The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) has agreed to turn over the details of media rights contracts involving Florida State University (FSU) and other schools as a result of a state Public Records Act lawsuit filed by Florida’s attorney general.
Attorney General Ashley Moody announced on July 17 that the ACC would voluntarily produce the documents in question. These records are at the center of dueling lawsuits in Florida and North Carolina that were filed after FSU sought permission to leave the conference without having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties.
“The ACC capitulation follows legal action from Attorney General Moody demanding the conference make the contracts public in accordance with Florida’s Public Records Act,” the Attorney General’s Office said in a news release.
But it’s unclear if the agreement between Moody’s office and the ACC is actually a capitulation. In a statement released to news media outlets, the ACC said it would voluntarily provide the redacted documents to the attorney general, but the ACC continues to vow that it would not release information containing trade secrets.
Previously, the ACC refused to provide easy access to the documents – including a 2010 ACC Multi-Media Agreement and the ACC-ESPN Network Agreement (2016) – according to the Attorney General’s Office. The conference had required FSU representatives to travel hundreds of miles to the ACC’s North Carolina headquarters to see the documents in a controlled setting, the attorney general’s news release states.
“Our office’s legal action has resulted in an agreement from the ACC to produce secret media contracts that are at the heart of the legal wrangling between FSU and the ACC,” Moody said in a prepared statement. “The conference refused to provide media contracts that detail the impact to FSU if it departs the conference, but now they are rightfully handing over these public records. We will continue to fight for transparency.”
Moody’s office has agreed to dismiss the public records lawsuit filed in April under the terms of the agreement, according to the ACC. The Florida lawsuit, which was filed in the Second Judicial Circuit in Leon County, referenced the case NCAA v. Associated Press to support the attorney general’s position that the media rights agreements being sought were indeed public records under Florida statutes.
Kevin Paule, an attorney with the law firm Hill Ward Henderson and an expert on business disputes, said the FSU gaining access to the redacted records would not affect the merits of its litigation with the ACC, but it could offer some advantages.
“By virtue of having these documents, Florida State may be able to more aggressively prosecute its case in Florida,” Paule told the Florida Record in an email. “For example, Clemson (which has had access to these records) moved for partial summary judgment on the argument that the court can rule as a matter of law on the language in the agreements. Similarly, Florida State may choose to move for an early summary judgment ruling in the Florida case in an effort to expedite the Florida proceedings over the North Carolina case.”
But future legal actions ultimately will be determined by what information FSU can glean from the contracts, he said.
The simmering dispute between FSU and the ACC over media rights negotiations came to a boil last December after an undefeated FSU team was not given a playoff spot in the college playoffs by the College Football Playoff Committee.