Could Florida State Join A New Conference Before The 2025 Season? Another Round Of Realignment Could Be Coming

We all knew that another round of conference realignment would hinge upon what happens between the ACC and Florida State in their current litigation. But this new round of conference shakeup could come sooner rather than later, thanks to verbiage in a court filing. 

The ACC has long mentioned that because of the current ‘Grant of Rights’ signed by all conference schools in 2016 would hold their television rights in a vault that would be nearly impossible to breach under the current agreement. 

But as we've seen in recent months, schools in the ACC, most importantly Florida State, have argued that there is a way out of the agreement. Whether they truly believed there is an argument for another day. Lawyers have sat in the Greensboro, North Carolina office of the ACC for years, looking for some type of loophole in the agreement. 

When Florida State agreed to allow the ACC to negotiate its broadcast rights with potential suitors, the conference agreed to a deal with ESPN that would allow the network to have first rights to any broadcast of Seminoles athletics. 

By now, you've all heard of the ‘Grant of Rights’ agreement that has seemingly held ACC captive for the foreseeable future. But, this was before both Florida State and the ACC decided to sue each other over whether anti-trust laws were potentially being broken. 

Simply put, this case was going to drag out in courtrooms in North Carolina and Florida for a while, putting on hold any type of movement by Florida State to exit the conference. That was holding true until the ACC filed a new motion in its lawsuit against the Seminoles this past Friday. Unlike previous conversations or arguments, the potential for Florida State legally buying their way out of ACC might have found a resolution. 

"If Florida State wishes to regain control of the rights before the end of the term, it could attempt to repurchase them," the filing said according to the Tampa Bay Times. "But having to buy back a right which was assigned is not a penalty; it is simply a commercial possibility."

Whether they truly meant to open up this door in a court filing is up for debate, but the new motion inserted into the ACC's case puts a potential price tag on the Seminoles leaving the conference sooner than potentially expected. 

Florida State has made it a point to say that the ACC's agreement has hindered the Seminoles' opportunity to find a fair market in the complicated television rights marketplace. Unfortunately, Florida State signed the agreement a few years before a massive bubble would burst in college athletics that would see networks paying almost a billion dollars for television rights, like we've seen with the Big Ten and SEC. 

Instead, we've seen Florida State publicly argue during board meetings that the current state of their agreement is hindering them from taking advantage of contracts we're seeing schools like Florida benefit from. 

CHARLOTTE, NC - DECEMBER 02:  A general view of the ACC Championship logo at midfield during the ACC Football Championship matchup of the Clemson Tigers and Miami Hurricanes at Bank of America Stadium on December 2, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina.  (Photo by Mike Comer/Getty Images)

Where Do We Go From Here? Conference Shakeup Coming Soon, Again? 

Since Florida State made it known that they wanted out of their current agreement with the ACC, speculation has swirled about where the Seminoles could land. The obvious answer is either the Big Ten or the SEC, but the timing will make this even more interesting. 

The Big Ten just added four new teams that will join in the summer of 2024, as UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington are set to join the conference. In the South, the SEC has been waiting on Texas and Oklahoma for almost four years now, with both schools set to join the conference in just five months. 

After the crazy realignment of the Big 12 this past season, there are conferences that would take Florida State in a heartbeat, even if they won't publicly say it. But the problem is what could come after the Seminoles decide on a new conference to join. If schools like Miami, North Carolina, Clemson, or Virginia Tech see a way out of a conference that could be bleeding, they will look for financial ways to make a potential move happen. 

It sure didn't help the strength of the ACC when they added both SMU and Cal, which was more for the number of teams, rather than a competitive nature. 

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips speak to the press during the ACC Football Kickoff on Jul 20, 2022, at The Westin Charlotte in Charlotte, NC.  (Photo by David Jensen/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

But an early exit from Florida State will certainly force its colleagues in the ACC to join them in looking for a potential way out. Conferences like the Big Ten would not just add one team, which would make things uneven for competition, so the likelihood of both the SEC and Big Ten looking for a dance partner with Florida State is high. 

This fight between the ACC and Florida State was always going to end up ugly, but now that it legally sounds like the conference is willing to accept anywhere between $150-$500 million, maybe this divorce won't be as ugly as some might have suggested. 

Both of these groups don't want to sit in a courtroom and go through the ugly process of discovery and depositions, so this should end with FSU writing a massive check. 

At the end of the day, money is going to talk. Now it all depends on how loud Florida State will be on the way out the door.