Conference realignment theories: $75 million move by Big 12 to accommodate FSU & Clemson amid rumors of private equity investments
Conference realignment has been one of the bigger storylines of the college football offseason and one of the rumors involves FSU and Clemson joining the Big 12 Conference. Twitter user MHvr3 discussed the discussion of one conference realignment theory regarding the Big 12 Conference landing FSU and Clemson and how they will be receiving a larger revenue share than other programs in the league.
This has been speculated, but the Big 12 expansion through conference realignment has been rumored for a while now. The Big 12 adding FSU and Clemson would be the ninth and 10th teams to join the conference since the beginning of the 2023 college football season. It is interesting to discuss as there are a lot of variables to get to this point exactly, including the potential mediation with the Atlantic Coast Conference to let FSU and Clemson be part of the conference realignment.
Is the Big 12 the best landing spot for FSU and Clemson in conference realignment?
The Big 12 Conference is one of the fastest growing collegiate sports conferences in the last few years as they have added the Arizona Wildcats, Arizona State Sun Devils, Colorado Buffaloes, Utah Utes, BYU Cougars, UCF Knights, Cincinnati Bearcats and Houston Cougars in the last two college football seasons. However, Florida State and Clemson are in a predicament where Brett Yormark's conference may be their only answer in conference realignment right now.
The only options are the Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC but the other conferences each have reasons not to. Let's start with the Pac-12 as they do not have a media rights deal and will offer less money than FSU and Clemson are getting from the ACC. The Big Ten wants AAU-accredited programs, which FSU and Clemson are not.
That leaves just the SEC and Big 12 for conference realignment. However, the SEC was eliminated, as SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said during the 2024 SEC Media Days, as they are focused on the 16 members they currently have and are not looking at expansion. This means the Big 12 is the only landing spot, and thus is the best for these two disgruntled schools.