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Florida State Seminoles

Florida State trustees authorize lawsuit against ACC to challenge Grant of Rights

Keith Farner

By Keith Farner

Published:

Florida State held a Board of Trustees meeting on Friday morning to discuss its latest legal steps to challenge the ACC and its Grant of Rights.

The board discussed a possible exit strategy and legal action against the ACC and contracts that tie the conference’s members for 12 more years. FSU Board Chair Peter Collins in a summary discussion to begin the meeting said the board has been left “no choice” but to challenge the ACC’s Grant of Rights.

“We’ve exhausted all possible remedies within the conference,” he said during the meeting. “We must do what’s best for Floirda State not only in the short term, but also in the long term.”

According to the outside legal counsel, David Ashburn, he explained to the trustees that FSU signed the ACC Grant of Rights agreement because ESPN gave an ultimatum that it would not enter any additional media agreements with the conference if it wasn’t signed in 2016 through 2036.

“We don’t believe that holds water,” he said.

Ashburn also explained that an exit fee to leave the ACC would be $572 million.

Later in the meeting, President Richard McCullough said this is “certainly not where I would prefer to have ended up. I think that I would prefer a different pathway but I feel that we have in many ways exhausted all our options.”

FSU Athletics Director Michael Alford: “It really points to the mismanagement of previous conference administration.”

In a unanimous vote, the trustees authorized Ashburn to move forward.

Ashburn said the lawsuit would be filed in circuit court in Tallahassee and that it could help them get copies of documents that they otherwise would have to get in person at ACC office. They are not asking for immediate relief or a preliminary injunction.

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.

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