In April, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R-FL) joined Florida State University in suing the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC, the conference FSU plays in) by filing her own suit against the league after a North Carolina judge concluded that FSU waived its “sovereign immunity” by being a part of the ACC. In an attempt to leave the conference, Florida State sued the ACC in December, accusing the conference of breaching its fiduciary duties to league members. Without this sovereign immunity, the State of Florida and its citizens would not necessarily be entitled to view FSU’s business dealings (in this case the media contracts the ACC and ESPN signed which directly affect FSU) despite taxpayer dollars being put forth to the school. According to Florida law, Moody believes these documents should be public, making it the crux of Moody’s lawsuit.
These contracts and their secrecy have been one of, if not the focal point of the dueling lawsuits that have taken place between the ACC and FSU.
However, the ACC has agreed to release the contents of the secret media contracts – including the coveted ESPN Agreement – to AG Moody’s office. Her press release states that Floridians will now be able to access “what the Atlantic Coast Conference is hiding.”
It reads, “Floridians will finally get to see what the Atlantic Coast Conference is hiding in its effort to keep Florida State University from leaving the conference. Attorney General Ashley Moody just secured an agreement from the ACC’s attorneys to provide secretive media rights contracts at the center of the legal battle. 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 contracts are at the heart of legal wrangling between FSU and the ACC over the school’s efforts to leave the conference and any fines or penalties associated with the departure.”
AG Moody herself mentions, “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. 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.”
According to AG Moody, it seems clear that Floridians will be able to access these documents.
However, a few days ago, the ACC and FSU agreed to basically the same terms, but only Florida State’s legal team would be able to view the contracts for 60 days, and they must return or destroy them during that period.
Referring to Moody’s statement, Sportico’s Michael McCann writes, “Whether the public sees these contracts, or at least redacted versions of them, remains to be seen. The extent of public access will comply with the agreement reached by Moody and the ACC. Like public records laws in other states, Florida exempts categories of confidential information from disclosure obligations.”
Therefore, it is not exactly clear how much of each document Floridians will be able to read once if and when they are published for public consumption.
This is a developing story.
