Clemson lawsuit against ACC gets new breakthrough as judge rules in favor of Tigers to access ESPN contract details

The Atlantic Coast Conference suffered a tough loss in the Clemson lawsuit with a recent update on Friday afternoon. A South Carolina judge has issued an interim ruling, stating that the ACC has to provide Clemson with an unredacted copy of the ESPN contract within the next seven days. However, the contract must remain confidential and can only be used for litigation purposes, meaning it cannot be leaked.

This is going to be a significant point in Florida State's lawsuit against the ACC. Additionally, last week Attorney General Ashley Moddy filed a legal complaint regarding the document. While this has the potential to be a big breakthrough in the case, this is viewed more as a procedural update.

Interestingly, neither the Clemson Tigers nor the Florida State Seminoles had access to a contract concerning the conference's future. While the conference can ultimately appeal this decision, it remains to be seen if they will attempt to do so.

What does this breakthrough in the Clemson lawsuit mean for the overall health of the ACC?

The Atlantic Coast Conference has been in one of the most interesting positions as the conference has been ordered to provide Clemson with an unredacted version of the contract with ESPN. While that can be a major piece of information to see exactly what power the media rights partner holds and how ESPN's role plays into all of this, this is definitely viewed as a win for the universities.

This is not groundbreaking though, as this was always expected to happen at one point or another. Having the contract remain confidential means that nothing should leak surrounding the details, but this allows the schools to understand what exactly is going on above them with the media rights partner and the conference.

This affects both the Clemson and Florida State cases and could be a massive blow to the Atlantic Coast Conference. There is a chance there is a way out of the conference through that contract and with it being unredacted now, there is a chance to understand more than what the Clemson lawsuit already knows.