Well, FSU’s AD finally had enough of the chatter and reporters calling and asking for comments.

In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, FSU athletics director Randy Spetman said his programs were “committed to the ACC” and that any conversations about the school switching conferences is pure nonsense.”We’re in the ACC. We’re committed to the ACC,” Spetman said. “That’s where our president and the board of trustees has committed to, so we’re great partners in the ACC.”

For the past seven days, what started as quiet chatter on message boards and blog sites quickly turned into a matter of serious conversation among those following college football.

Florida State, the speculation said, was contemplating a move out of the ACC and was planning to go to the Big 12.

Spetman flatly refuted such accusations.

“I’m not out negotiating,” he said.

…

Spetman also told the Orlando Sentinel on Friday that any reports about him or any of his fellow FSU officials out talking to Big 12 officials are patently false.

“They’ve said I’ve been in Texas all this week,” Spetman said. “My wife was wondering how I was getting back and forth every day.”

According to Austin American-Statesman columnist Kirk Bohls, Spetman may be telling the truth.

In a tweet from Thursday, Bohls said that Texas and Texas Tech officials were surprised about the rumors involving FSU and similar rumors involving the Seminoles’ ACC partner, Clemson.

“‘First I’ve heard of it,’ one high-up says,” Bohls tweeted.

When pressed about why reports are existing with respect to his school and Big 12, Spetman added: “I don’t know why people have written that.

“I don’t know how they can say that — and I don’t mean to pick on the media — but how can the media person come out and say that there was a Florida State person in a meeting that wasn’t true? How can they get away with that? To my knowledge, nobody from our organization was there. So I don’t know how they can get away with saying that.”

Will this help end the rumors? I doubt it.

(more…)

As I stated yesterday, the new ACC contract will not stop those who want to believe they can raid the ACC (read: Big 12). Specifically for Florida State. This piece details the budget problems for FSU. Interesting that the supposedly loyal and rabid fans of FSU are struggling to make a commitment to pay for home games this year.

On the revenue side there is optimism that an aggressive marketing campaign will help boost football ticket sales and booster contributions. While that sounds good on the surface, with five home games against Savannah State, Murray State, Wake Forest, Duke and Boston College it will be a minor miracle if FSU is able to match last year’s ticket sales. And it’s unlikely that the home schedule will be much better in 2013.

Complaints about being able to get people to come to games when it is a pathetic home schedule? Pitt will definitely fit right into the ACC.

The piece sets a lot of issues for FSU and their budget. Especially the capital improvements needed to their stadium and arena. Interestingly, the piece does not seem to take the idea of shifting conferences seriously. Instead it believes that FSU will more likely try to use the possible flirtations to shift to unbalanced revenue sharing in the ACC media contract.

While Pitt is not yet in the ACC, and I can’t claim to have a good sense of the real politics of the conference, my impulse is that this will not work for FSU. That the conference won’t buy the threat. They will bitch and moan and then deal with it.

(more…)