It’s happened again: Florida State is rumored to leave the ACC for a conference with a heavier focus on college football and one that will provide more lucrative benefits for the University. Last year, FSU was supposed to join the SEC—that didn’t happen. Now, rumors have trickled out that the Big 12, along with their new commissioner Bob Bowlsby, is interested in acquiring both Florida State and Clemson to join their conference as early as 2013. Is that all a possibility, or just another rumor?
Why it could happen
Money—it’s as simple as that. Florida State recently announced the 2012-13 athletic budget is short $2.4 million, and University President Eric Barron sent an email to all students bemoaning the Governor’s decision to veto the “preeminence” bill that would have allowed unparalleled tuition increases. His words were so elegiac and mournful I thought ol’ Renegade passed away.
Suffice to say, Florida State University has a bit of a money problem a lot of us choose to ignore—which plays into the hands of Florida State moving to the Big 12. The ACC used to have one of the lowest paying TV deals in BCS conferences because ACC football conference play doesn’t attract as many national viewers as the other major conferences. The main allure of the ACC is college basketball which nationally is only watched in March. As a result, ACC teams used to receive around $14 to 15 million per year for TV rights, but the inclusion of Pittsburgh and Syracuse allowed the ACC to renegotiate their contract to around $17 million per team for the next 15 years, according to Sports Business Journal reports. To compare, Big Ten and Pac-12 teams are allocated around $21 million a year—SEC teams around $17 million. CBS Sports reported this week that the Big 12 signed a TV deal with ESPN and FOX worth $2.6 billion dollars. That rounds to $20 million per school.
Along with the increased revenue, the Big 12 is just a better football conference than the ACC. The recent additions of Pitt and ‘Cuse shows the ACC thinks basketball first, football second, but Tallahassee doesn’t think that way. We rank FSU sports as follows 1) football 2) spring football 3) basketball 4) football recruiting 5) baseball. Miami is declining for the foreseeable future as they still face charges from their dealings with Nevin Shapiro. If Clemson (the other football-intensive ACC school) joins FSU in the Big 12, why wouldn’t Florida State join?
Why it won’t happen
Remember that Barron guy I just mentioned? Yeah, he’s why. Florida State is first and foremost a university, even if most of us care about sports more than academics. The ACC, in the 2012 U.S. News and World Report rankings of American colleges and universities, averages the highest academic ranking of any BCS conference. Right now, the ACC owns a 43.25 ranking; the Big 12 places at a 100.3 average.
You may not care, but President Barron and the FSU Board of Trustees want to be associated with schools like Duke, UNC, Georgia Tech, Miami and Virginia, and not Texas Tech, West Virginia and Oklahoma State. Academic prestige matters a lot to universities. Think of your friends at UF—they care, too. Do you not think there’s a reason West Virginia was denied entry to the SEC over Missouri and Texas A&M? Or that our ACC wouldn’t consider them despite our fledgling football status? WVU has a superior athletic program, but if we’re being realistic, they’re below-average considered the academic prestige of the ACC.
Why it can’t happen
The traditions, the rivalries, the memories of Florida State we all have as fans are wrapped up in the ACC. We can’t cast that away for money, no matter how much it is. Imagine Florida State sports without playing Miami—try to fathom it. That rivalry will likely die if FSU moves to the Big 12. Due to conference scheduling, FSU would have to choose between UF and Miami if they relocated conferences. Guess which one the University chooses.
Admit it. You hate Miami so much because ultimately you respect them as Florida State’s decisive rival.
We all cringe when an FSU kicker lines up for a game-winning field goal against Miami, we always will. We pray, “just don’t go right, just don’t go right.” And when it does, people notice. In last year’s Miami game, Dustin Hopkins missed one wide right. It had no consequential impact on the outcome, but as head coach Jimbo Fisher sat down for his game presser, he warned the media not to ask any questions about wide right kicks.
And when the basketball team won the ACC tournament last year, how great did that feel?
I was filled with overwhelming pride for my school. If we turn into a basketball conference, so be it. At least now we know we can compete.
The move to the Big 12 makes all the financial and economic sense in the world, but universities aren’t businesses, right? What do we as fans value more: the money and the title or meaningful traditions and memories?