Florida’s Attorney General is turning to her peers in other states for support as Florida State University takes on the Atlantic Coast Athletic Conference in a legal battle over media deals and when and how the school can leave the conference.
In a letter dated April 17th, Florida’s Moody called on six other attorneys general from schools in the ACC (California, Georgia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia) to signal their support for Florida.
In her letter, Moody stated other schools that wish to leave the conference, could find themselves facing similar legal challenges. She’s asking the other states to join the state of Florida as it “considers taking action” in FSU's appeal against the ACC in a North Carolina court.
“It is because of the potential breadth and impact of the trial court’s claimed waiver of sovereign immunity that I write to each of you,” Moody wrote in the two-page letter. “The potential impact of the ACC Lawsuit could subject FSU to a loss of more than a half of a billion dollars. Any waiver of sovereign immunity, especially one of such a magnitude by a state entity, should require an especially clear waiver of its sovereign immunity.”
FSU is also suing the ACC in a case filed in Leon County. A judge on Thursday, April 4, put that case on hold while the school works to bolster it arguments.
The court will revisit the case next week.