Rumor: FSU 'soon' to be officially out of the ACC as first domino to fall

FSU will "soon" officially be out of the ACC as the first domino to fall in the latest round of conference realignment according to longtime college football radio host Greg Swaim. The conference had a court filing against the Tallahassee-based university in January accusing them of a breach of contract after Florida State challenged the league's grant of rights. The Seminoles have been aiming to leave the ACC after being left out of the College Football Playoff despite an undefeated record and conference championship in 2023.

As Tomahawk Nation's Job Loesche points out, FSU could destroy the ACC as we know it with such a move.

"If Florida State leaves the ACC early, ESPN is all but assured to pull the plug on the conference’s TV deal and the ACC Network," Loesche prefaced before saying, "Without Florida State, Clemson, and Miami the ACC would have averaged fewer television viewers than the American Athletic Conference from 2014-2021. The ACC’s current television deal is worth $30 million a year per school while the American Athletic Conference’s current TV deal is worth $7 million a year per school. Apple offered the PAC-12 $23 million a year per school when the conference still had relatively strong TV draws Oregon and Washington. Any new TV deal the ACC lands without Florida State would result in a catastrophic loss of revenue for the remaining schools."

ACC could lose Power Conference status if FSU causes domino effect of exits

The ACC is hedging the loss of schools like FSU, Clemson, UNC, and Louisville with the potential additions of Memphis, Tulane, Wazzu, Oregon State, UConn, and USF. With this trade-off, the Atlantic Coast Conference could be at risk of losing Power Conference status.

The ACC might be facing that reality anyway with the SEC and Big Ten moving towards "Power 2" status given the 14-team College Football Playoff having built-in advantages for the two burgeoning super conferences.

Schools looking to join the Power 2 include the potentially SEC-bound group of FSU, Clemson, OK State, K-State, and Texas Tech and the potentially Big Ten-bound group of KU, Notre Dame, UNC, and UVA.