Florida judge signs order for ACC to provide Florida State copies of ESPN contracts

A circuit judge in Leon County has now signed an "interim protective order" under which the Atlantic Coast Conference will hand over its media agreements to Florida State University.

The joint proposed order was submitted to Judge John C. Cooper on July 2 , with the ACC and FSU agreeing to terms that would allow the school to view six documents in the agreements with cable sports channel ESPN . The signed order now means the ACC must give FSU an unredacted copy of the agreements within seven days.

The agreement allows FSU to view the contracts in confidence, only allowing discussion of the contents within the context of the ongoing lawsuit between the conference and the school. The contracts are at the center of an ongoing dispute between the two, with FSU suing the ACC over the media rights deals.

The ESPN documents include:

• The initial 2010 multi-media agreement with ESPN

• The 2012 amendment and extension agreement

• Second amendment and extension agreement in 2014

• Amended and restated multi-media agreement in 2016

• ACC-ESPN Network agreement also from 2016

• Letter amendment to amend and restated multi-media agreement from 2021

The agreement to share the documents comes after three hearings in a Leon County courtroom, where FSU expressed its desire to view the documents outside of the ACC headquarters. The conference has been willing to let FSU see the documents under an interim protective order, as stated in court hearings, and now the school has agreed to do so, which led to the July 2 joint filing.

In this context, a protective order that restricts the disclosure of confidential or sensitive information during legal proceedings. Prior to this, the documents could only be viewed at ACC headquarters in North Carolina under strict security to prevent any leaks. The documents FSU will receive are the same as those in the headquarters.

The documents should provide more context to the dispute over media rights in this case, and how those rights may be affected if FSU leaves the conference, with the school believing it should own its media rights in any potential exit. The current ACC media deal with ESPN runs till 2036, or another 12 years.

As stated in the initial joint filing, FSU must return or destroy any copies of the agreements within 60 days after the end of litigation.

What is the status of the other FSU vs. ACC lawsuits?

∎ In April,  Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody  filed a lawsuit against the conference demanding the media contracts, Grant of Rights and ESPN agreement be revealed in accordance with Florida public records law.

∎ In  May, FSU filed a nearly 600-page complaint  in North Carolina asking for the state's supreme court to review the April decision given by the judge there. The petition asks for a writ of certiorari, a formal request for the court to review a case for error or a violation.  The ACC responded to FSU's appeal , saying FSU's appeal "fails on its face" because it doesn't show that the court's decision was "patently arbitrary."

∎ On June 13, Moody said she doesn't need a hearing to get the media contracts from the ACC, citing Florida's public record law and saying a judge can make a ruling on her request now. A Leon County judge said there will be a hearing, with a date yet to be given for the hearing.

∎ On June 28,  the ACC's motion to stay its case against FSU  in Leon County was denied by a Florida appeals court, allowing for the lawsuit to continue throughout the state legal system.

Contact Liam Rooney via email at  LRooney@gannett.com  and follow him on Twitter @__liamroone y .

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: ACC will share ESPN contracts with FSU now that judge signed order