I think the idea is once the check clears then they will all have somewhere to go by then and vote to disband. At least I suspect (hope!) that is the plan.
Big10 - Pac12 - ACC Merger
- Thread starter Beach_Tornado
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I think the idea is once the check clears then they will all have somewhere to go by then and vote to disband. At least I suspect (hope!) that is the plan.
I think their interests would be far better served in negotiations than in court. The harder they fight, the more they could potentially be on the hook for, and protracting the issue in court adds very real damages that increase as time passes.
It’s easier and more predictable to settle and leave early.
The leftovers know that they can wait out OU and UT - the ball is in their court. If they do nothing, they pay $150M to leave in 2025. The Big 12 could always negotiate entry into the Pac-12 or whatever for 2026, and play one weird year as an 8-team league in which they each get about $20M windfalls. OU and UT have to move first.
Maryland dragged it out for two years and ended up paying I think some $20+ million less in exit fees to the ACC than was supposedly mandated by conference rules.
The ACC jacked up its exit fee almost immediately before Maryland announced it was leaving (I guess Maryland/B1G was leakier than UT or OU) and then withheld distributions to Maryland in the intervening years.
Ironically, Maryland’s countersuit alleged that the ACC - under ESPN’s direction - tried to persuade two Big Ten schools to leave for the ACC. Maryland did not name those schools, but the allegation was clearly a signal that they knew the ACC’s dirty laundry and would air it as a nuclear option.
Neither of these are really on point for the Big 12, especially the dirty laundry thing, because the conference is already held in such low regard that every school in it wants to leave it. And the Big 12 seems to have legal counsel telling them to treat OU and UT normally and don’t do anything that could make its way into a countersuit.
I still imagine that this will settle for less than we think OU and UT are contractually bound to pay, but probably not for very much less, and maybe not at all if the eight Big 12 schools have nowhere to go. If a settlement means relegation to a G5 type league a couple years earlier than otherwise would happen, I don’t think the eight schools would be keen to settle.
They also didn't have options 10 years ago. Last chance for a better conference was about 100 years ago.
No, that's part of my point. Even with a healthy ACC Maryland dragged it out and paid way less. If OuT and the SECESPN think there's a chance that the Big 12 will cease to exist by members leaving if they can drag it out in the courts long enough and ultimately not have to pay a dime, why wouldn't they?
Because you can add the cost of dragging it out onto the long term damages that you may well have to pay. There is little doubt that their actions caused immense damage to the remaining 8 schools. Maryland leaving the ACC had negligible impact on the conference long term.
I get that. All I'm saying is if they drag it out long enough and the Big 12 disappears, short the legal fees, would they have to pay anything for leaving early and violating conference bylaws to a conference that no longer exists?
Cause the schools that were hurt financially would still exist. For example, if Baylor were to be sent to the AAC they'd be able to argue that OuT's actions caused the breakup and are liable for the damages to the TV contract. It may not be the league that's filing suit, but the individual schools themselves that do.
I think the difference with Maryland is that the remaining ACC teams weren't really hurt by the move. If OuT leave before 2025 and ESPN wants to renegotiate the TV contract, that's a direct damage to the remaining schools revenue. Now, if ESPN says they'll continue the current per school revenue through the end of the contract, that's a different story and the Big12 schools may not have a case to bring. But I just don't see that happening.
Then they will pay, how this played out no one left is going to leave anything on the table. You want to go pay it out. Nothing much they the rest of us can do.
6 schools would have to leave to eliminate the conference. Dont see that happening anytime soon.
That would be REALLY stupid on their part…they could end up with some jury making them pay a $billion in punitive damages. That’s the last thing they want…nor does ESPN/SEC want to get dragged into a tortious interference case in which discovery exposes ALL of their internal communications. They are going to settle…bank on it.
Exactly. The GOR money through 2025 is significant, but the big money lawsuit is $20 million (at least) per year lost revenue * a 10 year (at least) media deal * however many R8 schools don't find a good-paying home because OU/UT/ESPN/SEC broke the Big 12 bylaws and colluded against the Remaining 8 members and prevented them from getting a new P5-paying media contract.
And that's why recent statements by the UT president at the Texas legislature hearing that UT/OU had been talking for "awhile" to the SEC and Finebaum recently mouthing off in his podcast that he "knows for a fact" that David Boren had been talking to the SEC 5-6 years ago are just plain mind-boggling. These guys just making the case for the R8.
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