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After formal ACC exit notice, Florida State now says ‘we never said we wanted to leave’

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After formal ACC exit notice, Florida State now says ‘we never said we wanted to leave’

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LAS VEGAS — Nearly 16 months after its formal notice of withdrawal from the ACC, Florida State has taken a new and odd public stance as its acrimonious lawsuit against the conference continues to play out. 

Who said we ever wanted to leave the ACC?

“We’re in the league the last time I looked,” FSU athletic director Mike Alford told USA TODAY Sports during the Sports Business Journal Intercollegiate Forum. “We never said we wanted to leave the league.”

Actually, they did.

In Florida State’s August 2023 lawsuit against the ACC, on page 32 of the 38-page complaint, item 151 states: “Florida State be deemed to have issued its formal notice of withdrawal from the ACC under Section 1.4.5 of the ACC Constitution, effective August 14, 2023.”

At issue is the school’s media rights deal with the ACC through 2036, which according to Florida State officials tops out at $42 million annually — nearly $30 million behind the annual payout to neighboring SEC schools. 

During an August 2023 meeting, the Florida State Board of Trustees said it wanted an exit plan from the ACC by August of 2024. 

“It’s not a matter of if we leave,” former Seminoles quarterback and Board member Drew Weatherford said during the 2023 meeting. “But when and how.”

When asked yesterday, Weatherford – at the SBJ Forum as the founding partner of Weatherford Capital, which is seeking to partner with universities in the unsettling financial climate for college athletics – softened his stance from 2023. 

“There’s a lot of potential answers to the problem,” Weatherford said. “Long term, it’s going to be hard to be hard to compete if you’re at that financial disadvantage.”

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When asked if Florida State was still positioned to leave the ACC, Weatherford said, “We just have to solve for (the financial disadvantage). If we can do that where we are (with the ACC), that’s great. If we can’t, I’m still open to the option that we need to find another conference.”

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips declined comment for this story.

The ACC is arguing that it owns Florida State’s media rights under a Grant of Rights deal that every team in the conference signed. To leave the league, FSU would owe the ACC an exit fee (estimated at $125 million), and future media rights through 2036 (estimated at nearly $500 million).

While those numbers could be mitigated through legal action, the underlying problem for Florida State moving forward is it has no alternative to the ACC. Three people told USA TODAY earlier this spring that the Seminoles landing in the Big Ten or SEC wasn’t realistic. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect the sensitivity of the discussions.

The Big Ten, the people said, had reservations about Florida State’s ability to be a strong “partner” moving forward. 

It now appears the reality that the Seminoles have nowhere to go is settling in.

“We’ve always questioned the revenue distribution,” Alford said. “Go back in history, you will never see the president or myself say we want out of the league. We have great peer institutions, we’re a lot alike. We’ve always had great communication. Jim (Phillips) and I from day 1. We’re trying to solve the problems.”

When asked if FSU and the ACC were any closer to reaching a resolution, Alford said, “Who knows? That’s not for me to decide. I’m not on that side of the wall. We’ll see. They know where we stand.”

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

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