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

Rickd said:
Not sure where you came up with that ... but ... it IS being discussed in North Carolina. They have been discussing the fact that the State Legislature has established a goal of INCREASING SPORTS TOURISM in North Carolina and they want to do all they can to protect the estimated $500-$600 Million dollar annual economic impact on the Charlotte metro area that ACC Conference activities bring to the region (championship events for different sports, meetings, etc.). It has been mentioned that they are evaluating some financial assistance to UNC and possibly other NC universities to close the gap between the ACC and the SEC that exists due to the different media deals.
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The BOG tied NCSU to UNC. Unless they have a change of heart (not happening within the next 4 years bc of who is appointed to the BOG). UNC is only gone if NCSU also gets a spot elsewhere as well, that’s equivalent.

-First option is reconstructing the ACC and its deal to get more money. Highly unlikely. ESPN has all the leverage.

-Second option is getting spots elsewhere for both schools.

-Third option is UNC cutting Olympic sports. They have 28 varsity teams. They aren’t making money bc of that. But they refuse to cut bc they have so much success with them. And outside of basketball that’s the only success they have. The only alternative to this is convincing the US Olympic committee to fund them.

Fourth option is staying out and asking for public funding for sports. That will never pass. The legislature will look at UNC and tell them to cut sports or shut up. There’s no reason why they should be allowed to have so many worthless money pit sports, funded by taxes, that no other university gets. They’ll have to be club sports that are funded by the players themselves or private donations.
 
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Damiencane86 said:
I just wanna be in a world where we play most of our traditional rivals + other schools I despise yearly:

FSU
UFag
Notre Lame
Pitt
Syracuse
West Virginia
Pedo State
UNC
Louisville

Then insert 3 random rotational crap schools yearly but gimme those 9 all the time
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So you will be a perneiial 7-3/6-4 team. It is what it is
 
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Damiencane86 said:
I just wanna be in a world where we play most of our traditional rivals + other schools I despise yearly:

FSU
UFag
Notre Lame
Pitt
Syracuse
West Virginia
Pedo State
UNC
Louisville

Then insert 3 random rotational crap schools yearly but gimme those 9 all the time
Click to expand...
Cuse? WV? Louisville? I dont care at all about playing these teams. Give me a Big Ten schedule with Ohio State, Nebraska etc. Teams that we have actually played for national championships... Those are way more compelling games than playing cuse on bally sports.
 
Yeah, I think the reporting on the espn contract has been very poor. It would be nice if the florida attorney general could actually get a copy released. I don't see how they have an opt out in 2025. That doesn't make sense and doesn't with the GOR. I would assume they had some sort of look-in to look at the profitability of the ACC Network based on what kind of coverage they were getting across the market.

Bottom line is the ACC Network is profitable. FSU and Clemson will certainly lose the lawsuits. Only question is if the ACC would entertain a settlement. I don't see how one is feasible before 2030.
 
rascon said:
My main takeaway here is there is a very likely path for the ACC to survive post FSU/Clemson. The ACC is going to do all it can to stick around and try to beat out B12 as the long term biggest non P2 conference. Totally see them trying to woo USF or UCF to replace FSU.

I think long term there’s probably 4-5 Big 12 schools the ACC would like to poach and there’s probably 3-4 ACC schools (Miami included) the Big 12 would like to poach. Whoever can do the poaching first will eventually win that battle.

Won’t happen anytime soon, but a joint merger by Big 12 and ACC to create a super league of their best teams would really kick things into motion for a top 60 super league of 3 conferences
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ACC already lost that battle to the Big 12, who will pick up the remaining schools of any value after UNC, FSU and Clemson leave.
 
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OK, here is probably the ultimate evidence that that ******* douche bag genetics is clueless. There is absolutely no way that Ucla has veto rights on ACC or others joining the Big Ten. No way not a chance never going to happen. Fundamental and total complete bull****.

