Florida State's breakthrough might help the ACC along the way - ESPN

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State athletic director Michael Alford picks up a thick white binder in his office, one that he keeps with him at all times for reference. He calls it a «living, breathing document,» one that has pages and pages of financial models, valuations and projections for his athletic department all the way through 2043.

When he says both Florida State and the ACC are facing an insurmountable revenue gap with the SEC and Big Ten, he can point to the spreadsheets. His concerns have been aired both privately and publicly. Florida State has been the most vocal school in the ACC about this revenue gap and also what that gap could mean for FSU's long-term future in the league.

Florida State's vocal approach has been strategic — and has coincided with what is expected to be its best football season in nearly a decade. Ten years removed from its last national championship, No. 8 Florida State knows there is no turning back — both from its very public demands for more money and the on-field stakes for the team and the conference when it plays No. 5 LSU on Sunday night in Orlando (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC).

This, of course, presents an interesting contrast. The ACC needs Florida State to be good to change its own football narrative and help close the revenue gap with the SEC and Big Ten. But a championship-contending Florida State could have the leverage to leave the ACC when another seismic shift in conference realignment arrives.

«We haven't been shy about letting everyone know that we are looking at all of our options,» Alford said during a recent interview with ESPN. «You know that Malcolm Gladwell book, 'The Tipping Point?' What are our tipping points over the next 10 years, next 15 years? What contracts come to