In the Superior Court of The State of College Football, Case No. 1: The Florida State Seminoles vs. the Atlantic Coast Conference with the Honorable Judge Beano Cook presiding.
The Seminoles accuse the ACC of restraint of trade, breach of contract and mismanagement regarding the ACC’s “deteriorating” media rights.
ACC, how do you plead?
“Not guilty, your honor.”
On what grounds?
“On the grounds that the Florida State Seminoles – in an era in which contracts are not honored and individuals are only worried about a better deal for themselves while using victimhood as justification – only have themselves to blame for the predicament they’re in.” …
If I were an attorney, this would be my legal advice for the ACC in its groundbreaking legal battle with FSU:
Turn the tables.
Put the onus on the Seminoles.
Recite the quote I used to recite to my young daughters every day when I dropped them off from school and still tell them to this day even though they’re adults:
“MGD – Make Good Decisions.”
Quite frankly, Florida State has not made good decisions.
Full disclosure: I hope the Seminoles figure out a way to get out of the ACC because I would love to see them playing in a more football-relevant conference like the SEC or Big Ten. However, the Seminoles must also look in the mirror and take personal responsibility. While I don’t blame them for lawyering up and trying to do everything legally possible to break the ACC’s seemingly “ironclad” Grant of Rights media agreement, I believe any unbiased judge or jury will eventually stick a flaming spear into FSU’s dubious legal arguments.
We are 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 the monumental news that broke on Friday 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.
Case closed.
Court adjourned.
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on X (formerly Twitter) @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen
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