Florida State AD Michael Alford offers insight into relationship with ACC, chances of staying
Florida State Athletics Director Michael Alford has been very open about his desire to get the Seminoles out of the ACC.
SEC and Big Ten schools are already bringing in significantly more money than those in the ACC, and that gap is set to widen in the coming years.
Alford joined College Sports on SiriusXM recently and was asked if there’s any chance of the ACC salvaging its relationships with Florida State, Clemson and North Carolina, schools that are also looking to leave the league. Alford didn’t completely rule out the possibility, but it does seem unlikely.
“I’ll say you run out every ground ball. That’s the baseball analysis for you. We’re going to continue to run out every ground ball,” Michael Alford said. “But what we do know is analytics and we do know the revenue gap coming in the future and how it’s just going to get worse and worse.”
The SEC and Big Ten recently signed massive new TV deals, while the ACC is locked into its contract with ESPN until 2036.
Florida State and Clemson are currently suing the ACC to try to get out of the conference in an effort to bring in more money for their athletics departments. Alford expects more conference realignment to occur in the coming years.
“You’re seeing networks really consolidate the major brands of college football. And they want brand on brand being played against each other. And that’s something that we see,” Alford said. “That’s something that we think is not finished. We think there’s even more change coming in the upcoming years, and we’re taking this day by day.”
If Alford had his choice, college football would go back to the way it was before conference realignment, schools would remain in their leagues and traditions would continue.
However, that’s no longer an option, and he has to do what he thinks is best for Florida State.
“I wish it would go back to 2005. I really do, because I had a great experience,” Alford said. “But times have changed, and you can’t look back. You’ve gotta look forward and you’ve gotta anticipate what changes are coming. You’ve got to prepare yourself and your institution to be able to adapt quickly and be prepared on the forefront for those changes.”
It will be interesting to see what happens with Florida State in the coming months and years and if the Seminoles, Clemson and North Carolina do end up leaving the league.