FSU vs. ACC battle has Seminoles blaming ESPN for 'bullying' and forcing the conference to extend its GoR for 20 years

FSU vs. ACC is gearing up to be one of the biggest legal battles in recent memory. The Florida State Seminoles are trying to exit the Atlantic Coast Conference, while the conference will stop that from happening due to their grant of rights deal. The Seminoles blame the conference as they claim they were given an ultimatum to extend the grant of rights, or there would be no media rights agreement.

Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports posted a snippet to social media of the official complaint in the FSU vs. ACC battle, writing that the conference was "bullied" by ESPN to extend the agreement by 20 years.

Florida State Board of Trustees approved legal action against the ACC on Friday, while the conference has also initiated legal proceedings.

The showdown between the two sides will have a lot of implications for the college football world, as this could change how conference agreements and media rights are structured going forward. The ruling in the FSU vs. ACC legal battle will be groundbreaking in one way or another, so it will be interesting to follow and see how the situation plays out.

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What happens if Florida State wins the FSU vs. ACC battle?

If Florida State is successful in its lawsuit against the Atlantic Coast Conference, it would be a major victory for conference realignment. That would mean a court believes the grant of rights deal is not applicable, and teams should be able to either break it or not have it in contracts.

This would allow teams from the ACC to exit the conference willingly and only need to pay the exit fee to leave.

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What happens if the Atlantic Coast Conference wins the FSU vs. ACC battle?

If the court rules in favor of the ACC, this would limit the amount of conference realignment in the future. Such a judgment could also entice the Big 12, SEC and Big Ten from having similar agreements in their next media rights deal.

If the court also deems that the ultimatum was legitimate and an accurate depiction of the events, that will open the door for other situations similar to this in the Group of Five conferences. Not every collegiate conference has its own television network, so it could be seen as a sweetener to the deal if they agree to a long-term partnership.

Without sounding hyperbolic, the future of college football and college sports in general hinges on the decision of this battle.