Florida State football has taken its time to find the right jersey patch sponsorship deal, which is leaving a much-needed influx of cash on the table, at least for now. However, the program has still managed to cash in with new sponsorship opportunities, as it announced on Thursday that Progressive logos will be displayed on Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium for Florida State home games this season.
Florida State didn’t come by this deal alone, though. Progressive is the official presenting sponsor of the Florida State-Miami rivalry and will also have logos displayed on the field at Hard Rock Stadium for Miami home games.
While it doesn’t help the Seminoles gain ground on Miami, which is soundly outspending the rest of the ACC, it helps build the war chest in Tallahassee and reinforces the importance of sticking with the Hurricanes as the possibility of further realignment in college sports continues to loom.
Florida State’s rivalry with Miami is one of its most attractive offerings
In December 2023, after Florida State won the ACC Title with a 13-0 season, the university teamed up with Clemson to sue the ACC, challenging the grant-of-rights agreement that made it prohibitively expensive to leave the conference. Ultimately, a settlement was reached that kept both programs in the ACC and altered revenue distribution to keep them happier, but also dramatically lowered the exit fee starting in 2026.
The Big Ten and SEC have continued to consolidate power in college athletics, and with talks of self-governance and the threat of a superleague, getting into one of those two leagues seems paramount. The proposed Protect College Sports Act attempted to limit realignment, but the bill failed to progress through the Senate during the summer voting session and has likely died on the vine.
So, FSU, Clemson, and Miami, which has asserted itself as the lone superpower in the ACC, at least in football, are once again flight risks for the ACC. That’s not to say a move is imminent. FSU and Clemson are both in much weaker positions than they were just a few years ago when they filed the lawsuit. But both are still attractive TV products, which is really the whole point of realignment in the first place.
If a move does happen, either to the SEC or the Big Ten, Miami and Florida State should absolutely make it together. Of course, having that rivalry in conference would add to the offerings of said conference during negotiations for a TV deal, and it seems that the rivalry adds to the value of both schools as well.
It’s not as though Miami or Florida State could not have gotten an on-field sponsor without the rivalry. But they wouldn’t have structured the deal with Progressive this way if it wasn’t the most lucrative option.
These two programs have been massively valuable to the ACC since joining the league: first FSU in 1992 and then Miami in 2004 after a brief stint in the Big East.
FSU has made plenty of missteps during the start of the NIL era. It’s fallen behind in the all-important arms race in college football. But the program has enough history to tread water while it catches up, and further hitching itself to Miami appears to be part of that plan.
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