Florida State announced on Tuesday afternoon that they will play the LSU Tigers for their 2023 football season opener on Sunday, September 3rd, at 7:30 PM EST on ABC.
The game will take place at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
For the 9th time in the last 11 seasons, our Labor Day weekend game is in primetime!
— FSU Football (@FSUFootball) May 16, 2023
A matchup of preseason top-10 teams and the highlight of opening weekend will kick at 7:30 p.m. on ABC
🔗: https://t.co/DjFpGZCBZA#NoleFamily | #KeepCLIMBing pic.twitter.com/EhPlfJ628U
The Seminoles have been featured nine times out of the last 11 for a prime time slot on Labor Day weekend. The two contests that were not in prime time slots were 2019 against Boise State (the game was moved to Tallahassee due to uncertainty surrounding Hurricane Dorian) and 2020 against Georgia Tech (COVID-19 restrictions).
Most Seminole fans noticed the FSU Football Twitter account post and became excited about the LSU season-opening matchup. However, many didn’t notice the Seminole uniform in the graphic did not have the ACC logo on quarterback Jordan Travis’s jersey.
Notice the logo was on new enrollee Destyn Hill’s jersey when he did a photo shoot a few days ago:
Sorry 4 the wait❤️ pic.twitter.com/kL0VKwbqgD
— Destyn Hill (@_fatastic) May 13, 2023
I mean its subtle, but was it on purpose with all of the rumors swirling about the ACC and teams looking for exits from the conference?
Florida State Vice President, and Director of Athletics Michael Alford has expressed dissatisfaction with the conference as a whole, given the disparity between the ACC and other conferences. The Grant of Rights deal for the conference is in effect until 2036, where each ACC school gives ownership of its broadcasting rights to the league.
According to a recent report from ActionNetworkHQ College Football Insider Brett McMurphy, several teams from the ACC are examining the Grant of Rights agreement.
Clemson, FSU, Miami, UNC, NC State, Virginia & Virginia Tech are “The Magnificent 7” ACC schools, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. These schools, @RossDellenger reported, have met in past several months, w/lawyers examining grant-of-rights to determine just how unbreakable it is.…
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) May 15, 2023
Ultimately, Alford is frustrated with the revenue sharing within the conference and stated that Seminoles cannot make up the $30 million deficit between the more successful conferences, such as the SEC and Big Ten.
It certainly looks more likely that Florida State is exploring other avenues in conference realignment.