A dozen states are asking the North Carolina Supreme Court to dismiss the ACC’s lawsuit against Florida State.
In a brief dated Thursday and obtained by The Athletic, the attorneys general of those 12 states said the case should be thrown out because Florida State never agreed to be sued outside of Florida.
It’s the latest step in a months-long, nine-figure, multi-state legal battle that will help shape the future of conference realignment. It started in December, when Florida State and the ACC sued each other about the ownership of TV rights and revenue for future Seminoles home games if/when FSU leaves the ACC. Clemson and the ACC filed dueling lawsuits against each other in March.
This week’s argument centers on sovereign immunity. That’s the concept that generally shields state entities (like public schools) from being sued in other states. The ACC contends Florida State and Clemson waived that right by joining and remaining in the conference, which is based in North Carolina. If the ACC is correct, its lawsuits against Florida State and Clemson can proceed in the conference’s home courts in North Carolina — courts that, so far, have made favorable rulings for the league.
FSU and Clemson disagree and have appealed separate rulings to the North Carolina Supreme Court. Their home states and 10 others said FSU never gave a “clear and unequivocal” waiver to allow it to be sued outside of Florida. The same general arguments could apply to the ACC’s lawsuit against Clemson.
Kentucky is the only other state with a public ACC school (Louisville) that signed on. The other nine states are: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Utah. If their side is correct, the lawsuits will proceed only in the home courts for Florida State (Leon County, Fla.) and Clemson (Pickens County, S.C.). Their home courts have generally ruled in the schools’ favor.
In April, Florida attorney general Ashley Moody sent a letter to the attorneys general of six other states with ACC public schools asking them to consider involvement because the conference’s stance on sovereign immunity is “detrimental to all of our states.”
“If the history of college football realignment has taught us anything at this point, it is that there will be some future realignment down the road,” Moody wrote then. “The universities that have ratified such an expansive view of the waiver of sovereign immunity in the ACC Lawsuit may find that the sword that they now wield will be turned on them.”
Barring a settlement, hundreds of millions of dollars hang in the balance in this ongoing litigation. If Florida State and Clemson own the media rights to their future home games, they would be able to leave for another league by paying an exit fee of only about $165 million. If the rights belong to the ACC through 2036, it will be virtually impossible for the schools to join another conference until then. FSU and Clemson are concerned about the growing media rights revenue gap between the ACC and other leagues such as the SEC and the Big Ten.
In a separate filing this week, the ACC asked an appellate court to raise two procedural questions to the Florida Supreme Court as it fights the suit filed by FSU.
(Photo of FSU’s Ja’Khi Douglas and Brock Glenn: Melina Myers / Imagn Images)