Big Ten expansion's FSU links might open doors for several ACC schools as Seminoles appear favorites to win $500 million GoR case: Reports

The Big Ten expansion has been taking shape over the last year. They are adding four new members to the conference, in the shape of the UCLA Bruins, Oregon Ducks, USC Trojans, and Washington Huskies, beginning with the 2024 college football season. They may not be the only newcomers to the Big Ten Conference, though.

One prevailing thought is the possibility of the Big Ten adding the Florida State Seminoles.

According to the Athletic, were Florida State to win the grant of rights case it could free up every ACC school.

There are a few issues with this, as the Florida State Seminoles would need to win their lawsuit against the Atlantic Coast Conference to break the grant of rights deal. If they cannot do that, they would be forced to pay an estimated $574 million as well as the exit fee to explore other conferences.

This would be interesting, as Big Ten expansion has been sparse throughout the 21st century. Prior to the collapse of the Pac-12 Conference, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and Maryland Terrapins were the newest members, joining before the 2014 season.

Is Big Ten expansion even on the table?

Florida State being part of the Big Ten expansion would be very intriguing for both sides.

When speaking at the 2023 Big Ten Media Days, Commissioner Tony Petitti said the conference is focusing on what it has currently.

"All the direction I'm getting from leadership - our presidents and chancellors and our athletic directors - is to focus on USC and UCLA. We have a lot of work to do there. I'm proud of the scheduling format we created in football. I think it touches on all the right things... But overall, that's really where we are. I'm not getting direction to do anything else other than that in terms of what the conference looks like right now." h/t CBS Sports

The thought before the season was to shelve any Big Ten expansion talk outside of the four new Pac-12 members coming aboard. That would mean more cuts in revenue for the other members. Another thing would be that the conference would have to adapt a bye week for football or add another team to keep the total teams at an even number.