By Brian Murphy, WRAL

The Atlantic Coast Conference will turn over redacted copies of its television contracts to the Florida attorney general, ending a lawsuit that attracted support for the ACC from other top collegiate conferences.

“The ACC will not be providing any portion of documents containing trade secrets which has been its consistent position,” the league said in a statement Wednesday.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a lawsuit on April 25, claiming the league was “wrongfully withholding public records from review.” The contracts are at the center of Florida State’s court fight to leave the ACC.

The SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 filed briefs on behalf of the ACC’s side in the case, opposing the release of the television contracts.

The lawsuit will be dropped.

Florida State has access to the documents, but officials must travel to the ACC headquarters to see them — a policy intended to keep the documents safe from public records requests. The ACC contends that since they are agreements between two private entities, in this case the ACC and ESPN, and contain trade secrets, they should not be made public.

Florida has some of the nation’s broadest open records laws.

“The ACC respects the public records laws of states where we have members,” the league said in its statement. “However, as a private nonprofit association formed and operated by public and private universities from across the country, we do not believe that our own records are subject to those laws.”

The ACC will turn over contracts and amendments from 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2021 by August 1, according to the Moody’s office. Florida is expected to make the documents public.

“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,” Moody said.

The ACC made more than $481 million for its television contracts during the 2022-23 academic year, part a league-record $706 million in revenue. ESPN owns all of the league’s television rights through 2027 and has an option to extend the deal through 2036. The league and television network are partners in the ACC Network.

Florida State and Clemson, the league’s top two football powers, have sued the league seeking to lower the penalty for leaving the conference and seeking legal interpretation on the league’s grant of rights agreement.

The ACC has countersued in North Carolina. All four cases are proceeding.

As part of Florida State’s case in Florida, the ACC must provide the university with unredacted copies of certain contracts, but those are to be kept confidential as part of the ongoing litigation.

A hearing on the public records case was set for Monday.

Source: wralsportsfan.com