Is something about to happen?

[dayooper]

Do you think AAU membership is a hardline requirement for entry into the Big 10? Because UConn is more than a few years away from membership. Realistically, we may never get in.

No. I don't. I never have. I believe that the schools must have an AAU type profile and UConn has moved in that direction. I really don't know if I'm correct or not. We know that certain non-AAU schools have been looked at outside of ND. Oklahoma and FSU come to mind. Why would they look at these schools if they had no chance?

Jim Delany has a way of planting seeds. He (or a Big10 President) had a conversation with UMD President Loh several years before the move was discussed. He talked Big10 with UNL years before as well. I can't find it, but shortly after the Rutgers/UMD move was made, he made a comment on how UConn really surprised him with their metrics. It was a brief comment, but it seem ed to indicate that they were looking at UConn. Does that mean UConn was vetted? Absolutely not. Does it mean they were looked at? Probably.

AAU is a dream for many universities. I don't know if UConn will ever get in, but it seems if they are heading for that profile. Whether they get a Big10 invite or not, the investment will payoff with a better school. In the long run, isn't that what universities are for, education and not sports entertainment?

 

[Sea Goat]

This is how it plays out.

1. Team leaves conference A for conference B.

2. At its first home game in conference B, Team doesn't let Conference A's announcers in.

3. Networks sues for specific performance. Judge says I don't have to get to likelihood of success on the merits because there is no harm that money (a reduction in the fees being paid by the network to conference A) can't cure.

4. Network asks Conference A to replace the departing team with a satisfactory replacement if it wants the same money. Conference A replaces the departing team with the best replacement available and negotiates with network on whether there is a reduction in TV rights and by how much.

5. If there is a reduction, A sues departing team to pay it. Departing team either pays it or claims it doesn't owe anything because the GOR was never valid as punitive damages or challenges the whole structure of the conference taking its members TV rights as an antitrust violation based on the new O'Bannon ruling.

6. The parties settle for less than the conference wants and more than the departing member wants to pay.

7. Life goes on.

It's really that simple folks. The GOR adds uncertainty to a departing member, and is therefor something of a disincentive, but it's not going to be specifically enforceable so this is still going to come down to money damages. The ACC's loss because VPI is replaced by Cincy is what? It's not in the tens of millions a year.

Not dissimilar to an analysis on the FTT blog in August, 2013. My take is that there are conference members and then there are conference members... If FSU leaves the ACC, it creates a lot more havoc and financial impact than if a Wake or BC left. The money impact would dictate. Chances are that the media buyers would cut payouts in one scenario but not in the other. Does it create a special class of your most valuable conference members to essentially pay a TBD additional exit fee? I think so. It will never be referred to as such, but isn't that the net effect? The analysis of actual damages would be pretty simple to determine it seems - I suppose ESPN could say a FSU departure will reduce media payout by a $100mm and a BC departure would reduce said payout by say $1mm.

Ironically, a conference (ACC in this scenario) would have to plead that a FSU departure caused significant damages thus warranting a significant settlement for breach of the GOR because ESPN said so. A FSU departure perhaps would cause significant monetary impact, but once that happened wouldn't the ACC be listing 30 degrees to port anyways? Certainly, the ACC would have a perception problem by virtue of pleading a case claiming the FSU departure is a near mortal blow. Can't have it both ways - plead that you have suffered huge damages and also claim you are strong as ever? Swofford will need a thick prayer rug if he attempts that.

If a FSU leaves, how much will new conference payout be? Will new conference help cushion the blow brought on by say FSU departing the ACC? When you have the B1G and SEC primed to get north of $40mm per soon, there is enough money around. I must say, if in the end, the ACC becomes what it set about to destroy - the old BE - just able to throw a lavish funeral reception - I'm good.

In a perverse way, doesn't the GOR just guarantee that if the best of the ACC leaves, the remnants essentially will just have more "exit fees" to split up when they too end up in the gulag.

 

[businesslawyer]

is something about to happen?

Are you asking me? I have no reason to think that something is. But the GORs, while making "something happening" somewhat more difficult, will not actually stop it from happening when it's otherwise ready to happen. That was my point.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Are you asking me?

I think he comically meant between you and BillyBud.

 

[pj]

I think he comically meant between you and BillyBud.

Bidwell Tavern. 11 pm. Billybud, be there or bizlaw will come for you.

 

[CTMike]

Whether they get a Big10 invite or not, the investment will payoff with a better school. In the long run, isn't that what universities are for, education and not sports entertainment?

Crazy talk!!

 

[billybud]

is something about to happen?

Hell no...internet tough guys abound.....

Just another form of internet bully. Call someone on an issue and they want to get personal.

The guy knows, or should know, he hashed up liquidated damages with the consignment of media rights....in term of how "punitive" applies..

Not that I claim much experience in the area.

 

[RMoore1999]

Bidwell Tavern. 11 pm. Billybud, be there or bizlaw will come for you.

Hopefully someone brings a ruler...

 

[Rappin'Rodney]

Hopefully someone brings a ruler...

Forget the ruler. Let's do this right.

 

[Athlete94]

Nothing will happen soon, but something will happen with the next shift. All the signs are there we just need to be patient. Diaco will right the ship, the Rent will be expanded and UC will have a new home in the BIG.

 

[CL82]

Conspiracy Kitty says:
And now it looks like ND will join a conference....
Conference realignment dead?
I.....think....not.

 

[pj]

Conference realignment dead?
I.....think....not.

Totally wrong, Conspiracy Kitty. The yellow school is going to connect with the green conference.