The ACC will submit the ESPN television agreement to the Florida Attorney General’s Office as a public record by Aug. 1. Attorney General Ashley Moody announced Wednesday.
In April, Moody filed a lawsuit against the Australian Communications Commission over the availability of the television broadcast contract, which is kept at the ACC’s headquarters in North Carolina and can only be viewed in person. The television broadcast contracts contain sensitive trade secrets and were not previously available as public records from the schools; the conference will be able to delete the exempt or confidential information.
“Florida residents will finally be able to see what the Atlantic Coast Conference is hiding in its efforts to prevent 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 Atlantic Coast Conference lawyers to release confidential media rights contracts at the heart of the legal battle… The contracts are at the heart of the legal tussle between Florida State University and the Atlantic Coast Conference over the school’s efforts to leave the conference and any fines or penalties associated with the departure.”
It’s unclear how much sensitive information would be redacted from a public release of ACC contracts. In theory, it could also open the door for television contracts for other conferences that include Florida’s public universities, such as the SEC and Big 12, to be made public. Asked if it would take the same step with other conferences, the attorney general’s office said The athlete“Our case is before the administrative court.”
Florida State sued the ACF in December over the league’s rights award, which is separate from the television deal, though its timeline is aligned with the television deal. The rights award gives the ACF the rights to broadcast ACF home games through 2036. Florida State lawyers estimated that the cost of buying back those rights and leaving the conference could exceed $500 million. Clemson also sued the ACF over the rights award, arguing that it should not apply whenever a school leaves the conference.
Four separate lawsuits against GOR in three states (North Carolina, Florida, and South Carolina) are ongoing and no resolution is expected anytime soon. Moody’s office is not involved in these proceedings, but his public threats of war are an attempt to support the Seminoles and put pressure on the ACC.
The TV deal is at the heart of the legal battle. Last week, a Florida judge approved terms agreed by the parties to provide Florida State University with an unedited copy of the six documents, but a protective order restricts the disclosure of confidential and sensitive information during the legal proceedings. Copies of the documents must be destroyed within 60 days of the end of the litigation.
Florida State and Clemson have taken legal action against the Atlantic Coast Conference in an attempt to find a way out of the conference and into a more profitable one. Big Ten and SEC schools will soon make tens of millions more a year than Atlantic Coast Conference schools, through television contracts and payments from the college football playoffs.
The six documents to be issued to the Administrative Coordination Committee are as follows:
- ACC 2010 Multimedia Convention
- 2012 Amendment and Extension Agreement
- Second Amendment to the Multimedia Convention of 2014
- ACC and ESPN Revised and Updated 2016 Multimedia Agreement
- ACC-ESPN Network Agreement (2016)
- Amendment Letter to the Revised and Updated Multimedia Agreement (August 10, 2021)
“ACC respects the public records laws of the states in which we are members; however, as a private, nonprofit association formed and operated by public and private universities from across the country, we do not believe our private records are subject to those laws,” ACC said in a statement Wednesday. “The parties, while fully maintaining their legal positions, have reached a resolution that includes the voluntary production of certain documents redacted by ACC, and the Attorney General subsequently dismissed its lawsuit. ACC will not release any portions of documents that contain trade secrets, which is our consistent position.”
(Photo: Omar Rawlings/Getty Images)
