UPDATE: ACC contracts appear to confirm FSU claim that ESPN can end contract in 2027

While huge swaths of the documents have been redacted to protect confidential “trade secrets,” there is at least one item of interest in the ACC-ESPN television contracts which were released Thursday by the conference following a legal challenge from Florida’s attorney general.

Some 164 pages into the documents, there appears to be confirmation of Florida State’s contention that the ACC’s long-term TV deal could actually be scrapped by ESPN in 2027, as opposed to the earlier publicized date of 2036.

That would be significant because the termination of the contract could lead to an earlier end to the ACC’s long-term Grant of Rights, which is at the heart of lawsuits between Florida State, Clemson and the conference. The two football powers are looking to leave the ACC as soon as possible in search of greater revenue opportunities with other conferences, while the ACC argues that each school’s media rights are tied to ESPN and the conference through 2036.

The notion that the ACC’s TV deal could end as soon as 2027 was first revealed in Florida State’s lawsuit against the conference in late December.

“It is a widely repeated misconception that the ACC’s multi-media rights agreement expires in 2036,” the lawsuit stated. “As explained below, in truth, the multi-media rights agreement expires in 2027 unless ESPN chooses to exercise its unilateral option through 2036.”

Florida State’s complaint went on to state that ESPN originally faced a deadline to extend the agreement back in 2021, but the, “ACC Commissioner gratuitously extended that option exercise deadline for four additional years, or until February 2025.”

The documents released Thursday appear to back up that assertion.

Section 14.1 of the ACC’s 2016 television contract states that ESPN has the, “exclusive, revocable option, but not the obligation, to extend this Agreement” until (date redacted). It states that the extension would run from July 1, 2027 through (date redacted), and that it would have to be exercised, “no later than two years after the launch date of the ACC-ESPN Network.”

The ACC Network was officially launched on Aug. 22, 2019.

On Aug. 10, 2021, according to the documents released Thursday, ESPN officials and ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips signed a one-page agreement stating that the language in Section 14.1 would be amended. The change in language is redacted in the contracts released to the public, but that is where Florida State contends the new date is February 2025.

FSU attorneys saw original, unredacted copies of the agreement during numerous trips to North Carolina before filing their suit.

If the ACC’s ESPN contract and Grant of Rights are deemed to be enforceable through 2036, Florida State and Clemson could each be required to pay more than $500 million to cover their exit fees and regain their television rights.

FSU is currently suing the ACC in Leon County, while Clemson is suing the conference in South Carolina, and the ACC is suing both schools in North Carolina.

Stay connected with Warchant.com for more on this story.

FIRST REPORT

In response to a lawsuit filed by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, the ACC on Thursday turned over more than 200 pages of documents, including contracts between the conference and television partner ESPN.

Large portions of the contracts, which include financial details, have been redacted because they fall under the category of “trade secrets.”

The contracts are at the heart of a dispute between FSU, Clemson and the ACC, as the two football powers seek to leave the conference in search of larger revenue opportunities with other leagues.

Thursday’s news was first reported by Gary Fineout of Politico.

Here is Thursday’s press release from the Attorney General’s office:

Click here to read the documents released by the ACC

Attorney General Ashley Moody this afternoon obtained secretive media contracts previously withheld from Florida State University by the Atlantic Coast Conference. The documents are at the center of FSU’s fight with the ACC over the school’s efforts to determine its rights if it leaves the conference. Through Attorney General Moody’s legal action, the ACC has handed over six redacted media rights contracts and documents.

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “In a victory for transparency, the ACC has made documents available that are at the center of FSU’s legal fight with the conference. These previously withheld contracts are vitally important to understanding why the ACC wants to impose large fines on a Florida university if it leaves the conference.” 

Attorney General Moody recently took legal action against the ACC for wrongfully withholding public records from review. Under secret media rights contracts located somewhere in its North Carolina headquarters, the ACC made claims it would cost FSU more than half a billion dollars to leave, and previously refused to provide the documents for review—requiring representatives from the public university to travel hundreds of miles to physically access the documents with a chaperone, wasting FSU’s time and costing thousands of dollars of public monies in unnecessary travel expenses. 

Now, in response to Attorney General Moody’s action, the ACC has provided the state of Florida with the following documents redacted and produced in accordance with the Florida Public Records Act:

• 2010 ACC Multi-Media Agreement; 
• 2012 Amendment and Extension Agreement; 
• 2014 Second Amendment to Multi-Media Agreement; 
• 2016 Amended and Restated ACC-ESPN Multi-Media Agreement; 
• ACC-ESPN Network Agreement (2016); and 
• Letter Amendment to Amended and Restated Multi-Media Agreement (August 10, 2021).

The ACC redacted exempt or confidential material in the documents provided to Attorney General Moody’s office. 

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