How the rest of the ACC is reacting to Florida State's unhappiness - ESPN

As Florida State president Richard McCullough began his remarks to his board of trustees during a virtual meeting on Wednesday, more than 2,000 people were tuned into the livestream on YouTube.

Among those were officials both in the ACC office and schools across the league. Shortly after McCullough told the board that Florida State would «very seriously» consider leaving the ACC unless there is a radical change to the conference's revenue distribution model, the backlash from those inside the league followed.

While Florida State has made it clear it has been unhappy before, this was the first time McCullough said so publicly — the strongest sign yet that Florida State would consider leaving the league.

One ACC administrator thought it was an attempt to «strong arm» presidents to change their minds on revenue distribution. Another questioned whether trustee members even realized Florida State willingly signed the grant of rights in 2016, giving the ACC control over its media rights through the end of its television contract in 2036.

«Was this a leverage play?» one administrator asked. «It seems like there would've been a lot better ways of handling it.»

Based on interviews with administrators and league officials over the past several days, the league has seemingly taken an «us versus Florida State» mentality — with both public and private comments intimating as much. But the saga might be far from over as conference realignment continues in the Big Ten and Big 12. If the Big Ten decided to expand to 20 schools after adding Oregon and Washington on Friday, would it come looking at the ACC and Florida State? And how would that even work with the grant of rights question continuing to muddy the waters?

There is an Aug. 15