FSU's standing in the ACC is temporarily safe

By Charlie Barnes, Executive Director - Seminole Boosters

Much of June was consumed with the drama of Seminole Baseball's journey through post season to the College World Series. The rest was given over to discussions of Conference expansion. The last seismic upheaval along those lines took place twenty years ago when a national realignment took place during which FSU joined the ACC and the SEC added Arkansas and South Carolina.

There has been much speculation about how FSU came to the ACC instead of the Southeastern Conference. The truth is fascinating, but a story for another day. For an intense few weeks this spring the issue was: Where is FSU going to go now?

All that talk stopped when the Texas Longhorns elected to remain in what is left of the Big 12 and the seas were calmed for the moment.

The ACC is first and foremost a basketball league. Florida State was added to boost football but the psychology of the Conference lives indoors. It's probably unfair to characterize the ACC as one fan did by describing them as a group of people in North Carolina pretending its 1954, smoking cigarettes and talking about how they can't wait till winter for the real season to begin.

Whether the ACC is the best fit for FSU remains to be determined. However, there's no question that we have not held up our end of the bargain in recent years. ACC television revenue in 2009 was greater than the PAC 10 and the Big East, but far behind the Big 10, SEC and Big 12. Florida State returning to national prominence in football will be the best way for the ACC to strengthen its bargaining hand.

It's easy to see the evolution of conference realignment. Once upon a time, the NCAA controlled all college football broadcasts for television. And the NCAA being who it is declared that television would broadcast Carson-Newman vs. Wofford instead of Tennessee vs. Alabama and you'll just have to learn to like it.

That's when Georgia Coach Vince Dooley created the College Football Association and sued the NCAA for control of broadcast rights. Dooley won and Money began to dress for dinner.

Money is the answer to almost any question you can ask about conference realignment. Money is not just the engine that propels the vehicle; it is the entire eighteen-wheeler barreling ahead at top speed.

In fact, there is so much money on the table now that any influence the NCAA has left is in danger of being overwhelmed. Every new deal, every new shift in the cosmos signals extrapolating amounts of cash flowing into the pockets of the Haves.

The landscape is unstable right now, and in just a couple of years we will probably see another upheaval. Perhaps next time, if the Seminoles can put together a few championship seasons, Florida State will find they have some fresh opportunities.