Florida AG sues ACC to make ESPN-ACC media deal public

The Florida Attorney General is getting involved again in the litigation between the ACC and Florida State, filing a lawsuit on Thursday against the ACC demanding the league produce the ESPN-ACC television contract as part of a public records request, according to a report from The Athletic.

The conference’s television agreement has long been a source of contention in the proceedings as Florida State looks to disentangle itself from the conference’s Grant of Rights as it seeks a new conference home.

The ACC has already denied one public records request for the contract from Attorney General Ashley Moody, who first made overtures for it in January.

Now she’s taking renewed action.

“The ACC is asking a state entity — Florida State University — to potentially pay and lose more than a half a billion dollars but is refusing to produce the documents related to that outrageous price tag,” Moody said in a statement. “We sent a public records request to the ACC in January, but they failed to fully comply. We are taking legal action against the ACC for wrongfully withholding these important public records.”

In its original denial of Moody’s public records request back in January, the ACC cited trade secrets and the fact that FSU is not a party to the contractual agreement, instead only a member of the conference. The agreement itself is between the conference and its television partner, ESPN.

Getting a firm handle on what exactly it must do in order to exit the conference — preferably without hefty exit fees — is Florida State’s goal in the current exploration.

The additional pressure from the state’s Attorney General can only help.

One thing that is interesting, as The Athletic notes, is that if Moody is successful in her lawsuit against the ACC it could create precedent for other public records requests regarding TV contracts to be filled.

That could open up the agreements for multiple other conferences to scrutiny via in-state schools.