Then, Bowden told the story of how Florida State joined the ACC in the early 1990s instead of the SEC. Bowden’s reasoning was that Florida State would have had a tough time winning a national championship if it had to go through the SEC.
“I felt that it was too difficult to win through the SEC to win a national championship,” Bowden told Finebaum. “I felt like our best route would be to go through the ACC and that did prove out to be correct. I don’t know if we could have made it through the SEC.”
On Friday, tax returns for the five major college conferences were made public. The good news for Florida State is the ACC increased its distribution to member schools by nearly 11 percent from the prior year.
The bad news is that the ACC continues to lag well behind the Big Ten and SEC. What is somewhat surprising is how large the revenue gap has grown as of late. For the 2017-18 fiscal cycle, the SEC is outpacing the ACC by $14.2 million per school, and the gap was a whopping $24.5 million compared to the Big Ten.
In just three years, the difference between the ACC and SEC distributions has more than doubled from $6.5 million to $14.5 million per school…
As a result of these disparities, many of the schools that directly recruit against FSU are gaining a significant financial advantage. Nearby University of Florida and University Georgia, for instance, have racked up an extra $52 million each in distributions since the 2014-15 fiscal year. That was the first full year after FSU signed the long-term grant of rights agreement with the ACC.
These chilling numbers only add to mounting financial concerns that have plagued Seminole athletics as of late. For the last reported financial cycle, the athletics department reported a $3.6 million deficit and a similar deficit is expected for 2018-19.
Maybe you could sell a couple of trophies on eBay to tide you over.
Get The Picture 
Losing $3.6 million a year!
Wow!
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I know it’s not your point, but that doesn’t mean Bowden made the wrong decision. At the time, with the information he had, his logic was pretty airtight. I don’t think anyone could have envisioned the kind of money that’s in the system now back then. But yeah, it’s crazy how far behind the ACC is falling now in distributions.
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It wasn’t my point, but do you think the administration would have overruled Bowden at the time if they knew this was coming?
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Absolutely not. He had deity status at that point.
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Bowden prob doesn’t care too much at this point. However, can we point the 2015 Finebaum interview as the trigger that pushed Danny Kanell over the edge?
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Hard to believe they pay Taggert $5 million a year for the slop he puts on the field.
With fan attendance dropping (I saw a Bloomberg article claiming 4-5% over the last decade!), coaching salaries increasing, player compensation looming on the horizon, the inevitable concussion lawsuit coming, cord-cutting effecting television contracts not yet realized, and tax law changes that may eliminate booster write-offs, college football may be taking in financial turn for the worse in the coming decade.
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Until the new ACC Network takes flight, there’s always creative cash flow through the IRS-advantaged megachurches and ‘youth’ outreach programs.
For a community who once boasted of being ‘all-in’, one would think FSU would be better at this.
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How does the Big 10 make more than the SEC?
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More large media markets for TV.
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I realize the importance of money to success in CFB but I would trade all that increased income for a couple of NC trophies. Of course it’s not my money. When all is said and done, fans want championships, not profits.
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Would DawgNation have been more satisfied with us in the ACC and a trophy or two but less money? Asking for a friend across the border in South Carolina.
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The gap doesn’t seem to have hurt Clemson.
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I remember Bowden making the case that the reason they went ACC was because of the strong basketball conference. Seems he not still trying to pass that bull shit around.
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The public explanation at the time was that Florida State joined the ACC because of the superior academics of ACC schools. College administrators said it, so it must be true.
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Bullshit. Not you Hog but the FSU boys. I hate to give FU any respect, but it is common knowledge FU it is much superior to FSU academically. There, I said it. I promise not to say anything complimentary about FU again. Ever.
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Hate to agree, but you are right.
Actually FSU is pretty low academically and would even be in the bottom half of the SEC as far as academics.
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It was said to be both in this article https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-xpm-2011-08-14-os-bobby-bowden-florida-state-sec-20110814-story.html, both were a load of BS. Everyone knows football dives those decisions. Now admitting it was because he thought he couldn’t win as much is the exact reason I said they went there to begin with.
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Is there any proof that FSU had the opportunity to join the SEC? Why would Florida ever consent to that?
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The free crab legs you get there make up the difference.
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The left-handed compliment of Bowden’s toward the strength of the SEC was returned by Tubby when his first act as Auburn’s HC was to pay $1M not to play FSU after a Bowden HC at Auburn had placed FSU on their schedule.
So who is the biggest noncompetitive dipshit, Bowden or Tuberville?
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Danny Kanell says this just means the ACC has motives higher than profit, and is therefore much purer of heart than the sleazy, money-grubbing SEC.
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Conference, Schmonference. ACC holds 2 of last 3 natties in both major men’s sports. They about to re-write the ACC network contract and pull a windfall. Once notre dame unbuckles nbc in 2025, they will pull that money all over to ACC as well.
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Looks like Bowden still made a better decision than Bobby Dodd.
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