FSU President Says School May Have to 'Very Seriously Consider' Leaving ACC

The ACC has so far stayed out of the conference realignment saga, but that might be changing.

Florida State held a Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday, during which school president Richard McCullough was blunt about the school's future in its present conference.

"We are not satisfied with our current situation," he said.

"We love the ACC," he added. "Our goal would be to continue to stay in the ACC, but staying in the ACC under the current situation is hard for us to figure out how we remain competitive, unless there was a major change in the revenue distribution within the conference."

McCullough laid out how Florida State believes it should collect a larger piece of the financial pie.

Former Seminoles quarterback Drew Weatherford, who's on the board, doesn't believe the school is long for the ACC.

"It's not a matter of if we leave, in my opinion," he said. "It's a matter of who and when we leave. Not everyone may agree with that, but I feel really strongly about it."

This threat has loomed on the horizon for ACC commissioner Jim Phillips ever since the newest round of realignment got underway.

In 2016, the conference extended its media rights deal with ESPN through the 2035-36 academic year. As a result, the ACC is bound to watch the financial gap between it and the Big Ten and SEC grow in the coming years.

USA Today's Steve Berkowitz reported in May the ACC distributed between $37.9 million and $41.3 million to each member school. The Big Ten ($58.8 million) and SEC ($49.9 million) exceeded that figure, and those payouts will eventually increase to reflect their new television contracts.

Paradoxically, the ACC's TV deal could be its saving grace.

In May, Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger reported officials from Florida State, Clemson and five other ACC schools had sought legal counsel to explore the conference's grant-of-rights. If the grant-of-rights holds, then the ACC would retain the media rights through 2036 for any school that leaves.

Dellenger wrote how "most attorneys" he consulted described the grant-of-rights agreement as "airtight."

However, FSU Board of Trustees chairman Peter Collins recently downplayed the significance of that agreement as it related to the school's immediate future.

By now making its plans fairly explicit, some might be wondering whether Florida State is putting the cart before the horse.

For one, it's not clear whether FSU can make a clean break from the ACC. Should the Seminoles in effect become a free agent, they don't seem to have a straightforward exit plan, either.

Florida State is well within the SEC's geographic footprint and would be a natural fit for the conference in that respect. But how soon would that happen? SEC commissioner Greg Sankey sounds pretty lukewarm about more expansion, and you'd assume Clemson would get a call first if the ACC member schools are suddenly in play.

The Big Ten, meanwhile, is weighing whether to pick over what's left of the Pac-12, according to Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel. Commissioner Tony Petitti might prefer looking westward rather than moving into the southeast.

There's still a lot to resolve between Florida State and the ACC. Based on Wednesday's meeting, though, FSU is fully prepared to take the fight to its conference.