The news of the “Magnificent Seven” in the ACC sent shockwaves across the college football landscape just before the league’s annual meeting in Amelia Island earlier this year.
Florida State athletic director Michael Alford had been at the forefront of lambasting the ACC’s current media deal, but the day that ACC athletic directors and commissioner Jim Phillps were set to meet, it became public knowledge that Florida State, Clemson, Miami, UNC, NC State, Virginia, and Virginia Tech had explored all possible avenues to get out of the ACC’s Grant of Rights and into greener pastures.