Mike Norvell shares how much ACC lawsuit impacts Florida State program

Head coach Mike Norvell is going into his fifth season with Florida State, coming off an ACC Championship in 2023. However, there is now tension between Florida State and the ACC, with the school’s ongoing lawsuit against the conference.

While speaking to members of the media ahead of spring practice, Norvell was asked whether or not that lawsuit is impacting the program and if it’s something the players think about.

“No, it’s not,” Mike Norvell said. “That’s not anything for our players to be concerned with. I mean, right now, it’s about today. It’s about the opportunity that we have to go get better.”

Florida State’s lawsuit against the ACC is over “mismanaging media rights and imposing ‘draconian’ exit fees,” according to FSU.

As of now, the ACC is locked into a long-term media deal that the ACC schools previously agreed to. It was designed to create long-term stability within the conference by locking the schools into the conference for an extended period of time. That media deal currently pays $240 million annually through 2036. When that’s divided among 14 teams, it ends up being about $17 million annually per school.

On top of that, the ACC media deal includes a Grant of Rights agreement, which would force a team to face hundreds of millions of dollars in withdrawal penalties.

Florida State has run into several issues with the deal recently. As conference realignment has reshaped the landscape in college football, it’s clear the SEC and Big Ten have more power and advantages than the other conferences, including the ACC. That is taking form in how the expanded College Football Playoff is taking shape.

Then, there is the financial gap. In 2024, the SEC starts a new media deal with ABC, moving its game of the week from CBS. For that one game, the SEC will be getting a reported $300 million annually. The Big Ten, meanwhile, recently signed a media deal worth more than $7 billion. That deal will be over and ready to renegotiate before the ACC’s.

Add in Mike Norvell and the Seminoles getting snubbed for last season’s College Football Playoff, and it seems much harder to compete nationally in the ACC than those other conferences. So, Florida State is suing to try and get out of the ACC.

Still, as far as Norvell and the football team are concerned, the focus is on the practice field going into Spring.