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Message: [QUOTE="upstater, post: 4831710, member: 153"] I agree with most of what you're saying here, but if you're contracted to give me a lot of money from 2027-2036, I'm going to do my best to make sure you can't get out of it. ESPN has roped themselves into a noose on this one. It's easy to break up a conference when the exit fees and the grant of rights are within a much smaller range, but when they extend so far into the future? It's an enormous amount of money that creates huge incentives for the remaining schools. ESPN has never faced this before. Is it possible that ESPN can talk to 4 schools TOGETHER about leaving for the B12? Yes. But that would be an incredibly risky gamble given the huge stakes. When there's a pittance in the conference coffers, schools are much less willing to sue. When there's an incredible amount there, and when ESPN has already signaled they're getting out of the business of megacontracts, you're going to have legal blowback finally against ESPN. Simply put, the deal ESPN made (huge money for extended period of TV rights) was too big for both ESPN and for the ACC. (It's great for the likes of Syracuse and BC though). [/QUOTE]