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Florida State unlikely to find realignment home in SEC or Big Ten, per report
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Florida State is currently locked in a legal battle with the ACC in an attempt to get out of the league. However, it is currently unlikely that the Seminoles find welcoming arms from the SEC or the Big Ten if the rest of the ACC stays together.
That’s per a report from Brett McMurphy with the Action Network who reported Tuesday morning there are multiple concerns from those conferences about adding FSU. Some of those concerns are that it currently does not make financial sense for either league along with the fact FSU has proven “it’s not a good partner.”
According to McMurphy’s reporting, 3 presidents in the SEC have “no interest” in FSU. The Big Ten is also not interested with a source telling McMurphy that B1G commissioner Tony Petitti is “staying away from expansion.”
Added another: “Why would anyone want to expedite more chaos by adding Florida State?”
However, there is one potential caveat to FSU finding a new partner. That would be the ACC totally disintegrating or some other “catastrophic” development for the ACC.
“There is no appetite among the presidents unless there is some catastrophic development with the ACC and it forces [the Big Ten] into a decision,” the source said.
“If the ACC blows up, who picks first [between the Big Ten and SEC]? Who picks second? If there is a need and desire to expand, you take inventory so your competitors don’t get it. But the presidents and chancellors are looking for stability. Despite what the social media geniuses are suggesting, no one — the leagues, the networks — is driving expansion.”
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Even if that happens, the primary targets for the SEC and Big Ten would likely be North Carolina and Virginia, according to McMurphy’s sources. He also reports a growing sense that programs feel they cannot trust FSU as a new member while describing the Seminoles as “a disruptive partner” while another questioned why FSU is trying to bully its way out of the ACC instead of trying to “rally everyone together in the ACC.”
Petitti will speak next week at Big Ten Media Days, but SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was very vocal about the SEC’s stance in his Monday comments. He claimed 16 teams is the SEC’s present “and 16 is our tomorrow.” Sankey also said the league can stay at 16 “for a long, long time.”
With the arrival of Texas and Oklahoma, SEC has all the reasoning in the world to remain inwardly focused on its 16 member institutions as Sankey proclaimed on Monday. The changes around the country are still taking effect, and the SEC continues to mull whether or not to move to a 9-game conference schedule in football.
While something could change to entice the SEC to make a move, FSU bullying its way out of the ACC is unlikely to be the desirable opportunity some perceive it to be.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
