FSU’s President Eric Barron issues a statement on conference alignment. Specifically on the whole issue of the ACC or Big 12 for Florida State.
“I want to assure you that any decision made about FSU athletics will be reasoned and thoughtful and based on athletics, finances and academics. Allow me to provide you with some of the issues we are facing:
In support of a move are four basic factors argued by many alumni:
1. The ACC is more basketball than it is football, and many of our alumni view us as more football oriented than the ACC
2. The ACC is too North Carolina centric and the contract advantages basketball and hence advantages the North Carolina schools
3. The Big 12 has some big football schools that match up with FSU
4. The Big 12 contract (which actually isn’t signed yet) is rumored to be $2.9M more per year than the ACC contract. We need this money to be competitive.
But, in contrast:
1. The information presented about the ACC contract that initiated the blogosphere discussion was not correct. The ACC is an equal share conference and this applies to football and to basketball there is no preferential treatment of any university with the exception of 3rd tier rights for women’s basketball and Olympic sports. FSU is advantaged by that aspect of the contract over the majority of other ACC schools.
2. Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas A&M left the Big 12, at least in part because the Big 12 is not an equal share conference. Texas has considerably more resource avenues and gains a larger share (and I say this as a former dean of the University of Texas at Austin – I watched the Big 12 disintegration with interest). So, when fans realize that Texas would get more dollars than FSU, always having a competitive advantage, it would be interesting to see the fan reaction.
3. Much is being made of the extra $2.9M that the Big 12 contract (which hasn’t been inked yet) gets over the ACC contract. Given that the Texas schools are expected to play each other (the Big 12 is at least as Texas centered than the ACC is North Carolina centered), the most likely scenario has FSU playing Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and West Virginia on a recurring basis and the other teams sporadically (and one more unnamed team has to join to allow the Big 12 to regain a championship game), we realize that our sports teams can no longer travel by bus to most games the estimate is that the travel by plane required by FSU to be in the Big 12 appears to exceed the $2.9M difference in the contract actually giving us fewer dollars than we have now to be competitive with the Big 12 teams, who obviously do not have to travel as far. Any renegotiated amount depends not just on FSU but the caliber of any other new team to the Big 12.
4. Few believe that the above teams will fill our stadium with fans of these teams and so our lack of sales and ticket revenue would continue.
5. We would lose the rivalry with University of Miami that does fill our stadium
6. 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.
7. The faculty are adamantly opposed to joining a league that is academically weaker and in fact, many of them resent the fact that a 2% ($2.4M) deficit in the athletics budget receives so much attention from concerned Seminoles, but the loss of 25% of the academic budget (105M) gets none when it is the most critical concern of this University in terms of its successful future.
I present these issues to you so that you realize that this is not so simple (not to mention that negotiations aren’t even taking place). One of the few wise comments made in the blogosphere is that no one negotiates their future in the media. We can’t afford to have conference affiliation be governed by emotion it has to be based on a careful assessment of athletics, finances and academics. I assure you that every aspect of conference affiliation will be looked at by this institution, but it must be a reasoned decision.
Eric Barron
President”
Safe to say that FSU’s people have definitely looked at the option of the Big 12. They don’t, however, see much value it it — economically or academically.
This, by no means ends the debate for FSU and its conference alignment. It does, however, show what the academic side of FSU thinks of the two conferences. It also sets out that the President of FSU is lining up with the ACC and the academic side. At least when it comes to the Big 12. Now if the SEC offered…
However, Va Tech may be a political impossibility. The best chance is with the Wolfpack since they are probably tired of being in the TarHeels shadow much like A&M was with Texas.
These academic budget cuts are killing schools. The FSU Prez makes on good point there.
what we have is the pres puting weight on academics
and the fans who help pay the bills thru cash and watching tv kind of saying screw the academics give us football andmore money for football
I’m thinking the same political issues that apply to Virignia Tech would also apply to NC State, though not as strongly.
Just kidding.
There’s a story/rumor/old wives’ tale that Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and Kentucky have an agreement to not support any schools in their states for expansion so they can remain the only SEC school in their state.
As the rumor goes, that’s why you always hear VT or NC State as possibilities, that and Clay Travis mentions them all the time.
The FSU Pres. gives cold hard facts.
Refreshing.
let’s get to games. let’s travel. and if you have an extra buck or two, donate it.
Bottom line//if FSU leaves the ACC they would incur a $20 Million penalty. In addition, the traveling expenses would be enormous.
FSU stays in the ACC.
1. You were selling out to Florida A&M or any other cupcake when you were winning.
Winning has a funny way of doing that.
2. Not gonna sell out Duke and BC at home??
And, you’re gonna sell out for Kansas and Iowa State at home???
They’re stayin’ right where they are.
ithought we left this all behind in the big east.
but we have a foot bal;l school bitching abought the BBschools we have team talking of leaveing we have a bad leader signing a bad tv contract
it sounds like old home week in the big east same shit different station.
I was in Clemson this past weekend, and talk radio reached a fever pitch about getting the hell out of the conference, which was somewhat surprising since the talk is BIG12 not SEC. Swofford is a terrible commissioner, as far as I can tell, so the disdain at least has some grounding.
With all the complaining that FSU/Clemson have done over the years, I really think they might leave if they were given the chance. Based on Barron’s statements, however, I think it’s not nearly as likely as I once thought. This one is interesting, but at least we’re out of the BE finally. That’s all we could control, and all that really matters.
If they want to complain about weak home scheduling…take a look at what we’ve got this year lol
All of this gnashing of teeth is nothing but a time suck for those who are looking to dream up the next “breaking news” or those that think they came up with the perfect conference alignments on their last version of NCAA2012.
At the end of the day, PITT will be in the ACC. This is a great thing for the university and it’s athletic programs. And in light of the recent legal filings, PITT will be in the ACC sooner than later.
Hail to Pitt!
Pitt’s situation was different in that the ACC was not in the rush that the Big 12 found itself in. In fact, Pitt probably could have had a similar deal (i.e., a $20 million buyout). As awful as the football schedule is this fall, I can’t see how taking that deal would have been financially prudent.
The expansionocolypse smoke is beginning to settle and we are on the right track for the future at the University of Pittsburgh–we have a very good football coach with a solid staff, we have a proven basketball coach and a top 15 recuriting class coming in 2012, and we are one of the premier academic institutions in the country. Hail to Pitt!!
