ACC’s lawsuit vs. Florida State halted after stay issued
The Atlantic Coast Conference’s lawsuit against member school Florida State has come to a temporary halt.
North Carolina Chief Business Court Judge Louis Bledsoe III handed down a ruling Friday that puts a stay on all discovery and further court-related work on the case while FSU appeals to the North Carolina Supreme Court. The school is appealing Bledsoe’s earlier ruling that denied the school’s motion to dismiss the case.
Florida State has yet to actually file the case with the NC Supreme Court, but lawyers have indicated that is in their intent.
“Under North Carolina law, the longstanding general rule is that an appeal divests the trial court of jurisdiction over a case until the appellate court returns its mandate,“Bledsoe wrote in his ruling on Friday. ”The lower court only retains jurisdiction to take action which aids the appeal and to hear motions and grant orders that do not concern the subject matter of the suit and are not affected by the judgment that has been appealed.”
Florida State is challenging the conference’s exit fees and the validity of a grant-ofrights agreement that binds league members together through their media rights.
That grant of rights runs through 2036 as part of the league’s contract with ESPN, which ultimately launched the ACC Network in 2019.
Florida State claims the deal doesn’t compare to what schools in other conferences are making and that it would cost $572 million to exit the conference. The school feels that puts them in danger of not being able to compete with Big Ten and SEC schools because of the growing revenue gap.
More college football
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Golf
Xander Schauffele shot a 4-under 67 on Friday after opening with a 64, leaving him at 11-under 131 and four shots ahead of Rory McIlroy and Jason Day heading into the weekend at the Wells Fargo Championship. Taylor Moore and Sungjae Im were five strokes back at 6 under.
• Chris Gotterup birdied the final final four holes and six of the last eight for a 7-under 64 and a one-stroke lead over Robert MacIntyre on Friday after the second
round of the PGA Tour’s inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic.
• Faced with a 10-stroke deficit starting her second round Friday in the event that honors the tour’s founding members, Nelly Korda shot a bogey-free 6-under 66 in cold, damp conditions to move into third place, four shots behind leaders Rose Zhang and Madelene Sagstrom with 36 holes to play at the Cognizant Founders Cup. Korda is looking to become the first player to win six straight LPGA tournaments.
• Two-time defending champion Steve Stricker birdied the final two holes for a 7-under 65 and a one-shot lead over Ernie Els on Friday after the second round of the Regions Tradition, the first of five PGA Tour Champions majors.
Hockey
The United States lost to Sweden 5-2 in its opening match at the ice hockey world championship on Friday. Joel Eriksson Ek scored twice and added an assist, and star defenseman Victor Hedman had a goal and an assist for Sweden. Goaltender
Filip Gustavsson made 28 saves in the Group B game.
Tennis
Novak Djokovic cleaned up his game after dropping his first two service games with some sloppy play, though, and completed a 6-3, 6-1 win over left-handed French qualifier Corentin Moutet in his opening match at the Italian Open on Friday.
•In the women’s tournament, defending champion Elena Rybakina withdrew before her opening match against Irina-Camelia Begu because of illness.
Soccer
Kylian Mbappé confirmed what the soccer world was long expecting to hear, announcing on Friday he is leaving Paris SaintGermain ahead of a widely expected move to Real Madrid.
Wild Things
Schaumburg spoils Opening Day at Wild Things Park by downing Washington 6-3 despite Wagner Lagrange’s homer in the second and Andrew Czech’s two-run homer in the fourth.