TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (TND) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is looking to add $1 million to the state's budget to aid Florida State University (FSU) should it decide to sue the NCAA and the College Football Playoff (CFP) committee for denying it a spot in the playoff bracket.
The CFP decision came Sunday during the playoff selection show on ESPN. In FSU's expected place as the final of four playoff teams was the University of Alabama, a decision that raised eyebrows considering the team’s early season loss to the Texas Longhorns, who also made the bracket.
DeSantis lamented the “poor decision” Tuesday and announced his proposal to bolster state funding to the school.
“I have included in my budget recommendations $1 million for litigation expenses that might come as a result of the NCAA’s poor decision to exclude our undefeated @FSUFootball team from the college football playoffs,” DeSantis wrote. “We are with them all the way!”
In a press conference on the matter, the governor justified the decision, saying it had become “controversial.”
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“[FSU] earned a spot in the College Football Playoffs. They were excluded from that and I think it was something that is very, very controversial,” DeSantis said. “What we decided to do, we’re setting aside a million dollars for litigation expenses that may be come as a result of this really, really poor decision by the College Football Playoffs to exclude an undefeated team who won a big power five conference championship.”
The announcement follows accusations by former President Donald Trump that DeSantis was to blame for the CFP decision.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., also voiced his outrage over the decision in an op-ed piece in the Tallahassee Democrat. It followed the senator's announcement of his own probe into the CFP committee.
“Some people have asked why a U.S. Senator is getting involved in this issue and this is what it boils down to: I won’t stand around and say nothing while people in my state get screwed,” Sen. Scott wrote.
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