U
UConn9604
Unanimous votes are not required to amend the bylaws. There are rules for how many affirmative votes are required to pass bylaws. Unanimous votes are not required in the court system either, and the judges should understand this.
That's not the point. 12 teams went into a meeting as members of a group, and the price of leaving the group was $20.
Then, a rule change was made to increase the price of leaving the group to $52. What are your options at that point? You're already in the group and you cannot get out for $20 because you just lost a 10-2 vote.
The only recourse that any member of the ACC has in response to an unfair practice of the league is to leave it. Yet the unfair practice in question increased the cost of doing so. Is that fair?
Note that we haven't even discussed the principles of liquidated damages, which exist to prescribe contractual damages in the event of a breach, where the damages are difficult to quantify, where the amount is reasonable based on the harm caused and the difficulty in finding replacement performance, and if the number is structured as a damage -- not as a "penalty." The ACC is going to have an impossible time proving "damages" when it had numerous suitors-in-waiting when Maryland left (including us) and actually upgraded in all sports except lacrosse.
I'd put the over/under on Maryland's "damages" at $26 million (or half) and I'm taking the under. Heavy.