CFB analyst projects more conference realignment is coming after Florida State news

The whole offseason leading up to the 2023 college football season, the biggest topic was which conferences will be adding which programs.

Texas, Oklahoma, USC, and UCLA all got the ball rolling and chose their own fates, while the rest of the Pac-12 and Big 12 were sent into a panic. It then turned into which conference was more prepared, aggressive, and strategic about its next move in realignment and media rights negotiations. That ended up being the Big 12, who poached four Pac-12 programs, while the rest of the conference outside of Oregon State and Washington State, went to the Big Ten or ACC, effectively killing the Pac-12 as we knew it.

Over the past few days specifically, it has become more obvious that there will be more conference realignment on the way thanks to Florida State’s unhappiness with the ACC. Florida State is suing the conference due to its media rights mismanagement, and for ‘draconian’ exit fees that make it nearly impossible to leave.

ACC Ken Ruinard / staff, The Greenville News via Imagn Content Services, LLC

According to an ESPN report back in December when the news initially broke that they were suing, it was revealed that it would cost around $570 million to leave the conference without a legal victory or settlement. As revealed in this past week, ACC programs can buy back their rights.

Something that On3’s Andy Staples believes is leading us to another wave of realignment:

Because the ACC opened the door Friday afternoon for the next potential round of realignment. On page 20 of a 40-page filing that asks for a dismissal or a stay of Florida State’s lawsuit against the conference in Florida’s Leon County, the ACC’s attorneys signaled a path to a logical endpoint in a case being litigated in two different states. The next move after that endpoint is probably yet another reshuffling that will once again alter our perception of which conferences hold how much power.

Depending on what happens with Florida State, Staples also revealed that other programs like Miami, Clemson, or North Carolina could buy their way out as well. This would certainly expedite the Power 2 direction of college football in which we seem to be headed.

As for what will happen to the rest of the conference is another major mystery. The ACC should be planning on Florida State leaving, and doing what they can to add more programs.