ACC files lawsuit against Maryland

[Moontan]

Are we sure that SU gets to share in the benefit of any exit payment from Maryland? We aren't currently a member of the ACC. If Maryland paid now, why wouldn't the ACC just make pro rata distributions to all current members and be done with it?

We're not sure but I would expect all 15 schools to be on the hook to pay the fee. As an extension, all remaining schools should expect to be compensated accordingly. I suspect the conference will get more than its usual share.

 

[Crusty]

When are we officially a member - Jan 1?

 

[Alsacs]

Yes, Maryland will remove this case to federal court unless the ACC constitution has a venue provision that calls for suits to be litigated in North Carolina state court (which I find highly unlikely).

I can't think of a reason why the exit fee would be unenforceable. Maryland might argue that it is unconscionable but that's a doctrine rarely applied and Loh's proposal to raise the exit fee a year earlier doesn't exactly help Maryland's case.

Are we sure that SU gets to share in the benefit of any exit payment from Maryland? We aren't currently a member of the ACC. If Maryland paid now, why wouldn't the ACC just make pro rata distributions to all current members and be done with it?

I said the same thing at the top of this thread for number 1. It could be unenforceable that actual damage harm done to the ACC is not close three times there payout distribution which is the 50 million dollar and the end result is strictly punitive damages being sough. I think it will be an interesting case.

 

[Rocco]

As a Michigan alum, I look forward to pounding Maryland and Rutgers into the ground like Indiana.

Rutgers will be serving hot chocolate outside of the Big House.

 

[Moontan]

When are we officially a member - Jan 1?

July 1, 2013.

 

[Crusty]

July 1, 2013.

Thanks

 

[HtownOrange]

As a Michigan alum, I look forward to pounding Maryland and Rutgers into the ground like Indiana.

Nah, you want them as a tune up game the week before the Ohio State game. Just like the SEC, except Michigan would get credit for a conference game as opposed to paying for a patsy. Works well for the Wolverines.

 

[orangecuse]

Maybe the ACC schools aren't at each others throats as you seem to wish they are? Maybe they are stronger and more committed than anyone thinks? Maybe your doomsday rhetoric means you need to lay off the sauce and stop spewing your negativity disguised as "realism"? Every one of your posts has been anti-ACC.

Maryland is screwed and will have to pay the piper before exiting stage left.

If I could give you a thousand likes for that post I would. You're dead on when it comes to his "interest" in expansion and how his tilt on things relative to the ACC has been more or less armegeddon waiting to happen.

How the farg does he know if it's strictly business...or solidarity? Maybe it's a little bit of both? His matter of fact rhetoric is old. He has no clue what has transpired amongst the school presidents or ACC leaders in their private meetings/conversations...none.

 

[kyleslamb]

Maybe the ACC schools aren't at each others throats as you seem to wish they are? Maybe they are stronger and more committed than anyone thinks? Maybe your doomsday rhetoric means you need to lay off the sauce and stop spewing your negativity disguised as "realism"? Every one of your posts has been anti-ACC.

Maryland is screwed and will have to pay the piper before exiting stage left.

Good grief, calm down a bit.

I'm not anti-ACC. But at this point super conferences are coming and the ACC appears to be low-hanging fruit. So I'd rather just see it get put out of its misery since it seems inevitable.

I truthfully wanted, when this all started, the ACC to survive as the fourth major conference and see the Big 12 get killed off. Unfortunately that didn't happen.

Regardless, I have no doubts they aren't as content as you're trying to suggest. There isn't a single one of them that aren't exploring other options right now. It doesn't mean anyone will take that next step, but you can't claim they're strong and committed when they're all taking other calls let alone some of them actively making them.

 

[kyleslamb]

I call 100% BS on you what you are saying is pure Delany spin. UVA would be stupid to sign on to this lawsuit if they planned on jumping since they would want precedent NOT to pay 50 million. You can't have it both ways.

You were trying to say a third party has no bearing in a lawsuit, yet here you are telling me that voting on whether to sue in court would have any relevance in whether or not Virginia could leave without paying $50 million? I'm not the one trying to have it both ways.

