Attorney General Ashley Moody sent a public records request to the Atlantic Coast Conference demanding the college athletics organization immediately turn over public records currently being withheld from Florida State University. Attorney General Moody is seeking the release of the conference’s “ESPN Agreement” and several other agreements, amendments and documents crucial to FSU’s legal battle to leave the ACC. The conference is refusing to turn over the documents—instead demanding that FSU officials travel to North Carolina to view the documents in secret and under ACC supervision.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “One of Florida’s top universities is facing the possibility of forfeiting more than half a billion dollars, and the ACC is refusing to hand over the agreements at the center of this astronomical financial penalty. They are unlawfully keeping these documents locked away in North Carolina. However, North Carolina and Florida state laws are clear that these agreements are public records and must be handed over immediately. Today, I am taking action to ensure FSU and the public are able to review these agreements.”
The agreements and amendments are at the center of FSU’s legal battle to leave the ACC—and are the basis for a reported $572 million in forfeited media rights, unreimbursed broadcast fees and a conference exit fee. The agreements were entered into by ACC officials on behalf of the schools in the conference, and FSU does not have copies of, or access to, these public records. The records are vital to FSU’s case to leave the conference and could have a major financial impact on the state school.
Following the ACC’s refusal to produce the agreements, Attorney General Moody sent a public records request demanding, among other things:
- Executed copy of the Multi-Media Agreement between the ACC and ESPN;
- Executed copy of the 2014 Amended Multi-Media Agreement;
- Executed copy of the ACC Grant of Rights Agreement;
- Any other executed agreements referred to as the “ESPN Agreement”; and
- Any other executed agreements between the ACC and the Walt Disney Company.