Florida State is accused by the ACC of violating a contract and divulging trade secrets.
The Seminoles violated agreements when they filed a lawsuit to void a contract that bound Florida State to the league for the ensuing twelve years, according to the Atlantic Coast Conference, which charged Florida State on Wednesday of breach of contract. In late December, the ACC filed a lawsuit in North Carolina against the Florida State Board of Trustees, requesting that the court maintain the transfer of rights as a legally binding agreement.
The league maintained that FSU could not contest the Seminoles’ legally binding contract and that any disputes pertaining to the matter ought to be resolved in the state where the conference is based.
The league formally amended its complaint Wednesday, alleging FSU violated the signed agreement when it chose to challenge the exclusive grant of rights. The conference also accused the school of releasing confidential information — “trade secrets” between the league and television partner ESPN — in its legal filing in the Sunshine State.
The ACC, in its 55-page filing, is seeking a trial and damages it “reasonably believes will be substantial.”
The league also asked the court for a permanent injunction barring FSU from participating in the management of league affairs while it “has a direct and material conflict of interest” with the ACC’s purposes and objective. It also asked for a permanent injunction barring the Seminoles from disclosing confidential information about the TV agreement.
Both sides have agreed to respond to the complaints by mid-February. It could result in more motions filed.
No one expects a merger of the two complaints because they involve two separate state courts. One court could defer to the other or both could proceed independently. Both sides have requested a trial.
Florida State filed a lawsuit against the ACC in Leon County Circuit Court, claiming the league has mismanaged its members’ media rights and levied “draconian” exit fees, following months of threats and warnings. The complaint claimed that Florida State would lose $572 million if it broke the grant-of-rights deal and left the ACC. Florida State is trying to find a means of leaving the conference that it has been a part of since 1992. Florida State made its first College Football Playoff appearance in 2014 and won three football national championships during their time in the ACC, the most recent of which came in 2013.
The Seminoles were left out of this season’s playoff despite an unbeaten record. Florida State President Richard McCullough said the playoff snub did not prompt the lawsuit.
However, the first sentence of Florida State’s claim states: “The stunning exclusion of the ACC’s undefeated football champion from the 2023-2024 College Football Playoff in deference to two one-loss teams from two competing Power Four conferences crystalized the years of failures by the ACC to fulfill its most fundamental commitments to FLORIDA STATE and its members.”
The leaders of Florida State believe that the ACC forced its members into an unfairly long and undervalued contract with ESPN, which severely disadvantages the Seminoles’ athletic departments in comparison to those of the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference, whose TV contracts pay more over shorter durations.