 

[kyleslamb]

If I could give you a thousand likes for that post I would. You're dead on when it comes to his "interest" in expansion and how his tilt on things relative to the ACC has been more or less armegeddon waiting to happen.

How the farg does he know if it's strictly business...or solidarity? Maybe it's a little bit of both? His matter of fact rhetoric is old. He has no clue what has transpired amongst the school presidents or ACC leaders in their private meetings/conversations...none.

That's what everyone told me for a year about Maryland when I said they were talking to the Big Ten and showing interest.

I don't know what the ACC is wanting to do, nor am I pretending to. I do know, though, that there are a few schools in the ACC that are awfully flirtatious with the Big Ten for supposedly being committed.

 

[orangenirvana]

I'm not anti-ACC. But at this point super conferences are coming and the ACC appears to be low-hanging fruit. So I'd rather just see it get put out of its misery since it seems inevitable.

I truthfully wanted, when this all started, the ACC to survive as the fourth major conference and see the Big 12 get killed off. Unfortunately that didn't happen.

Why is it so "inevitable?"

If super conferences are coming, the Pac needs to expand by four. You really think they are going to pass on Texas and Oklahoma? All sides will come to their collective senses sooner (no pun intended) rather than later and realize what a potential boom that marriage will be. Texas Tech and OSU will join them. Bon voyage Big 12.

That seems much more "inevitable" than the ACC disintegrating.

 

[Crusty]

Orangenirvana has the most important point. What happens with the Pac 12 will tell the final story.

 

[kyleslamb]

Why is it so "inevitable?"

If super conferences are coming, the Pac needs to expand by four. You really think they are going to pass on Texas and Oklahoma? All sides will come to their collective senses sooner (no pun intended) rather than later and realize what a potential boom that marriage will be. Texas Tech and OSU will join them. Bon voyage Big 12.

That seems much more "inevitable" than the ACC disintegrating.

The Pac-12 had the chance to take Oklahoma and Oklahoma State last year and passed on them. And if they'd taken that next step, they may have had an inside track on getting Texas when the Big 12 died. Now the Big 12 has a much stronger television contract to give very little reason for them to leave, even if we ignore whether or not the Grant of Rights will make it unlikely for a conference to poach.

As far as superconferences being inevitable, well we've been inching closer to it for three years and I don't think I've seen a single industry guy with an opinion that it's not going to happen. It seems like everyone agrees it will, but it's just a matter of who and when and how.

 

[tep624]

The same guys throwing these doomsday scenarios around are same ones insistent that TV $$ means everything to every school out there and that couldn't be further from the truth. Just because MD jumped because of that (basically the ACC's version of a crackwhore on the corner), it doesn't mean every single school values that as the #1 reason for conference affiliation. Its a factor, but some schools aren't going to sell out their academic affiliation or tradition for more TV money.

The Big East implosion was caused by the sheer lack of cohesion of the conference from Day 1 - it was a conference of schools that chose to be together for athletic purposes and really athletic purposes only. The fact that some of the schools were strong academically was a coincidence, and it had little geographic cohesion (speaking of the FB portion of the conference). The ACC is a completely different beast - and the only school that really qualifies as being there for athletic purposes first, in my opinion, is FSU. And the two biggest outliers in the conference, prior to the ACC's first round of expansion, were MD and FSU. That's why the two of them have been rumored as expansion candidates for other conferences for years.

 

[NKR1978]

The Pac-12 had the chance to take Oklahoma and Oklahoma State last year and passed on them. And if they'd taken that next step, they may have had an inside track on getting Texas when the Big 12 died. Now the Big 12 has a much stronger television contract to give very little reason for them to leave, even if we ignore whether or not the Grant of Rights will make it unlikely for a conference to poach.

As far as superconferences being inevitable, well we've been inching closer to it for three years and I don't think I've seen a single industry guy with an opinion that it's not going to happen. It seems like everyone agrees it will, but it's just a matter of who and when and how.

The four schools chosen by the Pac and whatever schools the ACC and B1G throw a life vest to will simply vote to dissolve the Big 12... and there goes the GOR. The idea that the Big 12 GOR is a bar to the Big 12 being raided is laughable.

