FSU football: Could the Big 12 Conference be a realistic option for the Noles?

FSU football fans have certainly had the right to be frustrated with the Seminoles' involvement with the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Florida State was unfortunately left out of the College Football Playoff after being an undefeated Power Five conference champion. It is even more disheartening that College Football Playoff Executive Director Bill Hancock, in his letter to Florida U.S. Senator Rick Scott, called the Atlantic Coast Conference "a so-called P5 conference".

According to a tweet (X) from ActionNetwork's Brett McMurphy, Florida State is starting the process of leaving the ACC. Its first two preferences are the SEC or Big Ten. However, the SEC is currently at a 16-member conference with recently adding Texas and Oklahoma, while the Big Ten has 18 teams in the fold.

The other suggestion that McMurphy brought up was the Big 12, which is the conference that Texas and Oklahoma have departed from. The 16-team conference will be composed of the following institutions in 2024: Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, UCF, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, Utah, and West Virginia.

While it was a major loss in terms of losing two powerhouses in Texas and Oklahoma, the Big 12 conference has stayed "above water" in the conference realignment landscape of college football. The conference can distribute around $49 million to each member, while the ACC is only able to distribute around roughly $41 million.

It could also be enticing to add fellow ACC members such as Clemson, Miami, and North Carolina to generate more revenue for the Big 12 conference. However, in my opinion, I would hope that Florida State would strongly prefer to join either the SEC or Big Ten due to the revenue that is in place for both conferences.

The first step for Florida State is to get out of their Grant of Rights deal with the Atlantic Coast Conference, which does not end until 2036. However, I am supremely confident that the Seminoles' administration will do everything in its power to ensure that Florida State is not at a competitive disadvantage.