FOIA Advisor

FOIA News: Army Athletics denies being a federal agency, but agrees to fulfill FOIA request following lawsuit

FOIA News (2015-2023)Allan BlutsteinComment

ARMY ATHLETICS TURNS OVER FINANCIAL RECORDS FOLLOWING FOIA SUIT

By Daniel Limit & Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico, Aug. 24, 2023

Army West Point Athletic Association, the legal entity that administers the military academy’s Division I sports programs, has begun turning over the first batch of what could eventually be thousands of pages of financial and contractual records that it has previously refused to make public.

The academy’s intercollegiate sports arm had long snubbed Freedom of Information Act requests, claiming it is not subject to federal disclosure laws.

Army’s change in position follows a Sportico reporter’s FOIA lawsuit in February against West Point and the AWPAA, after the entities denied requests for numerous categories of athletic department records including NCAA revenue and expense reports, employee contracts and the athletic association’s agreements with third parties like Learfield and Nike.

Read more here.