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MEGA Conference Realignment and lawsuits Megathread: Stories, Tales, Lies, and Exaggerations

TheOriginalCane said:
First of all, I've never said anything is "impossible"in an absolute sense.

But here's why you shouldn't go charging up any unknown hills. Because you don't know what you are talking about. You keep yapping about the ACC Constitution, and that's not the operative document. Sorry. Also, you don't know how assignment of rights works.

Second, what you don't realize is that there are two separate contracts. There was the FIRST contract, the "Grant of Rights" proper, where the member institutions assigned their rights to the ACC in exchange for blood-oaths or whatever else they swore when they said they want to be togetha foreva.

BUT THEN, the ACC assigned those rights to ESPN in consideration for the TV deal. I'm not sure why you keep ignoring that part of the process, though it's at least the second time I've said it.

So, sure, IN THEORY, you could have whatever percentage of the ACC that you think is necessary vote to rescind the original GOR. But there's only one problem with your brilliant legal strategery. And that is, the ACC doesn't have the rights any longer. The ACC flipped those rights over to ESPN, AND NOW YOU WOULD NEED ESPN TO VOLUNTARILY RETURN THE RIGHTS TO THE ACC. Which ain't happenin', cap'n, not without some sort of huge negotiation and compromise.

You can't give something and then take it back.

View attachment 240993

The reality is that the ACC members can vote whatever they want on the GOR, but the ACC doesn't have the rights to return to the schools. Therefore, the member institutions need to kill the ACC, which then kills the TV contract, which then makes ESPN's retention of rights worthless.

But I realize you are just going to keep going on and on and on about the ACC Constitution. Which has no bearing or relevance here.

Carry on.
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Ok wait a minute, so basically the GOR simply means 1 or some schools cant leave, they all have to. So whats the requirements to kill the ACC? How many votes does it take?
 
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supacane said:
Ok wait a minute, so basically the GOR simply means 1 or some schools cant leave, they all have to. So whats the requirements to kill the ACC? How many votes does it take?
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Over half of the League will have to be ready to leave, or else, any votes to allow an exit will simply be denied by the majority. It would take 8 teams (we have 14 full time members, plus ND who DOES have a vote).
 
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calinative umstudent said:
...no it's viewed as impossible to kill OR CHANGE he GOR outright due to how many votes it would take. Not because it is impossible lol...As in it would take either 2/3rd or 3/4ths vote - can't remember which it says it would take in the ACC constitution I literally linker earlier. And schools wouldn't voluntarily vote for that because the bottom like 7-9 schools have little to no shot at getting Into SEC/B10. That is literally why I said the schools like Miami could offer a $100M as a buyout to leave and then all schools can vote to adjust GOR to allow certain schools to exit GOR & conference. It's really not complicated.

Again since you want to act so smart, explain HOW if ESPN owns our specific media rights how we are able to get out of it if the ACC was voted to dissolve? Explain this to me. Now explain to me why a full agreement among all members of this conference can't amend the GOR and allow programs to exit. You may want me to be wrong, but what you're saying makes zero logical sense. Our agreement is not with ESPN. ESPN holds our rights through the ACC. If we agree with the ACC to change that, ESPN doesn't continue to own us. If that was impossible so would the idea that we'd be freed from a GOR if the ACC died. You can't have it both ways.
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You talk about logical sense. Ask yourself this, logically: where does the money come from?

ESPN pays for the right to broadcast the games. We haven’t seen the GOR, but there is a fairly strong chance every acc member-institution directly signed the GOR with ESPN. Otherwise, as TOC said, the rights were assigned.

ESPN is where the $$ comes from. They have a seat at the table. Idk how you don’t realize this.
 
scrantoncane said:
You talk about logical sense. Ask yourself this, logically: where does the money come from?

ESPN pays for the right to broadcast the games. We haven’t seen the GOR, but there is a fairly strong chance every acc member-institution directly signed the GOR with ESPN. Otherwise, as TOC said, the rights were assigned.

ESPN is where the $$ comes from. They have a seat at the table. Idk how you don’t realize this.
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its not each school direct with espn - it’s with conference, which then assigns to espn via deal. So net effect is same
 
Ispyin said:
its not each school direct with espn - it’s with conference, which then assigns to espn via deal. So net effect is same
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I get that. But some contracts would have all parties directly sign, as opposed to someone from the acc signing. How something like this would be handled would probably be found in the acc governing documents.
 
supacane said:
Ok wait a minute, so basically the GOR simply means 1 or some schools cant leave, they all have to. So whats the requirements to kill the ACC? How many votes does it take?
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Wow .... guess you haven't followed this thread in detail. Dissolution of the ACC conference takes a majority vote so that would mean 8 programs voting to dissolve. According to "reports" from multiple sources there are more than 8 ACC programs that are interested in leaving the ACC and are actively doing back channel work on firming up solid invitations to other conferences. The big media brands will have invites to the BIG 10 and or SEC and the Big 12 will be extending invites to several of the others that don't have Big 10 and SEC options. I expect this is going to be something like the PGA and LIV deal ... with ESPN at some point agreeing to some type of "facilitation" to avoid crazy litigation expenses.

At the Amelia Island ACC meeting a couple of weeks ago the "magnificent seven" shook up the meeting by openly raising the topic of working together to leave the conference.

