Prior to becoming Florida State’s athletic director, Michael Alford was standing at the crossroads of collegiate athletics where he could see the lights of two freight trains — each bearing landscape-tilting dynamite — heading toward an inevitable collision.
One carried carloads of multi-billion-dollar anti-trust judgements, first Alston v NCAA, followed by the House v NCAA settlement, which will impact every school's athletics budget by $25 million or more per year. The other carried competition-tilting media rights’ contracts that will provide the schools in two conferences — the SEC and the Big Ten — with $40 million more in annual television revenue than any other school will receive.
In an exclusive interview with The Osceola, Florida State’s athletic director Michael Alford assessed the damage to FSU and collegiate athletics and explored critical pathways to fund the future.
In this column we explain how collegiate athletics got here, how these Supreme Court mandates would lead FSU to file the lawsuit with the ACC, how schools will try to absorb nearly $45 million in new, mandated costs, especially those schools not in the SEC or Big 10 who will receive an extra $40 million or more each year in media rights, more than any school not in one of those two conferences.
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One carried carloads of multi-billion-dollar anti-trust judgements, first Alston v NCAA, followed by the House v NCAA settlement, which will impact every school's athletics budget by $25 million or more per year. The other carried competition-tilting media rights’ contracts that will provide the schools in two conferences — the SEC and the Big Ten — with $40 million more in annual television revenue than any other school will receive.
In an exclusive interview with The Osceola, Florida State’s athletic director Michael Alford assessed the damage to FSU and collegiate athletics and explored critical pathways to fund the future.
In this column we explain how collegiate athletics got here, how these Supreme Court mandates would lead FSU to file the lawsuit with the ACC, how schools will try to absorb nearly $45 million in new, mandated costs, especially those schools not in the SEC or Big 10 who will receive an extra $40 million or more each year in media rights, more than any school not in one of those two conferences.
This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.
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