Florida State, ACC fight: ESPN has option to end deal in 2027, document shows

Florida State has claimed that the ACC grant of rights agreement expires far sooner than has been claimed amid its lawsuit to challenge the league's exit fee.

Florida State believes it can exit the ACC much sooner than the conference has stated. / Melina Myers-USA TODAY Sports

ESPN appears to have an option to end the ACC’s media rights deal in 2027, according to a document released by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.

Although the document is heavily redacted to protect trade secrets, Section 14.1 appears to relate to an extension option, with the year 2027 being mentioned.

That remains a central date in Florida State’s ongoing challenge of the ACC’s grant of rights agreement, the deal that gives leagues the right to broadcast member schools’ football games for the duration of the media rights deal.

The ACC grant of rights agreement is said to expire in 2036, but Florida State has argued in court that the contracts do not end that year, but actually in 2027 when ESPN has an option to extend the deal.

Page 164 of the document cites the need for a written notice to the ACC “no later than two (2) years after the launch date of the ACC-ESPN network,” concerning ESPN’s plans to pick up the option.

ESPN has the “exclusive, revocable option,” the document states, “but not the obligation, to extend this Agreement until [redacted] subject to the remainder of this paragraph (such extended term of July 1, 2027 to the ‘Extension Term’) by providing written notice to the Conference no later than two (2) years after the launch date of the ACC-ESPN Network.”

The contract remains at the center of the legal battle Florida State brought against the ACC in an effort to challenge the conference’s early exit fees.

It was released to the public after a protective order said the ACC had seven days to turn over the ESPN contracts and other related documents to Florida State.

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