When the College Football Playoff made the shocking decision to choose the one-loss Alabama Crimson Tide over the unbeaten Florida State Seminoles on Sunday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was quick to condemn the move, and now he’s putting his money where his mouth is.
According to a report from the Tampa Bay Times, Ron DeSantis has pledged $1 million for “any litigation expenses that may come as a result of this really, really poor decision by the College Football Playoff” during a news conference to present his 2024-25 budget recommendations for the state.
“It’s unfortunate that we have to even do that, but we are going to put aside $1 million and let the chips fall where they may on that,” DeSantis said.
Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis supports this decision, saying his office would “have no problem cutting those checks” saying the controversial decision from the College Football Playoff selection committee “compromised millions of dollars in economic output” for Florida State.
Florida State and the State University System Board of Governors are exploring their options, but DeSantis acknowledged that it’s very unlikely that anything could be done before the start of the College Football Playoff on Jan. 1, and he doesn’t know what could possibly come from potential litigation.
