I think what is now beginning to emerge is Aresco and Benedict seem to have some fairly long standing animosity between them. Perhaps giving away our Tier 3 rights was Aresco's way of flipping the double eagle bird at Benedict. Yes, we wanted to leave before the media contract was finalized, but Benedict thought he could booze and schmooze Aresco long enough to talk him into some accomodation for keeping football in the AAC.
I Think I know what's coming. We file a lawsuit against the AAC on fiduciary grounds and a total lack of transparency on the media rights deal. The league countersues. Then WWIII breaks out.
This suit will likely be long term and potentially devestating, possibly running easily into millions of dollars in attorney's fees and court costs. Nobody wins.
So early on, you float a trial balloon. You get together with Mr. Aresco, talk about how you don't know why the relationship got out of hand, and you make a proposal to him. UConn stays in the AAC, you can decrease or totally eliminate our annual share of the bowl revenue. We should stand firm on only one point: we should at least get our usual share of the bowl revenue from any bowls we play in. You work out all the other details, lawsuit is over and everybody parts friends.
One other thing that I hesitate to
mention. If Aresco is any good at his job, he'll no doubt mention the exit fee. I think we should agree to pay something, but nowhere near the full 10 million. We did remove our Olympic sports teams, which has a value attached to it. I'd say we offer three, he counters with seven, and we end somewhere in
between, hopefully 4 or 4.50
I think Aresco will go for this if Benedict plays his cards correctly. He could even propose it before filing suit, though in the mood Aresco's in right now Benedict would likely get tossed from the room by a couple of burly Providence wiseguys.
As for selling it to the conference membership, I think Aresco may have one small problem wih that. Assuming they are unanimous in wanting to see UConn in their rear view mirror, they'd all side with Aresco, right? But if the lawsuit is filed, they're then collectively on the hook for the legal fees and expenses. Right now Tulsa is in pretty dire shape financially across the board. The media deal probably greatly favors them. They don't want to see it all get eaten up by endless attorney's fees and costs, and they can't afford it. They're going to want to settle. They will likely talk with SMU and Tulsa, who may also agree, even though the money issue doesn't affect them as badly as Tulsa. If these three schools get together on this, I think we have a good chance to settle it early before it turns into Kevin Ollie, Part II.
This whole mess is just another example of our AD and school administration deciding to do something without thinking it through, like a toddler who slips and falls into the deep end of a pool with no life jacket on.
OK, the story leaked. Hahaha...what a surprise! These stories always leak. Tell somebody something over cocktails at dinner, swear them to secrecy, and then the whole world knows tomorrow. We should have been fully prepared for that contingency. We were not. Same old story. We look like village idiots nationally.
BTW, I think I read somewhere (don't ask me to remember where) that ESPN had decided they won't try to renegotiate the AAC media deal.
