Inside the future of Florida State: AD Michael Alford offers perspective amid potential ACC exit

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Michael Alford may have the best spot in college athletics. From a field area he personally reimagined at Dick Howser Stadium, Florida State’s athletic director may be sitting closer to the batter than any coach in the dugout. Alford can watch this weekend’s NCAA baseball super regional surrounded by food, drink, encouragement and praise.

This is part of the third year AD kingdom. As the baseball season winds down, the former Mississippi State outfielder is enjoying more than just the sunshine. Mike Norvell stopped by, a sign that football is back, but also a reminder of the pain that still lingers over being left out of the game. College football Playoff after 2023 season.

“It just wasn’t right,” Alford grumbles between pitches.

It wouldn’t be fair to label Alford as the main force behind Florida State’s push to get out of the ACC, but he is the leader of a powerful athletic brand that is in the news almost daily at this point. And Alford, fortunately, he has available on the subject since the exit attempt became public during a live-streamed board meeting in February 2023.

Since then, the State of Florida has likely committed enough words, effort, and documents to provide legal guidance to any school that wants to follow its path.

“I would say there are a lot of people interested in the formula, the project,” Alford told CBS Sports. “[There have been] Lots of questions about how we got to this point. It’s really looking at the analytical side of where this business is going, making sure we’re positioning ourselves for the future.”

This formula/project is still under development. FSU sued the ACC last December. Clemson followed its own example in March. The ACC counter-sued.

Not to mention a lawsuit filed by the Florida state attorney general with the aim of making ESPN’s media rights agreement with the conference public. There are now more lawsuits than Danny Hurley’s UConn offense. There are more lawyers involved than a season of “Law & Order.”

You need a daily scorecard to stay on track. Here is one good summary of the latest.

Both Florida State and Clemson believe they are worth more than $41 million in media rights revenue that is paid annually under the ACC’s current contract with ESPN that runs through 2036. Still, Alford claims to have a good relationship with the ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips.

The two schools may have to commit nine figures each to get a granting of rights that has 12 years to run. At that initial board meeting, FSU concluded it would need $572 million to exit the league.

These are all consequences of the latest round of conference realignment that has concentrated money and power in the hands of the SEC and the Big Ten. These 34 schools became an exclusive club. It’s fair to say that Florida State wouldn’t mind knowing the secret password to the best speakeasy in college athletics.

“I think our athletic director is either a genius or an idiot, and I think he’s a genius,” said Stuart Geiger, an FSU fan and owner of Sugar Fix, which sells shave ice inside Dick Howser. “He’s making enough noise for someone to give him something. You keep making noise and someone will pay attention to it.

“He’s going to get something out of this, and it will be more than he had.”

This is a man’s perspective on the street. Now it’s worth asking what’s next?

FSU has until Aug. 15 to notify the ACC if it intends to compete elsewhere in 2025, while ESPN reviews the ACC’s contract in February 2025. This pause in the contract would allow the cable giant to renegotiate or amend the deal. .

“The partnership will not disappear or be negatively affected,” ACC Commissioner Phillips told reporters last month. “It’s an analysis and we’re dealing with some of what it states.”

“We’re not thinking about next year,” Alford said, speaking generally. “We’re predicting where FSU will be five, 10, 15 years from now and how can we make sure we’re doing due diligence now to position ourselves. Where college athletics will be five, ten years from now and making sure that’s a part of it.”

During the talk, Alford continually emphasized the value of the Florida State brand everywhere from the West Coast to New York. That’s the reason Alford said he lobbied for Syracuse to be one of FSU’s permanent conference opponents.

“I wanted [FSU] in the New York market,” he said.

It doesn’t end there. Alford said Florida State would be interested in playing in new Players Era Festival basketball tournamentscheduled to premiere Thanksgiving week in Las Vegas.

CBS Sports asked business consultants Altimore Collins & Co. to delve deeper into the desirability of the Florida State market since 2013. FSU ranked 13th overall in regular season viewers. That’s ahead of powerhouses like Tennessee, USC, Texas A&M, Oregon and Washington. Interestingly, Clemson is 12th on the list, the highest among ACC schools.

The next highest-ranked program on this list, which is not currently in the Big Ten or SEC, is Oklahoma State (No. 23).

FSU and Clemson resemble SEC programs in terms of interest and budgets. Using the realigned configuration for 2024, Florida State would have the ninth-highest athletic revenue in the SEC. Clemson would be No. 11. They are 1-2 in the category in the ACC.

Venture capital became part of the discussion. In February, the Tampa Times published an extensive look on FSU’s dogged path to increasing its value – and much-needed money. “Project Osceola” details a potential nine-figure deal with private equity firms, as well as other value-add ideas such as selling naming rights to Doak Campbell Stadium.

Sportico investigated the finances within a series of documents that he obtained. A private equity firm’s “initial purchase value” would be $75 million of whatever share of FSU it received.

The giant venture capital firms JPMorgan Chase, Sixth Street and Weatherford Capital have been linked to FSU. Founder of Weatherford Capital, Drew Weatherford is a former Florida State quarterback and FSU administrator. Through a spokesman, he declined to comment.

“To use a baseball analysis, we want to eliminate that ball,” Alford said of private equity. “We’re looking at what this could mean, what the financial risk is, what the long-term risk is, what the solution is for this.”

Alford says he has drawn up “about 20” future sports budgets based on what could happen, particularly as there is the yet-to-be-realized impact of House v. Settlement NCAA.

“I have a budget and financial analysis through 2043,” Alford said. “We hired JP Morgan to analyze revenue streams and forecast the future. I love going out and asking analysts for help.”

Several experts believe that private equity is the future of college sports. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey downplayed his influence last week.

“In my experience, those involved in private equity want to be reimbursed,” Sankey told reporters, “so I would caution people about the notion of short-term solutions.

“I understand why private equity is interested in college sports. If I were on the sidelines watching all the good things that are happening around college sports, I would want to be a part of that action too. as a compliment.”

The difference is that the SEC is more likely to shoulder the changes taking place in college sports, given all the new expenses that are coming.

Included in that original FSU board meeting was a chart showing that the athletic department would soon fall behind by $40 million per school annually in media rights compared to the SEC and Big Ten.

“This is significant,” Alford said. “This can have a significant impact on your ability to compete at the national level.”

There is speculation about where FSU will ultimately land, if anywhere. The SEC is a cultural fit, but the conference is already in state with Florida. The Big Ten is the largest conference with 18 members and has shown no shyness about going coast to coast. One of the few regions where it does not have a presence is the Southeast.

“We have a good relationship with our friends in Tallahassee,” Florida AD Scott Stricklin told reporters last week. “No school has a veto in this league. If you can get three-quarters of the league to support expansion, we will expand. Anyone who would make our league better, we would support joining the SEC.”

All of this makes Alford perhaps the best place in college athletics — at least as a spectator. Upon accepting the job, he noticed that two openings behind the base were being used for storage. That ended quickly three years ago when the spaces were remodeled and a revenue stream was activated.

As the next pitch arrives at the catcher, Alford is always willing to talk, but not much with so much to be decided. Symbolically, there is added value to positioning the Primo seat at an angle on one side of the base.

“I’m off camera,” he said happily.