Where The Florida State Seminoles Stand With The Big 12
By Ross
First off, I’m sorry again for not being as active on here as I used to be. I’m sure you’ve heard by now but rumors of Florida State to the Big 12 have caught fire over the past couple of days.
Florida State is the biggest name in football in the ACC, which is more of a basketball-first conference. The Noles won two national titles in the 90s and won four conference titles in the beginning of the 2000s.
The problem for Florida State is that they are pulling in a lot less money than they should for being a prestigious football program. The new ACC-ESPN contract isn’t going to help them either. Right now ACC teams will earn $2.9 million less per year when the new television contract is signed for the Big 12. With the addition of the ‘Noles, the Big 12 would redo their contract to make that gap between the two conferences larger.
Although they haven’t won an ACC title since 2005, Florida State would probably be the best addition to the Big 12 besides unlikely Notre Dame and Arkansas.
After Jimbo Fisher made comments about the possibility of joining the Big 12 and other rumors started, FSU president Eric Barron sent this email to fans, boosters, and alumni who were questioning where FSU stood.
After the email surfaced on Warchant.com’s forums, the site posted reasons why Barron’s arguments to stay in the ACC are wrong. Warchant.com provides many reason why FSU to the Big 12 would make sense.
Now Barron is taking back is somewhat opening the door back up to the Big 12. Here is what he had to say last night:
"There is no way that the university wouldn’t at least do its homework,” Barron told the Democrat. “That wouldn’t make sense otherwise. But that happened last year and I didn’t believe there was any truth to the rumors then. And I don’t believe there is any truth to these rumors now."
Almost completely lost in this chaos is what the Big 12 thinks. DeLoss Dodds, athletic director at Texas and one of the most powerful in the Big 12, talked to Kirk Bohls of the Austin-Stateman. Basically Dodds said that there is “no traction” to this story and that the two sides are a long ways apart. To Big 12 fans that want FSU that seems like a downer, but Dodds said the same thing about A&M leaving last year.
So that is where we are at the moment. As a fan of the Big 12 as a whole, I would love for Florida State to become the 11th member of the conference. There are definitely negatives about Florida State, but I think the pros outweigh the cons (I’ll get into those some other time). With the addition of Florida State, the Big 12 would get that much closer to the talent of the SEC.
The Big 12 wants to return to 12, so who will be the last member? Clemson and Louisville seem like the top two options. However, that discussion is for another time.
Anyways, check back here throughout the week for more of Big 12 expansion.