Florida State BOT Chairman Peter Collins speaks about the legal battle with ACC

During a meeting of the Capital Tiger Bay Club on Tuesday, Peter Collins, chairman of the Florida State Board of Trustee, spoke about the ongoing FSU versus ACC lawsuit.

During the forum at the Tucker Civic Center, Collins spoke about the school’s growing frustrations with the ACC’s revenue-sharing plan and how the now infamous Dec. 3 playoff snob influenced FSU’s decision to leave the conference to sue accelerated.

Although the “snub” played a role, Collins said FSU’s complaints to the ACC had been discussed well before the college football playoff selection show.

He cited frustrations with revenue and the Seminoles’ desire to “get paid what it’s worth” as a leading factor in the dissatisfied feelings toward the conference.

“This effort didn’t start with a snarl. We’ve been serious about this for a while, you just don’t post a complaint like that in two weeks,” Collins said.

“We were still working with the ACC on an equal revenue sharing plan, but it wasn’t until it became clear that that effort wasn’t going to get us where we wanted to be, and they weren’t interested in continuing to help us. get better at that effort, then something like that happens (the stupidity), we just felt the time was right.”

“There was no reason for us to wait any longer.”

Collins said the growing revenue gap between the ACC and the Big 10 and the SEC due to the two conferences’ TV deals makes it difficult for FSU to compete financially with the programs in those conferences.

He said while boosters have been able to help close the funding gap with these programs in the past, the current budget gap is too large for donors to bridge and help the school compete.

Collins said FSU could compete with members of the two conferences in athletic revenue generated outside of media deals. But he added that it’s difficult for FSU to keep up with the amount of television money currently being pumped into the Big 10 and SEC.

The ACC announced last month that it had generated a record $706.6 million in gross revenue over the 2022-2023 period, with an average of $44.8 million distributed to its 14 football-playing members.

But despite its record growth, the ACC lags behind the Big Ten (nearly $880 million) and SEC ($852.6 million).

The ACC distributed an average of $44.8 million among its 14 football-playing members, including FSU.

“If you take away the TV dollars and put us in the SEC, we rank fourth in the amount of revenue we generate in our athletic department. If you put us in the big ten, we rank fourth,” Collins said.

“If you then take that TV contract, they earn double, and that gap is really big.”

While Collins remained tight-lipped about FSU’s future and its allegiance to the conference after the lawsuit with the ACC, he offered his thoughts on what a successful outcome would be at the end of the lawsuit.

“I think our ultimate goal is to get paid what we’re worth.”

What is the current status of the legal battle between FSU and the ACC?

In May, FSU filed a nearly 600-page complaint in North Carolina asking the state Supreme Court to review the April decision by the judge there. The petition asks for a writ of certiorari, a formal request for the court to review a case for error or violation.

Responding to the FSU’s appeal, the ACC said the FSU’s appeal “fails on its face” because it does not demonstrate that the court’s decision was “manifestly arbitrary”.

On June 21, Leon Circut Judge John C. Cooper denied the ACC’s request to dismiss FSU’s lawsuit against the Leon County Conference, allowing the case to continue to move forward in the Florida legal system.

The ACC has already appealed Judge Cooper’s ruling that the conference preemptively filed a lawsuit in North Carolina to try to gain jurisdiction in the case. No official appeal has been lodged against the June 21 decision.

In April, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a lawsuit against the conference, demanding that the media contracts, Grant of Rights and ESPN agreement be made public in accordance with Florida’s public records law.

On June 13, Moody said she does not need a hearing to obtain the ACC’s media contracts, citing Florida’s public records law and saying a judge can now rule on her request.

Liam Rooney covers prep sports for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @__liamroonej