Florida State Files Partial Summary Judgment Motion in Battle Against ACC

Florida State would like a judge to speed up the legal proceedings in its ongoing battle against the ACC.

According to a report by Matt Baker of the Tampa Bay Times, Florida State believes a Leon County court has enough information to award the Seminoles a partial summary judgment in its lawsuit against the ACC.

Florida State attorneys challenge that the ACC has misinterpreted the amended Grant of Rights, the enforceability of the league’s liquidated damages and claims the ACC has breached its constitution, On3 reported.

“The recently-produced 2016 ESPN agreements expose that the ACC has no rights to FSU home games played after it leaves the conference,” the filing’s preliminary statement reads. “Because the 2016 ESPN agreements exclude such games, ‘rights’ to them were never ‘necessary’ for the ACC ‘to perform’ its ‘contractual obligations’ to ESPN ‘expressly set forth in the ESPN agreements;’ thus rights to those games were never granted to the ACC under the 2016 Amended Grant of Rights.”

Florida State sued the ACC back in December over media rights and a withdrawal fee, as the Seminoles attempted to force their way out of the conference. FSU wants to exit the conference without paying the buyout fee or its remaining media rights, which would cost over $500 million.

It remains to be seen whether the Leon County court will rule in favor of Florida State, but even if Florida State manages to exit the conference — with or without paying an exorbitant amount of money — there isn’t a guaranteed landing spot.

After reports of the Big 12 having interest in Florida State and Clemson surfaced in July, Brett McMurphy of Action Network reported that the Seminoles would likely not have a place in the Big Ten or SEC should they force their way out of the ACC and the conference survives.

It’s no secret that the ACC is lagging behind the Big Ten and SEC in terms of television deals and revenue generated and distributed amongst member schools, and it makes sense that programs would like the security and benefits that come with being in the “Power Two.”

But with the expensive and complicated Grant of Rights, a television deal locked in until 2036, it still seems very unlikely that either Florida State or Clemson will be able to exit the conference in the near future.

While the ACC is involved in countersuits with both Florida State and Clemson, who sued the ACC in December and March, respectively, Pitt is content. Narduzzi said during the ACC Football Kickoff that those lawsuits haven’t impacted his program all that much. The Panthers’ focus is on the field – not what’s happening in courtrooms in the south.

“I feel bad for the commissioner. He’s got a hard job. He’s a tremendous ambassador for the Atlantic Coast Conference,” Narduzzi said. “It’s probably been distracting for him, but not distracting for me.”

On recent Zoom calls between ACC football coaches, Narduzzi said that Swinney and Norvell “act like everything is the same.”

“I don’t sit in that commissioner’s office, so he can call it the way he wants to call it. I don’t see any distractions on my end. I don’t think the coaches see it as a distraction,” Narduzzi added. “We’re playing football. Season’s opening up in a month, and I’m fired up.”

Florida State, meanwhile, is off to a 0-2 start this season, losing to both Georgia Tech and Boston College.