Florida State considering a move to the Big 12?

By Kevin Kelley -

Florida State SeminolesAre the Florida State Seminoles considering a move to the Big 12 Conference? They should be, according to Chip Brown of OrangeBloods.com.

Yesterday, the ACC and ESPN announced an extension to their exclusive media rights package through 2026-27. Reports indicate that the revenue for football and basketball will rise from $13 million to around $17 million per school.

According to Brown, FSU is in a prime state (population of 19 million) to possibly create their own television network and gain an additional $5 million per year in media rights revenue. Add to that $2 million more that the Big 12 would bring and the Seminoles could rake in around $24 million per year.

Florida State may be content in the ACC, but the Seminoles need some cash. Several media outlets reported last week that the FSU athletics department is facing a budget shortfall of $2.4 million for 2012-13. Chip Brown also mentions that Florida State’s “basketball arena and football stadium are in desperate need of renovation.”

You can read the rest of Brown’s article over at OrangeBloods.com. He goes into more detail about the issues Florida State is facing.

What would happen if Florida State actually did make the move to the Big 12? Clemson has been rumored as a possible team to follow them. But BYU and Louisville have also been in the conversation a lot longer.

Those four schools would give the Big 12 a total of 14 schools. Stay tuned.

Update (5/11/12): Florida State athletics director Randy Spetman told the Orlando Sentinel this morning that the Seminoles are “committed to the ACC.”

Comments (24)

The FSU move to the Big12 will coincide with me not liking the Seminoles anymore! I’m not sure about any dates but I can guarantee that those two things would happen at exactly the same time.

Why would a proud program like FSU enter the Longhorn vortex? The money could be better but you will have to answer to mighty Texas.
I do not think this will happen and for Florida State’s sake, I hope not.

The new Big 12 commissioner is going to be proactive. The Big 12 will probably be the next to 16 teams. SMU will be 15 or 16.

Mike,
How would SMU help the Big 12 in anyway?
I know they are in Dallas but Texas has more fans in Arlington than SMU has in The entire Metroplex.

Florida St. is a better fit in the SEC than Missouri geography wise. But the SEC didn’t want the Gators to have a temper tantrum if Slive invited Florida St.

Hopefully if the SEC goes to 16 FSU will be one of those if Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Kentucky don’t join together and block such a move. It has been reported over and over that those 4 have a pact to keep out FSU, Clemson, Louisville and Ga. Tech.
Tech left the SEC and does not deserve to ever come back in but FSU and Clemson would be nice.

Also, take what Chip Brown writes with a grain of salt. Two years ago, he all but guaranteed that Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Texas A&M and Texas Tech were headed to the Pac 12. And last year at about this time, wasn’t he pegging Notre Dame to the Big 12?

Chip Brown is a tool( pun intended) of the texas propaganda machine.
He is a mouthpiece of Dodds. Take what he says with a grain of salt.

I think FSU is one of the great brands of college football, personally I hope they don’t get involved with that Texas trash.

maybe because Texas has had a program about 50 years longer than FSU

FSU has 2 national titles in the past 20 years, Texas has 1

10 times more successful?

FSU will be making $17 million in the ACC in 2013 and beyond. The Big12 is $20 mil. $3 mil is not a good enough reason to move, esp with a $10 million exit fee. Also, SMU and Houston would only water down the market values of the other Taxes schools. Big12 is going with Louisville, Cinci, BYU, and Boise State. Why BSU? Because their FB kicks ass. They have a rivalry with BYU and TCU. They bring a national following but they don’t challenge or water down the markets of any current or future Big12 schools.

The folks in Missouri said the same thing (that they were committed to the Big 12). Didn’t mean anything then, doesn’t mean anything now.

The Big 12 don’t want BSU period they bring nothing else to the table. Bringing in a BYU or Florida STATE or Lousville or Clemson brings in a bigger tv market and fan base. BSU had a good run under Kellen Moore he is gone though and they have their invite to the big least or whatever it is. BSU will be lucky to not have three loses next year.

Boise is probably going back to the Mountain according to reports. There is no reason to move to the Big East. AQ status is gone. No quality teams left. BYU should stay independent. They are doing just fine without a conference. Greg is right. The Big 12 doesn’t want Boise or BYU and Boise is probably going 1-3 outside of conference play this year. But they’ll be back again soon.

Boise State would still probably earn more TV money in the Big East than they would in the Mountain West, but that extra money might not be nearly as much as they had hoped, especially if more Big East teams get picked off (e.g. Louisville, Notre Dame, Connecticut or Rutgers or Temple, etc.).

The other big cost for BSU is the fact that since the WAC is a shell of its former self, BSU would have to basically sacrifice all of its other sports for the sake of the football team. It’s questionable as to whether or not that is worth it.

FSU would have a rougher road in the Big 12 than they do in the ACC, but yeah, they’d have more money. They’d be trading a “dominated by Tobacco Rd” conference for a “dominated by the longhorn state” conference. Not sure if one is better or worse.

I do think that the ACC and Notre Dame are going to have some serious talks about bringing the Irish all-in. Can you imagine if they set up a Notre Dame – Florida State game every year? It could happen.

We’ll see.