The ACC is expected to file its television contract with ESPN as public records with the Florida Attorney General’s office by Aug. 1. Attorney General Ashley Moody made the announcement Wednesday..
During April, Moody filed a public records lawsuit against ACC. The fight is over the disclosure of television contracts, which are kept at ACC headquarters in North Carolina and can only be viewed in person. The contracts contain highly sensitive trade secrets and have never before been released as public records by the schools. The conference will be able to redact any exemptions or confidential information.
“Floridians will finally know what the Atlantic Coast Conference is hiding in an effort to stop Florida State University from leaving the conference,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement. “Attorney General Ashley Moody has just secured an agreement from ACC lawyers to provide the confidential media rights agreement that is at the center of the legal battle…. The agreement is at the center of the legal battle between FSU and the ACC over the university’s attempt to leave the conference and the fines and penalties that would accompany doing so.”
It’s unclear how much confidential information will be removed from the release of the ACC contracts, and in theory television contracts from other conferences, including the SEC and the Big 12, which includes Florida’s public universities, could be released. Asked if other conferences would take the same action, the attorney general’s office said: Athletic“Our case involves ACC.”
Florida In December, the ACC filed a lawsuit over the enforceability of the league’s rights grant, which is a separate contract from the television contract but whose schedule aligns with it. The rights grant gives the ACC the right to broadcast ACC home games through 2036. FSU’s lawyers estimate it could cost more than $500 million to buy back those rights and leave the conference. Clemson has also sued the ACC over the rights grant, arguing that the grant should not apply every time a university leaves the conference.
Four GOR lawsuits in three states The lawsuits (North Carolina, Florida, South Carolina) are ongoing and are not expected to be resolved anytime soon. Moody’s is not involved in these lawsuits, but their public threatening behavior is an attempt to support the Seminoles and put pressure on the ACC.
The TV contract is at the heart of the legal battle. Last week, a Florida judge approved terms agreed to by the parties that provide FSU with unedited copies of six documents, but a protective order limits the disclosure of confidential or sensitive information during the legal process. The copies must be destroyed within 60 days of the end of the case.
Florida and Clemson The ACC is seeking to drop out of the conference and join more lucrative conferences, and is taking legal action against the ACC. Big Ten and SEC schools will soon be making tens of millions of dollars more per year than ACC schools through television contracts and College Football Playoff prize money.
The six ACC documents to be released are:
- 2010 ACC Multimedia Agreement
- 2012 Amendment and Extension Agreement
- 2014 Second Amendment to the Multimedia Agreement
- 2016 Amended and Re-Enacted ACC-ESPN Multimedia Agreement
- ACC-ESPN Network Contract (2016)
- Amendment to the Amended and Re-Enacted Multimedia Agreement (August 10, 2021)
“ACC respects the public records laws of the states in which our members reside. However, as a private, nonprofit organization founded and operated by public and private universities across the country, we do not believe that our records are subject to those laws,” ACC said in a statement Wednesday. “The two sides reached a resolution in which ACC voluntarily produced certain redacted documents and the Attorney General subsequently dropped the lawsuit, while fully maintaining its legal position. ACC will not provide any documents that contain trade secrets. This has been ACC’s consistent position.”
(Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images)