Those 7 programs are:
-Clemson
-FSU
-Miami
-Va Tech
-NC State
-UNC
-UVA

It was also reported that Louisville had received an invite to the Big 12 ... which is positioning itself at THE BB conference (going after UCONN and Gonzaga).
Then there were comments that ND would also be very interested in getting out of the ACC ... so that give you 9 programs. The BIG 12 could very well be interested in Syracuse and possibly Duke and Pitt. Lot of speculation but also a lot of high priced AD's investing a lot of time and effort, along with their legal staffs, to develop a viable exit. You dissolve the ACC conference then the ACCN has nothing to broadcast.
 
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scrantoncane said:
I get that. But some contracts would have all parties directly sign, as opposed to someone from the acc signing. How something like this would be handled would probably be found in the acc governing documents.
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Somebody posted the original 4 page GOR that was executed in 2013. The ACC GOR "an agreement by and among the ACC Conference and each of the following entities" .... and each program AD was a signatory along with the ACC commissioner.
 
Rickd said:
Wow .... guess you haven't followed this thread in detail. Dissolution of the ACC conference takes a majority vote so that would mean 8 programs voting to dissolve. According to "reports" from multiple sources there are more than 8 ACC programs that are interested in leaving the ACC and are actively doing back channel work on firming up solid invitations to other conferences. The big media brands will have invites to the BIG 10 and or SEC and the Big 12 will be extending invites to several of the others that don't have Big 10 and SEC options. I expect this is going to be something like the PGA and LIV deal ... with ESPN at some point agreeing to some type of "facilitation" to avoid crazy litigation expenses.

At the Amelia Island ACC meeting a couple of weeks ago the "magnificent seven" shook up the meeting by openly raising the topic of working together to leave the conference.

Those 7 programs are:
-Clemson
-FSU
-Miami
-Va Tech
-NC State
-UNC
-UVA

It was also reported that Louisville had received an invite to the Big 12 ... which is positioning itself at THE BB conference (going after UCONN and Gonzaga).
Then there were comments that ND would also be very interested in getting out of the ACC ... so that give you 9 programs. The BIG 12 could very well be interested in Syracuse and possibly Duke and Pitt. Lot of speculation but also a lot of high priced AD's investing a lot of time and effort, along with their legal staffs, to develop a viable exit. You dissolve the ACC conference then the ACCN has nothing to broadcast.
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Yeah i barely post on this sub section, im mainly on the recruiting section. I check ever so often and last time i was of the impression that they votes were to dissolve the GOR but i understand it better now. Guessing maybe 2 schools will go Big Ten, 2 SEC and the other 4 Big 12? Or how are they posturing the confirmed leavers.
 
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@TheOriginalCane curious, what's your take on Washington? We're not hearing a ton of interest from the B1G, at least compared to other schools. They get the second most federal funding for research in the entire country - behind only JHU. They're easily a top 6 football brand not currently in the SEC/B1G, at least imo. They're definitely top 6 in terms of TV ratings. I get why UNC seems attractive, but I feel like Washington checks all the same boxes, but better.

Is it just location wise they won't join the SEC, and right now we're only hearing about the programs that both conferences have an interest in?
 
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scrantoncane said:
I get that. But some contracts would have all parties directly sign, as opposed to someone from the acc signing. How something like this would be handled would probably be found in the acc governing documents.
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I’m telling you it’s not handled directly by each school in this case or any other. The acc signs
 
Dari Jabs said:
@TheOriginalCane curious, what's your take on Washington? We're not hearing a ton of interest from the B1G, at least compared to other schools. They get the second most federal funding for research in the entire country - behind only JHU. They're easily a top 6 football brand not currently in the SEC/B1G, at least imo. They're definitely top 6 in terms of TV ratings. I get why UNC seems attractive, but I feel like Washington checks all the same boxes, but better.

Is it just location wise they won't join the SEC, and right now we're only hearing about the programs that both conferences have an interest in?
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Look, I don't disagree with you in certain regards. Lots of posters want to make Oregon the big don in the Pacific Northwest, but that's just because of Nike and Phil Knight. Washington has the stronger overall resume, and has Seattle as a market as well, which beats out any TV market in Oregon.

I think the same things are true for both of them, though. From the standpoint of most of the rest of the country, they are out of sight and out of mind. Very few people outside of the northwest follow those schools or care about those schools. And while that is harsh, what are we supposed to do about it?

I think it's pretty telling how the Big 10 went from "of course Washington/Oregon are next" to "not so fast, my friend". I just think the numbers for TV are SOOOOO bad compared to east coast teams that it really doesn't matter (for now) about "federal funding" or anything else. It's also telling that USC and UCLA are not really concerned with them or lobbying to get Washington/Oregon.

I've tried to say it multiple times. This is not just a linear "see, we have good ratings in our home market" kind of a situation. You have to look at the synergies at every level, you are no longer arguing "Your markets + My market = an increase".

Washington is a worthy school with minimal east-coast appeal. I think Washington gets in if the Big 10 goes to 24 teams.
 
Pretty sure someone may have said. I aint digging through 300 pages. Do they have any kind of timeline in mind?

In my mind, just the announcement of that 'magnificent 7' earlier, im thinking they may have a resolution before the start of the season.
 
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