{"id":4976,"date":"2023-05-13T13:37:13","date_gmt":"2023-05-13T18:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=4976"},"modified":"2023-05-13T13:37:13","modified_gmt":"2023-05-13T18:37:13","slug":"florida-state-intends-to-turn-up-heat-for-greater-revenue-at-acc-spring-meetings-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/florida-state-intends-to-turn-up-heat-for-greater-revenue-at-acc-spring-meetings-this-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida State intends to turn up heat for greater revenue at ACC spring meetings this week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly three months after Florida State\u2019s administration created national headlines<\/a> <\/strong>by criticizing the ACC\u2019s television contract with ESPN and saying that \u201csomething has to change\u201d in the future, a delegation of Seminoles will travel to Amelia Island on Monday for the ACC\u2019s annual spring meetings.<\/p>\n

And according to second-year athletics director Michael Alford<\/strong><\/a>, Florida State will not be backing down from that position.<\/p>\n

In an interview this past week with Warchant, Alford said the university will continue to push ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips and the other schools for uneven revenue sharing \u2014 with football powers like Florida State and Clemson receiving greater financial distributions than others in the conference \u2014 and also encourage the league to find other ways to close the widening revenue gap<\/a> <\/strong>with the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten.<\/p>\n

Alford confirmed those will be \u201chot topics\u201d when league officials get together in the small beach town north of Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

\u201cI make no bones about it that we\u2019re the top brand in the conference,\u201d Alford said. \u201cAnd when you look at how they measure media contracts, with households, viewership and championships, we\u2019re driving that viewership for our conference at a high rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a couple schools that are really driving that media contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida State officials have been unhappy with the ACC\u2019s television contracts for more than a decade, but the issue reached critical mass this past year when industry projections showed that SEC schools will soon receive about $72 million per year \u2014 per school \u2014 and Big Ten schools will receive about $80 million.<\/p>\n

At an FSU Board of Trustees meeting,<\/a> <\/strong>Alford said ACC schools received a total payout of about $42 million this past year \u2014 with about $36 million coming from the conference\u2019s television deal with ESPN.<\/p>\n

That will leave schools like Florida State, Clemson and Miami, who are trying to compete for national championships in football, men\u2019s basketball and other sports, with a revenue gap of at least $30 million each year, when compared to their peers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI compliment Jim Phillips and his staff for everything they\u2019re trying to do,\u201d Alford said. \u201cThey understand what\u2019s coming. I\u2019ve made it abundantly clear that there\u2019s a $30 million gap that\u2019s starting next season. And that can\u2019t go on for years, because then you just can\u2019t catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even more concerning is the fact that those other leagues will get opportunities to renegotiate their contracts again before the ACC\u2019s deal expires in 2036. So the revenue gap could expand even wider. <\/p>\n

And, as Alford pointed out, the Big 12 Conference\u2019s recently renegotiated television contract<\/a> <\/strong>will be up for bid again following the 2030-31 season. <\/p>\n

The fact that in-state school UCF is now joining that league is not lost on Alford.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the revenue projections, they should have a better agreement than we have by going out to market,\u201d he said. \u201cThat means there\u2019s going to be another school in the state that\u2019s going to have a better agreement than Miami and us. And that\u2019s just not acceptable to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida State is not alone in this quest for uneven revenue sharing. Clemson A.D. Graham Neff said this week<\/strong><\/a> that he will be \u201cvery direct\u201d with the leadership of the ACC and other schools that a new model is needed. Miami A.D. Dan Radakovich has been a vocal proponent as well, while several other schools are reportedly opposed.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

An ACC committee of athletics directors has been studying this topic for a year or longer, but there didn\u2019t appear to be much appetite for it at the ACC\u2019s winter meetings, which is what led Alford to make his strong public comments in February. And there isn\u2019t expected to be a major reversal when league officials get together starting Monday at Amelia Island.<\/p>\n

