Pete Thamel reveals key dates ahead amid FSU's legal battle with ACC

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Florida State took the first step towards leaving the ACC on Friday as the FSU Board of Trustees unanimously voted to challenge the ACC’s Grant of Rights.

ESPN insider Pete Thamel joined College Football Live on Friday to break down the next steps in the process for the Seminoles and the ACC.

“Think of this step as if Florida State is lighting the match, and there’s still quite a bit of wick left before the dynamite blows up and they actually attempt to leave the league,” Thamel said. “It’s a first step. What we do know for certain is that Florida State will play in the ACC in all sports in 2024-25.”

The deadline for Florida State to leave the league for the 2024-25 season passed this August. Another deadline is coming up in next August for FSU to announce its intentions for the 2025-26 season.

Pete Thamel believes it’s up in the air as far as whether or not FSU will be ready to leave at that point.

“The next date that really looms large for Florida State is, they have six months to see how things go legally,” Thamel said. “And then come August 15 of 2024, they would have to make a declaration of whether or not they want to leave the league for the 25-26 season. So they have basically six months of legal runway to see how things go.”

It remains to be seen where FSU might end up, if it does get out of the ACC. The SEC and Big Ten are the top two conferences right now in terms of money being brought in, but there’s no guarantee that those leagues would want to add Florida State. In fact, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has said multiple times that he is happy with the number of teams in the SEC being at 16 beginning in 2024.

There are also obstacles Florida State must overcome before other leagues could pursue the Seminoles, according to Thamel.

“The most critical part in Florida State finding an eventual landing place is that they need to be cleansed of any legal exposure,” Thamel said. “The SEC or Big Ten is not going to take them when they could potentially get dragged into a lawsuit. So the legal process really has to play out for Florida State. And it’s too early to say whether or not that could happen in the next six months.”