Florida State AD Michael Alford commends ACC for progress in revenue-sharing talks

It was an interesting few days at the ACC spring meetings in Amelia Island, Florida.

On Monday, news broke that seven teams, including Florida State, met over the past several months to explore if they could get out of their Grant of Rights deal with the ACC.

However, on Tuesday, FSU Athletics Director Michael Alford was praising the ACC and its future.

The change of tone was due in part to the fact that the ACC made progress in revenue-sharing talks during the ACC spring meetings. Alford said that he is “optimistic” the ACC is going to change its revenue-sharing model and that the league will reward teams financially based on performance in the coming years.

“I’m very optimistic. I want to praise [ACC commissioner] Jim Phillips, [ACC Deputy Commissioner] Ben Tario, the whole staff, for providing solutions,” Alford said. “I mean they’ve really taken a proactive approach to this. They understand the issues. And they’ve brought some various models to us that are being very aggressive. And that’s something, as a league, we need to look at so we can make sure we’re keeping pace with our peers out there, that we’re continuing to be able to fund our programs at a championship level. So commend them. They’ve done an amazing job. And I’m optimistic about the future.”

Florida State and Clemson are a couple of the ACC teams that are expected to benefit if the ACC does change its revenue-sharing model. Other teams mentioned as a part of the seven include Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

If the revenue-sharing model changes, the league would reward teams for making the College Football Playoff, advancing in the NCAA Tournament, etc.

Despite several ACC teams reportedly exploring ways to leave the league, Alford said FSU wants to stay in the ACC for now.

“The ADs, the universities are very unified. It’s a great league with great leadership. And we thoroughly enjoy being in this league,” Alford said. “We’re a top 20 public institution. We’re like institutions. We compete alike, especially in football, at the top. And we’re really thrilled about being in the league and competing for championships. And you look at what we do in our Olympic sports, and you know that’s big at Florida State. You look at the ACC and it’s championships. We win more championships than anyone, any conference. So we’re very thrilled about being in this league. And we want to stay in it.”