OT (for now): ACC & ESPN attempting to claim that GoR contract is "trade secret" and that FSU committed felony by making details public

Submitted by crg on February 23rd, 2024 at 6:16 AM

In our latest installment of "As the 'Nole Turns":

https://ncbc.nccourts.org/public/pages/file?id=1708635354990-235

Obviously not affecting us *now*, but this court case sets a significant precedent going forward, for all schools with network deals.

More to come...

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MgoFunk

February 23rd, 2024 at 9:38 AM ^

I am not law savvy in any way but wouldn’t a contract involving institutions receiving state funding be required to make said contract public / available upon request?  Also, weren’t admin from Clemson, Miami, FSU, Louisville, and a few Carolina schools talking openly about said details last year during all the realignment debacle?  Are they going after all institutions or just FSU because they are literally trying to take their ball and leave?

Joined: 10/14/2015

MGoPoints: 2490

crg

February 23rd, 2024 at 10:59 AM ^

So... this is where it gets ridiculous (even more, to be fair).

Florida has "Sunshine Laws", which are their equivalent of FOIA - so any hard documents that FSU has would be public domain.

*Because of that*, the ACC keeps the only signed/complete (they call it "executed") version of thr contract - with all the fine details and terms, including the dollar amounts, under lock & key at their conference offices.  Schools are able to come and review it, but not allowed to have copies to avoid them being subject to public disclosure laws.

Joined: 04/30/2015

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BlueMk1690

February 23rd, 2024 at 11:03 AM ^

The ACC has filed to seal even their complaint against FSU from public scrutiny. So right now we don't know exactly what they're suing FSU over, but I imagine their contract had an NDA attached to it (In fact I'm sure all of those contracts do). Now, validity of NDAs is a whole thing in itself that lawyers can argue about for ages.

Having had a bit of professional involvement with that at the corporate level, I can say that not every NDA is the same and it's not uncommon for loopholes to be intentionally placed or simply making their way into them by accident.

The thing is, my guess would have been that with FSU being a public institution their vending contracts ought to be accessible to the public unless there's a very specific good reason why they shouldn't. The heart of the dispute may well end up being about that 'specific good reason' and whether the ACC and ESPN's need for commercial confidentiality outweighs FSU's obligations as a public institution. I'm sure there's tons of precedent to sort through.

Joined: 02/04/2011

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Clarence Beeks

February 23rd, 2024 at 2:15 PM ^

The huge problem for ESPN and the ACC on this is that FSU is a Florida public institution. And Florida public institutions have very specific obligations when it comes to what’s known as “sunshine law”. Prediction: this by argument by ESPN/ACC will actually end up being the undoing of the whole GoR, as it aplies to FSU, and ESPN/ACC were baited into it by FSU.

Joined: 09/06/2008

MGoPoints: 22850

Blue in St Lou

February 24th, 2024 at 8:24 PM ^

I assume there is diversity of citizenship and FSU will remove to federal court. And most federal courts look askance at attempts to keep filings under seal. The public, which supports the courts, have an interest in knowing what is going on in the courts. There's a heavy burden to keep something under seal, The ACC will have to show how that its injury if the complaint were made public outweighs the public's right to know.

Joined: 09/21/2013

MGoPoints: 6718

NittanyFan

February 23rd, 2024 at 12:24 PM ^

This whole thing is bizarre --- the way ESPN has acted over the years, it's like this thing has top-secret nuclear bomb making secrets in it. 

It's a freaking TV contract, who really cares?!?!

Joined: 12/04/2012

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