What did FSU get for signing the GOR?

 

What did FSU get for signing the GOR?

100% agree.

From what I can tell, FSU gave away everything and received nothing by signing the GOR in 2013.

In May of 2012, the ACC and ESPN agreed to new contract terms based on the recent addition of Pitt and Syracuse. That bumped the ACC per member payout by $4 million, up to $17 million from $13 million.

This means when the GOR was signed by FSU in April 22, 2013, the ACC's contract with ESPN had already been adjusted up to $17 million per member to account for the addition of Pitt and Syracuse.

In September of 2012, Notre Dame joins as a part-time. As of September of 2012, ND joining was already expected to bump up the per member payout by some unknown amount.

In November of 2012, Maryland announces it is leaving for the B1G. The ACC adds Louisville.

With the ACC losing Maryland but adding a blah Louisville and Notre Dame as a partial member only, the ACC starts started selling FSU on a need to "stabilize" the ACC.

Keep in mind that the ACC payout was already at $17 million per school at that point.

Once the GOR gets signed in April of 2013, the per member ACC payout only increases by another $3 million per school, up to $20 million per year.

Technically that means FSU received a bump of $3 million per year after entering into the GOR, but that bump also accounts for the addition of Notre Dame as a partial-member. The conference was already expecting a bump up in the payout from Notre Dame.

So, what in the world did FSU even get that for signing the GOR for 15 years in 2013?

FSU should have already expected to receive a bump based on the addition of Notre Dame alone. Why in the world did FSU leadership think it was a good idea for FSU to sign away all its rights for 15 years for what they should have already expected to receive?

What about a conference network?

Nope.

FSU leadership did not get a promise of a ACC network. In fact, quotes from Warchant articles in 2013 and 2015 indicated that FSU was not promised a ACC network as part of Swofford's 2013 "sales pitch" to FSU. FSU only received pressure from ACC leadership that the lack of a GOR would hinder negotiations of a potential future ACC network.

Here are some quotes from FSU leadership:

2013 - With [Dean] Jordan leading the ACC's efforts to establish its own lucrative cable channel, similar to what the Big Ten enjoys, [FSU President Eric] Barron is convinced the revenue coming from the conference could grow by leaps and bounds. But he added that ESPN would not even pursue that as long as the ACC was viewed as unstable.

March, 2015 – FSU Trustees express concern over direction of ACC and the lack of a conference television network, along with the money they can generate for member institutions.

April, 2015 - All of the Big Five is going to have one except for us if we don't get something moving soon," [FSU Trustee Edward] Burr said. "And that's a major revenue source."

The Big Ten and Pac-12 both had cable channels up and running when the ACC signed its Grant of Rights, and the SEC Network went live last summer. That leaves the ACC and Big 12 as the only Power Five conferences without one … and the millions of dollars they can generate for each school each year.
The ACC never projected it would have a cable channel in place by now - the earliest goals mentioned by conference athletic directors and presidents have been 2016 or 2017 - but Burr said he would like to see signs of tangible progress. He reminded the other trustees that the channel's viability was one of the reasons FSU agreed to the Grant of Rights. Before that agreement was approved, Swofford traveled to Tallahassee and met individually with each trustee to offer them assurances about the conference's future.
There was "a big commitment from the conference to this university a few years ago on that issue. I'm sure no one's forgotten," Burr said.

Click to expand...

Warchant - FSU trustees express concern about ACCs status

Two years after FSU signed a Grant of Rights agreement that solidified the ACC's future, two university trustees have expressed concerns about the con

 floridastate.rivals.com

So, FSU got a small bump in conference payout it was already supposed to receive because of Notre Dame and no agreement to start a conference network for signing all its rights away for 15 years, at the peak of FSU's football supremacy and soon-to-have 2013 national championship.

Keep in mind that ESPN didn't even agree to start the ACC network until 2016, and then only after the ACC presidents agreed to extend the GOR by another 10 years (through 2036) and only after they invested millions and millions in dollars in new broadcasting infrastructure.

Keep in mind that the ACC network still didn't even start until 2019. (Note: The SEC network went on the air in August of 2014.)

That means FSU received basically nothing in 2013 for signing the GOR. No bump in per member payout. No conference network. Nothing. Zilch.

Hundreds of millions of dollars given away by FSU leaders for nothing.

My guess is that the sudden loss of Maryland and blah addition of Louisville was a net loss on projected per member ACC revenue, even with the addition of Notre Dame as a partial member, and Swofford knew it. The only play Swofford's had left to keep per member conference payouts the same (or increase them by a relatively nominal amount) was to lock down FSU under the GOR. ESPN was absolutely 100% delighted to do that since ESPN would benefit greatly from it. ACC basketball schools like Duke, BC and Wake were absolutely 100% delighted to do that since those schools would benefit greatly from it.

And here we are, locked in until 2036.