Getty Image / James Gilbert
The college athletics realignment wheel never stops turning, and the next conference that looks like it will be blown up in the near future is The ACC. Florida State has appeared to be leading the charge to get out of the conference for greener pastures, pun intended.
On July 2, Florida State received a huge court victory, as they were given permission to view the contract between the ACC and their television provider, ESPN, after the ACC wanted to keep the contract a secret.
News of the court order did not leak into July 8.
Previously to the court ruling, the documents could only be viewed at ACC headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina under strict security because the ACC was afraid of leaks. But, Leon County (FL) Judge John C. Cooper ruled that the ACC must provide a redacted version of the documents to Florida State within seven days, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
The judge noted in his order that the documents should still remain confidential and can only be seen by authorized personnel. But, this will allow Florida State and its legal counsel to make copies and study the document that they hope will allow Florida State to retain its media rights and not have to pay a huge buyout fee to the conference if/when it leaves.
If Florida State can find a way out of the ACC’s Grant of Rights without having to buyout the rest of their media rights, that will almost certainly spell the end for the ACC as a major conference. Florida State, alongside Clemson and North Carolina, is one of the real drivers of media rights in the conference. Without them, ESPN is not going to want to pay out the money they’ve agreed to pay out.
At that point, everyone would be scrambling, and not all of the schools are going to find homes in the SEC and Big Ten. Those three would likely be fine, and North Carolina State probably ends up with enough political juice to come along with North Carolina somewhere. Schools like Virginia, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Duke, Miami (FL) and Georgia Tech are appealing for different reasons. But some of those will be on the outside looking in. And, the rest of the schools are in a pretty poor position and are likely looking at a Big 12 invite at best.
Ultimately, we still have a long way to go until we get to that point, but this ruling could move Florida State closer to blowing it all up.