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FSU's President Barron responds:

May 14, 2012, 4:01 PM

Florida State University President Eric Barron sent an email reply earlier today to the many emails and calls he has received regarding the possibility of FSU leaving the ACC for the Big 12 Conference.

Here is what Barron had to say:
I want to assure you that any decision made about FSU athletics will
be reasoned and thoughtful and based on athletics, finances and academics. Allow me to provide you with some of the issues we are facing:

In support of a move are four basic factors argued by many alumni:

1. The ACC is more basketball than it is football, and many of our alumni view us as more football oriented than the ACC 2. The ACC is too North Carolina centric and the contract advantages basketball and hence advantages the North Carolina schools 3. The Big 12 has some big football schools that match up with FSU 4. The Big 12 contract (which actually isn't signed yet) is rumored to be $2.9M more per year than the ACC contract. We need this money to be competitive.

But, in contrast:
1. The information presented about the ACC contract that initiated the blogosphere discussion was not correct. The ACC is an equal share conference and this applies to football and to basketball --there is no preferential treatment of any university with the exception of 3rd tier rights for women's basketball and Olympic sports. FSU is advantaged by that aspect of the contract over the majority of other ACC schools.

2. Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas A&M left the Big 12, at least in part because the Big 12 is not an equal share conference.

Texas has considerably more resource avenues and gains a larger share (and I say this as a former dean of the University of Texas at Austin - I watched the Big 12 disintegration with interest).

So, when fans realize that Texas would get more dollars than FSU, always having a competitive advantage, it would be interesting to see the fan reaction.
3. Much is being made of the extra $2.9M that the Big 12 contract (which hasn't been inked yet) gets over the ACC contract.

Given that the Texas schools are expected to play each other (the Big 12 is at least as Texas centered than the ACC is North Carolina centered), the most likely scenario has FSU playing Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and West Virginia on a recurring basis and the other teams sporadically (and one more unnamed team has to join to allow the Big 12 to regain a championship game), we realize that our sports teams can no longer travel by bus to most games -- the estimate is that the travel by plane required by FSU to be in the Big 12 appears to exceed the $2.9M difference in the contract-- actually giving us fewer dollars than we have now to be competitive with the Big 12 teams, who obviously do not have to travel as far.

Any renegotiated amount depends not just on FSU but the caliber of any other new team to the Big 12.
4. Few believe that the above teams will fill our stadium with fans
of these teams and so our lack of sales and ticket revenue would continue.

5. We would lose the rivalry with University of Miami that does fill our stadium.

6. It will cost between $20M and $25M to leave the ACC -- we have no idea where that money would come from. It would have to come from the Boosters which currently are unable to support our current University athletic budget, hence the 2 percent cut in that budget.

7. The faculty are adamantly opposed to joining a league that is academically weaker -- and in fact, many of them resent the fact that a 2 percent ($2.4M) deficit in the athletics budget receives so much attention from concerned Seminoles, but the loss of 25 percent of the academic budget (105M) gets none when it is the most critical concern of this University in terms of its successful future.

I present these issues to you so that you realize that this is not so simple (not to mention that negotiations aren't even taking place). One of the few wise comments made in the blogosphere is that no one negotiates their future in the media. We can't afford to have conference affiliation be governed by emotion -- it has to be based on a careful assessment of athletics, finances and academics. I assure you that every aspect of conference affiliation will be looked at by this institution, but it must be a reasoned decision.

Eric Barron
President

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AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. -- Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher tried Monday to quell the mini-firestorm that has engulfed his program, after fanning the flames with one comment in particular this past weekend.

While the school has released statements reaffirming its commitment to the ACC, the chair of the school's board of trustees and Fisher both said this weekend they would have no problem if the Seminoles looked elsewhere to gauge what is in their best interest.

Ahem, Big 12.

Fisher specifically said Saturday to The Orlando Sentinel, "There have been no officials talks, but I think you always have to look out there to see what's best for Florida State," Fisher said. "If that (jumping to the Big 12) is what's best for Florida State, then that's what we need to do."

When asked about those comments during the ACC spring meetings Monday, Fisher said, "All I said Saturday was, I said I never read the contract, I have no idea what the contract was. I said the powers to be will make decisions for Florida State. That’s the Board of Trustees and the president. They’ll do what’s best for Florida State. We’re in the ACC and that’s where we’re at. I’m not a decision-maker."

Florida State athletic director Randy Spetman was not at the meetings Monday because he was attending a previously scheduled event at the Air Force Academy.

Fisher is referring to the new TV deal the ACC reached with ESPN. Andy Haggard, the board of trustees chair, voiced his unhappiness with some of the particulars of the new deal in a weekend interview with Warchant.com. But Haggard turned out to be misinformed and has since backed off his comments.

Either way, the damage has been done and the expansion rumors have begun to swirl once again, leading to renewed questions about the future of Florida State and the ACC. It also has drawn comparisons to in-state rival Florida, which already generates much more money from its TV deal with the SEC.

"TV revenue is big," Fisher said. "That’s your largest contributor, your sales and tickets and your marketing. That’s what’s changed the landscape of college athletics, in particular college football. College football's driving that train. That’s why there’s controversy. Nothing’s about money, but everything's about money."

When asked whether fans should have a voice in what happens, Fisher said, "You have to ask the president and trustees. Fans are always a part of everything we do, but you have to make a decision about what’s logical. Fans don’t always know the details. But they always have an opinion. Your powers to be have to listen to those things but you have to make decisions based on rational thoughts. When explanations are made then they’ll understand."

As for whether he has voiced his own opinion to the school's administration, Fisher flat out said no.

"We’re in the ACC," he said. "We’re happy to be here. That’s where we’re playing. If they adjust, they adjust but that has nothing to do with me. We’re in the ACC. We’ve got a good football conference."

http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/38979/jimbo-fisher-addresses-big-12-speculation

FSU's President Barron responds:

Re: FSU's President Barron responds:

Go ahead FSU, let the faculty tell you what to do.

Re: Go ahead FSU, let the faculty tell you what to do.

Re: FSU's President Barron responds:

I don't want to hear it!

That's just too weird to think about, huh?***

Some here will actually interpret this as "FSU is going to

Re: FSU's President Barron responds:

Re: FSU's President Barron responds:

Tallahassee Democrat:

Re: FSU's President Barron responds:

What I read:

Another funny thing:

I think he is just telling the fans what time it is.***

Re: FSU's President Barron responds:

I think he basically 'laid down the law,' to the fans.

Re: FSU's President Barron responds:

Re: FSU's President Barron responds:

Re: FSU's President Barron responds:

What this tells me...

Wow - this guy's command of the English language is pathetic

Re: Wow - this guy's command of the English language is pathetic

Question for everyone

equal playing field between you and the teams you compete

Re: FSU's President Barron responds:

Jimbo Fisher said this today

Re: Jimbo Fisher said this today

the part I liked...

And that may be the end of that.***

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