But the reality is, even if the other ACC schools signed off on receiving smaller distributions so that the higher-profile football schools could benefit, it likely wouldn\u2019t put a major dent in the $30 million gap. One source, who is familiar with the discussions, told Warchant that the most optimistic projections would yield an additional $5 million for schools like Florida State each year, and there is no confidence anything close to that will happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to continue to push,\u201d Alford said, noting that he believes Phillips \u2014 who recently received a three-year extension<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 is doing everything he can to find an amicable solution. \u201cHe\u2019s a great leader. There\u2019s no doubt about it. I wouldn\u2019t want anyone else leading us through this right now. \u2026 He understands where we are. And he understands where other schools are. He knows that we want to get aggressive and invest in all of our programs, and we want to win championships across the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll 20 sports \u2014 we fund them to win championships. Not all schools in the country do that. They pick and choose and prioritize sports. Right now, we\u2019re funding them all to go win championships. And that\u2019s something we want to continue to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Can Florida State do that while remaining in the ACC? That\u2019s a major question.<\/p>\n

Do the Seminoles have any options if nothing changes? That\u2019s another major question.<\/p>\n

Attorneys from Florida State, Clemson and several other schools have made trips to the ACC\u2019s North Carolina headquarters in recent months to review the league\u2019s television contract and Grant of Rights, which is believed to bind each member school to the conference through 2036.<\/p>\n

While the Seminoles haven\u2019t necessarily threatened to break that agreement and look for a new conference, they haven\u2019t ruled it out either. <\/p>\n

FSU Board of Trustees members actually discussed what the cost might be to exit the conference at the February meeting, and Board Chair Peter Collins later told Warchant, \u201c<\/em>We have a very good handle on the grant of rights.\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

When he spoke with Warchant this week, Alford said he is in constant contact with other athletics directors around the country to get a feel for what might be on the horizon with conference realignment.<\/p>\n

With the SEC grabbing Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 and the Big Ten snatching USC and UCLA from the Pac-12, those raided conferences are expected to make moves to solidify their futures. And it\u2019s not yet known if the new \u201cPower Two\u201d<\/strong><\/a> are going to keep expanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to have an impact on everything we\u2019re doing,\u201d Alford said. \u201cRight now, realignment is not going to stop. There is definitely going to be some more shifts coming. Is that three conferences of 20 \u2014 where you have 60 [schools] that kind of break away from the rest? That\u2019s the theory of many. So who\u2019s going to be that third conference of 20, if that\u2019s the case?\u201d<\/p>\n

Until that national picture becomes clearer, Florida State officials plan to keep doing what they\u2019ve been doing. Trying to squeeze every dollar they can out of the ACC, and making sure that everyone in college football understands the value of the Seminoles\u2019 brand.<\/p>\n

Just over two weeks ago, FSU\u2019s official football account posted on Twitter that a recent study showed more than 3.4 million college football fans identified themselves as Florida State fans. About 2.4 million of those fans were located in the South, which according to the survey, showed that the Seminoles are the third-most popular team in the region.<\/p>\n

\n\n

National Noles<\/p>\n

More than 3.4 MILLION college football fans identified as FSU fans, including 2.4M in the south (3rd-highest total in the region and the only ACC team above 1.5M)#NoleFamily<\/a> | #KeepCLIMBing<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/BoLZqR4MM0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 FSU Football (@FSUFootball) April 25, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cEverybody has a lot of different theories [about the future],\u201d Alford said. \u201cOur job, and I\u2019ve said it since Day 1 of being athletics director, was to make sure No. 1, that he we get our internal house in order. That we\u2019re catching up on the facilities, because we were desperately behind our peers. We were desperately behind our own conference. That\u2019s getting caught up now to being respectable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen position ourselves for whatever comes \u2014 that we\u2019re on the forefront. That we\u2019re being talked about. Yes, we have the tradition. But you need to have your programs in conference title and national title hunts across the board. So whatever opportunity comes, you\u2019re in the best position to take advantage of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.<\/strong><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

The post Florida State intends to turn up heat for greater revenue at ACC spring meetings this week<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly three months after Florida State\u2019s administration created national headlines by criticizing the ACC\u2019s television…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}