Florida State’s ACC exit deadline, explained: Will Seminoles act on conference unrest?

Two weeks ago, Florida State president Rick McCullough issued a threat that was not very veiled. Speaking during a meeting of the Seminoles’ Board of Trustees on Aug. 2, he said the following: “I believe that FSU will have to, at some point, consider very seriously leaving the ACC, unless there were a radical change to the revenue distribution.” If they didn’t before that moment, everyone in college sports — both within the ACC and outside of it — now knows that Florida State is unhappy in its current conference. GO DEEPER ‘All hell broke loose’: The chaotic final days that shook the Pac-12 and college football to their core FSU’s ACC unrest and the significance of Aug. 15 The ACC shares the revenue it brings in from its media rights deal equally with all members, and its deal with ESPN runs through 2036. As Florida State athletic director Michael Alford put it in February, “At the end of the day, for Florida State to compete nationally, something has to change moving forward.” This brings us to an important date on the calendar for all ACC members — and especially FSU and Clemson, the two schools most eager to improve their individual financial situations. There’s a $120 million exit fee involved, plus whatever legal battle would follow between the league and the school trying to get out of a grant of rights that stretches until 2036.