and signed TV deals that dwarf the ACC’s deal. It’s no secret that ACC schools such as FSU and Miami will soon make an estimated $40 million per year less than in-state rival Florida. If you add that up over a decade, it means the Gators will have a whopping $400 million more to spend on paying blue-chip players and building palatial facilities.
I get it. The Seminoles are rightfully upset they were unfairly left out of the College Football Playoff, partly because the ACC is perceived as an inferior football conference. Mainly, though, the Seminoles are angry because the ACC doesn’t merit as much TV money as the SEC and the Big Ten. But, as I’ve written before, Florida State and Miami are mainly to blame for this as well.
When Miami joined the ACC 20 years ago, the narrative was that the Hurricanes and the Seminoles would become the Alabama-Georgia/Ohio State-Michigan of the ACC and carry the TV torch for the league. Instead, they dropped the ball — at the most inopportune of times. With conference TV contracts skyrocketing over the last decade, Miami has been irrelevant and never won the ACC championship since joining the league. Florida State has won five ACC titles in the past 20 years but, until this season, hadn’t played for the conference championship in nearly a decade (2014).
If FSU and Miami had done their part and maintained elite-level status, the ACC might be financially competitive with the SEC and Big Ten. As the old saying goes, “You get what you work for, not what you wish for.”
And while Florida State now laments the ACC being a substandard football league, let’s also remember the Seminoles built their national reputation because it purposely made the decision to join this substandard football league.
In 1990, with the SEC and ACC both trying to expand, FSU reportedly turned down an invitation to join the SEC and instead signed with the ACC. Legendary FSU coach Bobby Bowden, at the time, admitted he wanted an easier path to the national championship. In fact, he compared the competition in the ACC to the bums that aging, overweight George Foreman was beating up at the time in his quest to regain the heavyweight championship.
“I’m like George Foreman,” Bowden said then. “I like to pick those unranked guys out and fight ’em. Ol’ George is out there knocking out these no-names, but he’ll be fighting for the heavyweight championship directly. Everybody just assumed ol’ Bobby was raised in the heart of the SEC, so naturally, he’s going to want to jump right in. Maybe I know too much about the SEC to want to join up.”
When the Seminoles joined the ACC, they went undefeated in their first 29 league games and won conference championships nine times from 1992 to 2000. In its first 10 years in the ACC, FSU breezed through the league, played for five national championships, and won two.
Nobody forced the Florida State Seminoles to join the ACC 33 years ago.
They did so willingly — and it paid off.
Nobody forced the Florida State Seminoles to re-up with the ACC in 2016 and sign a long-term GOR agreement.
They did so willingly — and now it’s not paying off.
Own your decisions. [ENDQUOTE]
Probabably one of the better summaries on the subject. FSU allowed its program to deteriorate after benefiting from ACC membership. They used it to cruise to national prominence until it didn’t work. Now they are upset.
I can’t wait to read that FSU is suing the SEC and the B1G for not admitting them.
