Florida AG Moody Sues ACC For Failing to Disclose Secret Grant Of Rights Agreement

Moody sent a public records request to the Conference in January, but the league did not 'fully comply.'

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody accompanied Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to a press / Ernst Peters/The Ledger / USA TODAY

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) has officially sued the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) after it failed to provide the details of the Grant of Rights agreement between the Conference and ESPN, which has been the one of the focal points of both lawsuits. AG Moody claims the agreement is public record under Florida law, but the ACC – and Mecklenburg County Judge Louis A. Bledsoe – disagrees.

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Judge Bledsoe argues that Florida State waived its “sovereign immunity” by being a member of the Conference, making the secrecy of the agreement between the ACC and ESPN legitimate.

AG Moody’s argument in the lawsuit is that it does not matter if Florida State – a public university in the State of Florida – does business with the ACC outside of state lines, all records due to Florida law are public records.

Moody said in a statement, “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. 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.”

On April 17, AG Moody disclosed the fact that her office was considering filing suit against the Conference in a letter to the attorneys general of California, Georgia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia, all of which have public institutions whose athletic programs play in the ACC.

She wrote, “All of you have public universities that are members of the ACC. You each have other higher education institutions that belong to similar unincorporated sports associations. Indeed, there are countless similar organizations at every level of our states and local governments to which state and local officers are involved. It is because of the potential breadth and impact of the trial court’s claimed waiver of sovereign immunity that I write to each of you.”

This is a developing story.

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Stick with NoleGameday for more coverage of Florida State University throughout its ongoing legal battle with the ACC.

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