Florida State attempting to whine its way into more money

The offseason is handy because you can get caught up on the latest trends in college football realignment. What’s hot this summer? Whining, but distinguished whining—you know, whining in an official setting.

Florida State broke new ground this week, holding an open meeting of its Board of Trustees on Wednesday so they could make sure everyone heard exactly how unhappy they are about the Seminoles’ status in the ACC.

Florida State has been consistent in its high opinion of itself, no doubt about that, and school officials continue to insist that the football program is much more valuable than it is getting credit (cash money) for. Florida State also doesn’t have an offer to join the SEC or Big Ten, and so here these guys are flailing away publicly in an effort to, I guess, be annoying enough that the ACC will give them more money? I dunno. There’s no actual plan here; they’ve made that clear enough.

The ACC has no incentive to go out of its way to accommodate Florida State, since nothing will ever be enough anyway, and if the school’s just going to stab the league in the back one day regardless, why give them more money for the privilege?

Television money has become a bogeyman for FSU because it isn’t interested in confronting its own problems—namely its fair-weather fanbase. Fundraising relative to college football elites is their real issue, and that one travels. You won’t see Clemson embarrassing itself publicly like this because Clemson continues to rake in huge money from its boosters.

Perhaps eventually, the Noles’ grievances will be addressed to their satisfaction, in whatever form that may be—flipping conferences, staging a heist at Nakatomi Plaza, things of that nature—but all the leverage they have at the moment involves being unhappy as loudly as they can. And that’s pretty telling.