Florida State and Miami have spent months trying to find an exit door out of the Atlantic Coast Conference. But a new federal bill, the Protect College Sports Act, threatens to trap them. It forces any school switching conferences to sit out for five long years as an independent.

A newly filed Senate amendment gives a 180-day escape window to Florida State and Miami if Congress ultimately passes the pending legislation. Florida U.S. Senator Ashley Moody proposed the measure to protect her state’s flagship athletic programs, filing three key amendments to the federal bill. Her proposal creates a targeted exception for Power Four schools like FSU and Miami to bypass that five-year waiting period completely.

If this amendment gets approved, any powerhouse school can avoid the five-year probation if they formally pack their bags and quit their current conference within 180 days of the bill becoming law. It is a very tight “get out of jail free” window, giving schools exactly six months to make their big move.

This is a massive deal because FSU and Miami have been open about being trapped in the ACC for a while now. They are missing out on the massive TV money that rival schools in the SEC and the Big Ten are pulling in. Congressional approval gives both schools a legal green light to pursue higher-paying conferences.

Even if Senator Moody wins this legislative battle in Washington, federal law only solves half their problem. Congress can waive national probationary rules, but it cannot automatically cancel private business contracts. A six-month federal window gives Florida State and Miami a doorway, but they still have to unlock the ACC door itself. But hold on, because it is not an easy exit just yet.

Even if this federal law passes and clears the five-year penalty out of the way, the schools still have to deal with the ACC Grant of Rights contract.

The real barrier remains the ACC Grant of Rights contract, which runs through 2036. This agreement grants the conference exclusive ownership of every school’s home television broadcast rights. Walking away early means forfeiting massive broadcast distributions and facing exit fees that could surpass several hundred million dollars.

The Senate actually just went on a break without holding a final vote on the bill. Lawmakers are still arguing over other parts of the act, like player salary caps and health benefits, so the whole thing is stuck in limbo for now.

So, what happens next? FSU and Miami are basically stuck waiting to see if Congress will actually pass this law later this fall. If it passes with the amendment intact, expect pure chaos in college sports as schools rush to beat that 180-day deadline.

Let’s say the bill gets approved, then the only question is..

Will either of them make a jump?

Even though these schools are desperate to leave, it is highly unlikely either one will actually make the jump anytime soon. It turns out that a fancy new government amendment cannot magically erase the massive legal and financial walls blocking their exit.

The ACC’s terrifying “Grant of Rights” is too much to bear. It means giving up their TV revenue and paying massive exit fees. This could easily cost each school upwards of $500,000,000.

If you take that out of consideration for a minute, nobody is actually waiting to catch them, apparently. The two richest leagues, the SEC and the Big Ten, are not offering open invitations right now.

The broader bill, the Protect College Sports Act, actually includes strict limits designed to stop the powerhouse conferences from growing any larger. Unless those rules are heavily altered, the SEC and Big Ten might be legally locked out from taking new teams altogether for the next couple of years.

So for now, the grand escape plan is completely stuck in limbo. Unless a judge throws out the ACC’s contract (very unlikely) or a major conference steps up with an invitation, these programs are going to remain exactly where they are.