 

[kyleslamb]

The four schools chosen by the Pac and whatever schools the ACC and B1G throw a life vest to will simply vote to dissolve the Big 12... and there goes the GOR. The idea that the Big 12 GOR is a bar to the Big 12 being raided is laughable.

And I made it clear that I'm ignoring the Grant of Rights aspect because I think not enough is truly known about it yet since there are only scattered reports about its makeup. But like I said, even ignoring the GOR, there's really not much reason for Texas or Oklahoma to leave now. They have a rights deal that is comparable to the Pac-12 and could potentially go pick off Florida State, Miami and others. I just don't see a reason for them to go.

The Pac-12 had an opportunity to get it done last year. If they'd done it, a lot could be or would be different. But now they will have uphill sledding if it wants to pluck off anyone from the Big 12.

 

[NKR1978]

And I made it clear that I'm ignoring the Grant of Rights aspect because I think not enough is truly known about it yet since there are only scattered reports about its makeup. But like I said, even ignoring the GOR, there's really not much reason for Texas or Oklahoma to leave now. They have a rights deal that is comparable to the Pac-12 and could potentially go pick off Florida State, Miami and others. I just don't see a reason for them to go.

The Pac-12 had an opportunity to get it done last year. If they'd done it, a lot could be or would be different. But now they will have uphill sledding if it wants to pluck off anyone from the Big 12.

Meh. Texas and Oklahoma get to be in a demographically better and richer neighborhood. Texas especially gets to play with schools it considers its peers. Other than Kansas and Texas and maybe TCU/Oklahoma the Big 12 is a really poor academic conference. That actually does mean a lot. There's a reason why no school has gone to a worse academic conference. The ACC, B1G and Pac are the three best academic conferences. Texas will want to rub shoulders with Stanford, Northwestern or Duke. Once the ACC solidifies, which seems to be happening, it can make a play for Texas.

 

[Whitey23]

@darrenrovell: ACC suing Maryland for $52.2 million exit fee. Maryland's entire athletics budget this year? $57.7 million.

 

[TheOrangeBuddha]

I said the same thing at the top of this thread for number 1. It could be unenforceable that actual damage harm done to the ACC is not close three times there payout distribution which is the 50 million dollar and the end result is strictly punitive damages being sough. I think it will be an interesting case.

It's similar to stipulating to liability and damages. The parties that made up the ACC agreed that should one of their own decide to leave the league they would be liable to the others and the damages that would incur would be equal to three times the league operating budget or $52M.

Once you've stipulated to liability and damages the only way out of it is to prove that you were coerced into agreeing to the deal or some other fraud or equitable argument.

 

[retro44]

Meh. Texas and Oklahoma get to be in a demographically better and richer neighborhood. Texas especially gets to play with schools it considers its peers. Other than Kansas and Texas and maybe TCU/Oklahoma the Big 12 is a really poor academic conference. That actually does mean a lot. There's a reason why no school has gone to a worse academic conference. The ACC, B1G and Pac are the three best academic conferences. Texas will want to rub shoulders with Stanford, Northwestern or Duke. Once the ACC solidifies, which seems to be happening, it can make a play for Texas.

WVU?

 

[Crusty]

The amount could be argued in equity.

 

[retro44]

@darrenrovell: ACC suing Maryland for $52.2 million exit fee. Maryland's entire athletics budget this year? $57.7 million.

With airfare and travel expenses most likely to multiply,adding back some,if not all the teams they cut out of sports, it will take them a lot longer to recoup their mistake of leaving the ACC.

They have a very small stadium to begin with,but being a bottom feeder with only piss of the donors even more.Lacrosse will end up like the football team,back in the dumps.

does rutgirls/big really think mich.,wisc.and osu fans will go to pissaway to watch rutgirls plays indiana for the rights to last place in their division, or even watch the game on t.v.

 

[javadoc]

Sounds right to me. There's a lot of money and some principles at stake here.

Love reading your posts even if I don't agree with them, but this is the most succinct and "agreeable" post of yours I think I have ever seen.

 

[retro44]

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/sports/acc-vs-university-of-maryland-college-park/154/