SB Nation
  • Google+

SB Nation Tampa Bay

Stay connected for news and updates

Florida State Big 12 Rumors: New Orange Bowl Deal Benefits FSU Staying In ACC

While the majority of conference realignment is done and over with, there is still a possibility for the Florida State Seminoles to jump ship to the Big 12, and the ability to generate money would be a major factor in the decision.

  • Live
13 Total Updates since May 11, 2012
  • Important 2
  • Updates 12
  • Articles 1
  • All Updates 13

Conference Realignment: ACC, Orange Bowl Deal Makes FSU Crazy To Leave

While the rumors and talk of the Florida State Seminoles considering a bolt from the ACC to the Big 12, the newly signed deal between the ACC and the Orange Bowl would benefit the Nole staying in the conference. Jason Kirk of SB Nation explains why it would be crazy for the Noles to jump ship after the new deal:

If the Noles were to jump to the Big 12 for a few million more per year they'd no longer be the new system's de facto Orange Bowl favorite every year. (That's a lot of money, but let's wait and see how playoff revenue gets cut up.) Texas and Oklahoma have bigger guns, and the Noles probably wouldn't be able to join the Big 12 without Notre Dame coming along too. The Irish cash spigot could rank FSU fourth in that conference, at least in likelihood of winning the league. This is all assuming the Big 12 even wants to expand.

Kirk explains in detail how the ACC isn't necessarily deserving of the automatic BCS bid the conference holds, given their recent lack of football prowess, but the conference has still gotten a big chunk of the pie.

For more on Florida State football, visit the Seminoles blog blog Tomahawk Nation. For all your NCAA football news and notes, be sure to check out SB Nation's college football hub.

Continue

Conference Realignment: FSU President Argues Against Big 12 Move

As the rumors of Florida State's interest in jumping ship from the ACC to the Big 12 persist, the president of the school and the athletic director continue to try to shoot down the rumors. Recently, FSU president Eric Barron released a memo arguing, as ESPN's Joe Schad puts it, "mostly" against leaving the ACC.

The memo as a whole highlights four key things that are usually argued as reason for FSU to leave the ACC for the Big 12.

Barron notes the four themes that have surrounded the rumor of a possible jump to the Big 12:

  1. The ACC is more basketball centric.
  2. The ACC is too North Carolina centric.
  3. The Big 12 has football schools that match up with Florida State.
  4. The Big 12 contract pays more than the ACC contract, and FSU needs that money to remain competitive.

Barron then goes on to argue against those points, including adding a few more in favor of staying in the ACC. Some of those extra points include the fact that Florida State would lose their rivalry game with the University of Miami and the FSU faculty is adamantly opposed to the move because they would be joining a weaker "academic" conference.

Barron also highlights how it would actually cost too much money for FSU to jump to the Big 12 conference:

It will cost between $20M and $25M to leave the ACC we have no idea where that money would come from. It would have to come from the Boosters which currently are unable to support our current University athletic budget, hence the 2% cut in that budget.

For more on Florida State football, visit the Seminoles blog blog Tomahawk Nation. For all your NCAA football news and notes, be sure to check out SB Nation's college football hub.

Continue

Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.