In Tampa, Matt Baker reported the Florida Attorney General’s Office has “ended its lawsuit” against the ACC over the league’s ESPN contracts. That filing “came the day after the conference gave 251 redacted pages of its deals with ESPN to the Attorney General’s Office.” Florida AG Ashley Moody sued the ACC in April, alleging that the conference violated the state’s public records laws by “withholding its contracts with ESPN.” That dueling litigation is “unaffected by the end of the Attorney General’s suit.” Clemson and the ACC also “continue to litigate the same general issues involving the same documents” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 8/7).
NAILED IT: In Colorado Springs, Brent Briggeman noted the extensive renovations of Falcon Stadium are “not finished,” ahead of its opener on Aug 31 but the Air Force “nailed it.” Funding a $95M project like this privately “was unprecedented” at a service academy, and the $55M in debt assumed by the AFAAC “represents a good chunk of risk.” Briggeman wrote now the stadium “feels modern, and it feels like the construction was completed without cutting corners” (Colorado Springs GAZETTE, 8/7).
TURF WARS: In Miami, Greg Cote wrote Pitbull is paying $1.2M a year to FIU over five years -- “with an option for five more” -- to put his name on its football stadium, but why is he “putting his brand name on a stadium that is home to a Panthers team with a 9-32 record since 2020?” Cote wrote why not the Univ. of Miami, a team “that is swallowed for attention,” instead? The answer is “FIU’s ambition in this market, and vs. UM.” It is “too dramatic to say FIU has declared war on the Hurricanes” and Pitbull is “leading its coalescing army.” But it is “not wrong to say this is a turf war of sorts.” FIU “envisions a day when it outgrows its 20,000-seat stadium.” And with this naming rights deal, FIU “instantly gets what its football program has forever lacked, craved and desperately needed” (MIAMI HERALD, 8/7).
