'We are woefully underpaid' ... Trustees Chair Peter Collins discusses FSU's battle with ACC
“At the end of the day, we are worth more than we are getting paid — a lot more than we are getting paid,” Collins said. “And I would challenge anybody to tell me that we’re not. To tell me that we’re worth the same amount as some of the other schools in the conference, from a media standpoint.”
To some degree, that is the essence of Florida State’s issue with the conference.
Because many schools in the ACC do not produce strong TV ratings no matter how well their teams perform on the field, the conference’s television revenue soon will be dwarfed by the hauls of the SEC and Big Ten. The annual disparity is estimated to be at least $30 million to $40 million per school.
With that in mind, Collins said, Florida State officials repeatedly asked the ACC’s leadership to consider unequal revenue sharing, which might reward and appease the likes of FSU, Clemson and other top brands, while reducing the annual payouts to schools that don’t generate as much interest.
But other than offering some increased financial rewards for schools that perform the best on the field, called the success initiative, that concept went nowhere with the conference. Which led to Florida State filing its lawsuit, and Clemson filing its own earlier this year.
“I think our ultimate goal is to get paid for what we’re worth,” Collins said, when asked about the end goal of Florida State’s lawsuit. “And I’ll leave it at that.”
Peter Collins, Chairman of Florida State's Board of Trustees, spoke about the Seminoles' legal battle with the ACC on Monday
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