Cambridge Christian is a private Christian school in Tampa, Florida. As part of the School’s mission, it regularly engages in communal prayer. Communal prayer is also a regular feature of athletics—coaches lead prayer at practices, and all home sporting events open with public prayer using the loudspeaker. It is the School’s practice to offer a prayer over the PA system before all home football games, even when the opponent is a secular school. For away games, Cambridge Christian defers to the tradition of the home team. When the away games are against non-Christian schools, Cambridge Christian does not use the PA system when praying.
The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) is a state actor with the authority to govern some aspects of high school athletics in Florida. In that role, it has the authority over certain sports activities for public and private schools throughout the state, one of which is Cambridge Christian School.
In 2015, after a successful regular season and playoff run, Cambridge Christian football team made it to the FHSAA state championship game, where it would play University Christian. Leading up to that game, the two schools asked the FHSAA for permission to use the stadium’s public address system for a prayer before the game.
FHSAA has a Football Finals Participant Manual that governs state championship football games specifically, and it dictates that playoff and championship games are not home contests for the host schools and must maintain an atmosphere of neutrality. For the playoff and championship games, the FHSAA creates scripts and expects PA announcers to follow those scripts.
In light of these rules, the FHSAA denied the schools’ request.
Cambridge Christian filed suit, claiming violations of its rights under the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses of the U.S. Constitution and the Florida Constitution. The FHSAA moved for summary judgment, which the trial court granted in favor of FHSAA.
On appeal, the Court of Appeals noted that Cambridge Christian no longer had standing to seek an injunction and the issue was moot because the championship game had already passed. Nonetheless, the Court of Appeals still considered the merits of the case to determine if any nominal damages were owed.
The Court of Appeals first considered the Free Speech claim. The Free Speech Clause protects private persons from encroachments by the government on their right to speak freely. To determine whether speech is government or private speech, the Court generally considers three factors: the history of the expression at issue; the public’s likely perception as to who (the government or a private person) is speaking; and the extent to which the government has actively shaped or controlled the expression.
Here, the Court of Appeals concluded that the pregame speech has traditionally constituted government speech—it is entirely scripted and limited to welcome messages, announcements from scholars, national anthem introduction and performance, the presentation of colors, the pledge of allegiance, and the introductions of starters and officials. All of this speech was narrated by the announcer, who was selected by the Central Florida Sports Commission, not the schools competing. The national anthem, presentation of colors, and pledge of allegiance are inseparably associated with ideas of government, and the other introductory announcements were communicated on behalf of the FHSAA, a state actor. The Court of Appeals noted that the few promotional messages from sponsors did not transform the pregame speech into private speech, especially because the messages were often drafted by the sponsor but approved and added to the PA script by the FHSAA.
Similarly, the Court of Appeals concluded that the perception was that the PA announcements were government speech. The Court came to this conclusion because the state organized the game, it was a championship game organized by the FHSAA, the PA system was part of a stadium owned by the government, the PA announcer was a neutral party, and there was no host school for the championship game.
Finally, the government controlled the speech—the PA announcements were entirely scripted, controlled by FHSAA employees, and FHSAA rules governed the content of announcements and commentary.
The Court of Appeals next considered the School’s free exercise claims. The Free Exercise Clause requires government respect for, and noninterference with, the religious beliefs and practices of individuals. The Free Exercise Clause, however, does not require the government to conduct its own internal affairs in a way that comports with the religious beliefs of particular citizens. Here, the FHSAA was regulating its own expression when it restricted pregame speech.
Accordingly, the Court of Appeals upheld summary judgment as to the School’s free speech and free exercise claims.
Cambridge Christian Sch., Inc. v. Fla. High Sch. Ath. Ass’n, Inc. (11th Cir. 2024) 115 F.4th 1266.
Note: In this case, although both schools were private religious schools, the conference was able to deny the pre-game prayer because the conference was considered a state actor.