FSU leaving ACC gets a new timeline as potential Big 12-Pac 12 potential merger creates smoke in latest edition of conference realignment: Reports

FSU's potential departure from the ACC has been on the table for a while, but the final straw was the Seminoles being left out of the College Football Playoff despite going undefeated and winning the ACC Championship.

Florida State has engaged in a legal battle in an attempt to exit the conference with an estimated $572 million buyout hanging over its head as a trap to stay. However, Warchant reported that FSU could be playing in a new conference as early as 2025.

X user "MHver3" mentioned the potential of a merger between the Big 12 and the Pac-12, and if that happens, it would muddy the waters for conference realignment.

With FSU possibly leaving ACC a lot sooner than previously believed and for a cheaper price, it opens up a lot of interesting situations for both Florida State University and the Atlantic Coast Conference.

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What does FSU leaving ACC mean for the future of college football?

While it may seem like one school being fed up with a conference and wanting to leave, there are more layers to this story that could change college football forever. Schools do not sue conferences just for fun, so it opens up a huge issue.

The grant of rights deal was put in place to protect the conference, as at the time the ACC was raiding the Big East Conference, the Big Ten added Maryland and Rutgers. The conference wanted to protect itself from its programs being poached, so it created the grant of rights.

It essentially locked the ACC members to the program with a massive fee. It's on top of an exit fee that was estimated at $572 million for a program to leave before the grant of rights deal expired, which matches with their television contract with ESPN.

With FSU trying to break this agreement, it shows that conferences cannot essentially hold programs prisoners. It also shows conference realignment can continue to run rampant in college sports.