Florida State Expected to Start Process to Depart From ACC

Per Brett McMurphy of Action Network, the FSU Board of Trustees has scheduled a meeting for Friday, where the school is expected to officially start the process of leaving the ACC.

According to McMurphy, Florida State has not notified the ACC of an intention to leave.

The ACC requires teams to provide a one-year notice to leave the conference, making the earliest FSU could leave June 30, 2025.

Florida State would be required to pay an estimated exit fee of $120 million and get out of the ACC's grant of rights — which gives the ACC media control over the media rights for their member schools, potentially costing Florida State an additional $360 million, per McMurphy.

According to McMurphy's sources, if FSU found a way out of the ACC's Grant of Rights, it could open the floodgates of members departing from the conference.

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In the Action Network article, Florida State officials have been in talks about leaving the ACC for over a year, and in the summer, discussed starting the process to leave the ACC but opted to "wait until after the football season so it wouldn't cause a distraction for the Seminoles' football team."

This move comes after FSU became the first undefeated Power Five champ to miss out on the playoffs in the CFP era.

Florida State is expected to be pursued by the Big Ten and SEC, while the Big 12 would also be in the running.

During media days, Sankey did discuss the possibility of expanding the SEC past 16 teams, stating, "We [already] are a super conference; I'm focused on our growth to 16 [with Oklahoma and Texas]. It's not been a topic for the Southeastern Conference. Do I think it's done? People say I get to decide that. We know who we are. We're comfortable with who we are."

In the article, McMurphy mentioned that multiple sources told him, "Don't discount the bitter rivalry between ESPN and FOX" and "There's no way the SEC wants FOX and the Big Ten to plant a flag in Florida by adding FSU and Miami."

Per a source, this move "will have an Oppenheimer-like ripple effect" throughout the nation.

For more College Football content from Simon Besnoy, follow him on X/Twitter at @SimonBesnoy and stay tuned to Tide1009.com for daily news.