Through a public records request, Tomahawk Nation has learned leaders of Florida State, Miami, Clemson and North Carolina sent a letter to House leadership this week requesting changes to the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA) conference realignment rules. Those four schools are positioning themselves as a coordinated coalition that supports the bill overall but wants Section 205, which addresses conference expansion, dropped from the bill before the House takes a vote following the midterms.
The letter requests that the PCSA expand the number of power conference members from 20 to 22 and eliminate the clause that requires any school moving from one power conference to another to spend three years as an independent before joining its new league.
The current waiting period of three years will expire six years after the law takes effect.
Florida Senators Rick Scott and Ashley Moody wrote the Senate amendment to the bill that increased the number of schools from 19 to 20 and reduced the five-year period to three years.
The schools argue the three-year independence requirement would add a significant penalty on top of exit terms that conference members have already negotiated, which is a clear reference to the FSU/Clemson settlement with the ACC.
Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reports that more than a dozen House members, mostly from Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina, have committed to signing a separate letter to House leadership calling for the expansion provision to be scrapped. That’s a nonstarter for the bill’s authors because any House changes would require another Senate vote.
A compromise may be incremental concession (e.g., cap of 21–22 or a shorter window) rather than full removal of the independence requirement.
Implications for FSU
The letter formalizes FSU leadership’s effort to preserve the value of the ACC exit it spent two years and significant legal cost securing.
The House letter from Florida and the Carolinas’ members creates coalition leverage that didn't exist during Senate consideration.
Both the SEC and Big 10 allegedly have said they have no expansion plans. If true, it could make the requested changes to the bill harder to argue, weakening the coalition's case.
