TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – In a step toward a potential lawsuit, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody on Tuesday demanded wide-ranging information from the College Football Playoff Selection Committee about Florida State University’s exclusion from the upcoming four-team playoff.
The demand, known as an antitrust civil investigative demand, is a way to gather information ahead of a possible lawsuit.
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The FSU football team went undefeated and won the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship this fall, but the playoff committee selected Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama to compete for the national championship.
“We are looking for more information. We are looking for more transparency, to determine whether or not our laws were violated. Certainly, not every investigation leads to suit, but many do. That is what this process will be about,” Moody said in a video statement.
Moody’s request seeks information about such things as votes and vote tallies by committee members during closed-door deliberations; statements relating to the deliberations, including media talking points and interview notes; and committee ethics and conflict-of-interest standards.
“This is so important. It’s not just about FSU and it’s not just about the state of Florida. Folks across the nation are going to want to see that there is transparency in this process,” Moody said. “In Florida, merit matters. FSU proved that they deserved to be in the playoffs. If the selection committee believes that is not the case, and there was truth in that deliberative process and they truly followed their protocols, then we expect them to be cooperative and provide us all of this information.”
The Attorney General’s Civil Investigative Demand seeks multiple communications, including:
- All communications relating to deliberations to or from the SEC, ACC, NCAA, ESPN, Group of Five conferences, Power Five conferences or any other person relating to the deliberations;
- All documents relating to public statements relating to the deliberations, including media talking points and interview notes;
- Documents relating to restrictions of the Conferences against having alternate playoff schedules;
- Documents showing compensation of members in 2023;
- Documents sufficient to show all recusals of Committee members from deliberations; and
- The Committee’s standards relating to ethics and conflicts of interest.
Florida’s U.S. Sen. Rick Scott waded into the controversy along with other politicians, and Gov. Ron DeSantis has pledged to put state money behind FSU’s grievance.
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While touting spending plans in the next budget proposal last week, DeSantis also announced plans for the state to earmark $1 million to fight a legal battle regarding FSU being excluded.
“Now, I don’t know what all goes into that decision-making. I know a lot of people have been disappointed,” DeSantis said. “What we decided to do is set aside a million dollars for any litigation expenses that may come from this very poor decision from these College Football Playoffs.”
DeSantis said the Seminoles “earned a spot” in the playoff but were excluded in a “very, very controversial ruling.”
Scott sent a letter to Selection Committee Chairman Boo Corrigan following what he called a “shocking decision.”
In the letter, Scott demanded “total transparency” from the committee on how the decision was reached and what factors might have been at play.
Florida State was bumped to the Orange Bowl, where it will face two-time defending national champion Georgia. Texas and Alabama made the final four despite both teams having one loss each.
