Florida State Takes Blatant Shot At Stanford In ACC Lawsuit

Florida State is taking out their frustrations with the ACC on the conference's new additions

Things are already getting messy in Stanford, Cal, and SMU's new conference and the three new kids on the block haven't even sewn the ACC logo onto their jerseys.

Florida State is currently in the midst of attempting to figure out a way to leave the conference, following their snubbing from the College Football Playoff which was the final straw. Even prior to being left out, Florida State was unhappy. They are suing over the conference's grant of rights which extends through 2036, and are claiming that the conference has locked up the schools in a poor deal with essentially no way out of it unless they pay generational fines. 

According to ESPN's Andrea Adelson and David Hale, the fines would be north of $570 million:

In the lawsuit, Florida State estimates it would cost $572 million to leave the ACC without a legal victory or settlement. It would forfeit $429 million in media rights through 2036, when the ACC contract with ESPN expires; $13 million in unreimbursed broadcast fees; and an exit fee of $130 million (three times the league's total operating budget).

In the 38-page filing that their lawyers had reportedly been working on since the summer, there was a major jab taken at Stanford, Cal, and SMU. The filing revealed that they felt Oregon State was more valuable than the three new additions due to their success this season.

Reading Florida State's 38-page filing against the ACC.

A highlight:

FSU using @ChrisVannini's power rankings to say the ACC should have added Oregon State from the Pac-12 and not Cal/Stanford, who lack "in the lone metric that matters in the athletic conference market today." pic.twitter.com/5XXbABgHfM

— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) December 22, 2023

A prime example of recency bias in the case of Stanford, and ignoring just how poor this Florida State program was just three years ago. As I wrote about when Stanford was looking for a conference to call home, David Shaw's final seasons clouded his successful stretch that saw Stanford rise as one of the top programs in the country.

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When Stanford was at its peak, they won two Rose Bowls and one Orange Bowl, in five New Year's Six game appearances. They were the second most-watched team in the Pac-12 behind Oregon from the 2015-19 and 2021 seasons, in matchups that didn't feature Big Ten-bound USC and UCLA. They've also led the entire Pac-12 in NFL Draft picks produced since 2012 with 48. As of 2022, they were one of the top 25 winningest Power Five programs of the last decade as well. 

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And, while they are solely talking about football because it is the biggest driver, they are well aware of just how successful Stanford's entire athletic department is, winning 26 of the 29 available LEARFIELD Directors' Cups, an award is given to the most successful intercollegiate athletic department in the country.

So, when Stanford is clicking in football it is clear that they bring value, and basing a program off of a few down years is not representative of the ceiling of the value that the program can garner. One could easily bring up the fact that before Oregon State went 18-7 the past two seasons and became 'more valuable' they were 21-47 from 2016-2021. It's not to say that Oregon State doesn't belong in a Power 4 conference, but that seemed conveniently left out of the filing. 

Florida State's grievances in terms of the playoff are understandable, but we need not forget they signed the ACC's grant of rights, twice. They did so in 2013, and circled back and signed it again in 2016.

The ACC countered with their own lawsuit, and things are going to get real awkward at ACC media days moving forward.