Florida State football: ACC releases statement following Grant of Rights battle

The ACC has released a statement regarding their new legal battle with Florida State.

Conference realignment is a major discussion topic in college football right now, and Florida State football could be the next team to make a move. The Seminoles went 13-0 this season and won the ACC, but they were left out of the College Football Playoff. Now, Florida State is trying to make a move away from the ACC, but the process is getting complicated, and the Seminoles ended up suing the conference over grant of rights and the withdrawal fee.

This situation is getting messy between the Seminoles and the ACC, but if Florida State football wants to be in a premier conference, they need to be in the SEC or the Big Ten. Because of that, they are taking legal action, and the ACC recently released a statement on the matter.

“Florida State’s decision to file action against the Conference is in direct conflict with their longstanding obligations and is a clear violation of their legal commitments to the other members of the Conference,” The statement read. “All ACC members, including Florida State, willingly and knowingly re-signed the current Grant of Rights in 2016, which is wholly enforceable and binding through 2036. Each university has benefited from this agreement, receiving millions of dollars in revenue and neither Florida State nor any other institution, has ever challenged its legitimacy. As a league, we are proud of the successes of our student-athletes and that the ACC has won the most NCAA National Championships over the past two and half years while also achieving the highest graduation success and academic performance rates among all FBS conferences, so it is especially disappointing that FSU would choose to pursue this unprecedented and overreaching approach. We are confident that the Grant of Rights, which has been honored by all other universities who signed similar agreements, will be affirmed by the courts and the Conference’s legal counsel will vigorously enforce the agreement in the best interests of the ACC’s current and incoming members.”