ACC, Florida Attorney General reach agreement in lawsuit

The ACC will share redacted versions of its ESPN contracts and related documents with the state of Florida, ending Attorney General Ashley Moody’s lawsuit against the league.

The shared records will be public, but the conference will be able to shield what it says are trade secrets.

The full contracts are at the center of the nine-figure litigation between Florida State and its league. That’s why the Attorney General’s Office sued the ACC in Leon County in April, accusing the conference of violating public records laws by shielding the contracts. Moody’s office argued that they should be made public because they involve the business of a state entity (FSU) or a group acting on that state entity’s behalf (the ACC).

Moody’s office formally asked the ACC for the documents in January. The league denied the request; the ACC contended that producing the contract would violate of its terms.

“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 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.”

The conference will share them by Aug. 1. The conference previously agreed to give unredacted documents to FSU, but the Seminoles must protect their confidentiality and can only use them as part of the litigation. Before the FSU and Clemson lawsuits began, schools could only review the ESPN contract at the league’s North Carolina headquarters under strict confidentiality guidelines.

The documents date back to the ACC’s multimedia contract from 2010. Amendments are also included, as is a letter amendment and “restated” agreement from 2021.

What, exactly, the contracts say will be key as litigation proceeds in Leon County (where FSU sued the ACC), South Carolina (where Clemson sued the ACC) and North Carolina (where the ACC sued both schools). They’ll shed light on who owns the TV rights to FSU/Clemson home games if the Seminoles or Tigers leave the league. That value is hundreds of millions of dollars.

The ACC, ESPN and other power conferences have said releasing TV contracts would give competitors an advantage in the marketplace.

“The ACC respects the public records laws of states where we have members; however, as a private nonprofit association formed and operated by public and private universities from across the country, we do not believe that our own records are subject to those laws,” the ACC said in a statement.

“Both parties, while fully preserving their legal positions, have reached a solution which will include the voluntary production of certain redacted documents by the ACC, and the Attorney General then dismissing its lawsuit. The ACC will not be providing any portions of documents containing trade secrets which has been its consistent position.”

Judge Angela C. Dempsey had set a 90-minute hearing for Monday on the Attorney General’s complaint.

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