I could see where last year they might have been told they were not going to expand to other West Coast schools and so maybe something was in play on Oregon and Washington because of a promised, West Coast Monopoly for at least a period of time not instantly evaporating, but the rest of this is total bull****

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NorthernVirginiaCane said:
Yeah, I think the reporting on the espn contract has been very poor. It would be nice if the florida attorney general could actually get a copy released. I don't see how they have an opt out in 2025. That doesn't make sense and doesn't with the GOR. I would assume they had some sort of look-in to look at the profitability of the ACC Network based on what kind of coverage they were getting across the market.

Bottom line is the ACC Network is profitable. FSU and Clemson will certainly lose the lawsuits. Only question is if the ACC would entertain a settlement. I don't see how one is feasible before 2030.
Click to expand...

Please explain…. 2030…. Not 2029…. 2031. 2030???
 
NorthernVirginiaCane said:
Yeah, I think the reporting on the espn contract has been very poor. It would be nice if the florida attorney general could actually get a copy released. I don't see how they have an opt out in 2025. That doesn't make sense and doesn't with the GOR. I would assume they had some sort of look-in to look at the profitability of the ACC Network based on what kind of coverage they were getting across the market.

Bottom line is the ACC Network is profitable. FSU and Clemson will certainly lose the lawsuits. Only question is if the ACC would entertain a settlement. I don't see how one is feasible before 2030.
Click to expand...
You have it all wrong. There is no "opt out" for ESPN in 2025. The way this has taken place is:

-ESPN media agreement has a termination date of June 30, 2027. That is the current expiration date of
the ESPN media agreement ... and due to the wording of the GOR ... that it was created specifically to support the
ESPN media agreement ... the GOR expires with the media agreement.
-The ACC granted ESPN an OPTION TO EXTEND the media agreement for 9 additional years. That option expired
in January 2021 and was NOT exercised by ESPN.
-Jim Phillips, Swofford's replacement, UNILATERALLY granted ESPN an new option with an exercise date expiring
on February 2, 2025. Phillips granted this new option WITHOUT MEMBER 2/3 APPROVAL AS REQUIRED BY
THE ACC BYLAWS. Therefore there is a high probability that ESPN could not exercise the "illegal option" even if
they so desired.
-The wording that has leaked regarding the ESPN MEDIA AGREEMENT is even more problematic for Phillips and the ACC
given that their goal is to mislead the members into believing they are committed through 2036. The ESPN media agreement
is said to include the wording "this agreement is in effect while a member institution remains a member of the conference".
The ESPN media agreement STATES it's rights to broadcast a schools games is in effect ONLY while the school is a conference
member. A schools leaves, paying the conference exit fee, and they leave WITH their future media rights in tact.

The Florida AG is awaiting a copy of the ESPN media agreement requested from the ACC, while Clemson has already received an unredacted copy ... under an order of confidentiality. They cannot publicly disclose it's contents or share it with any other ACC member ... it can only be used
in the court proceedings in the SC Clemson suit. FSU and Clemson are both in a position of strength going forward to win the suits and that is a primary reason that ESPN will most likely pressure the ACC to settle, and likely very soon. I expect FSU to be playing in another conference in 2026.

Basically your take on the current status appears to be inaccurate on every count.
 
Cajuncane said:
Am I wrong that the 70 million your talking about is only for one season cause that 260 million from FSU/Clemson leaving is a one time payout so a one time split between the teams?
After that one time split all the teams then go back to just 53 million going forward wouldn't they?
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good catch. You might be right, but I think the current contract says espn can only renegotiate the deal if the number of teams drop below 15.

ACC added 3 teams so it stays above the number. ESPN could try and sue but I don’t think it has much of a case as the deal didnt say which 15 teams have to be included. So the money that would have gone to Clemson and FSU still goes to the ACC each year.

Remember espn will now make an insane amount of money off the carriage fees for getting into Texas and California markets. UNC fan living in California and want that ACC network? Your bill is about to go way up.

ESPN already had a sweetheart deal, whatever money in might have lost by not carrying a handful of games played by FSU and Clemson with high ratings will be more than offset by the California and Texas carriage fees. Next years payouts will be around 50 million per team in the current contract. So that’s about 100 million per year going to the 15 ACC teams through the end of the deal (end of 2027) in the current deal if the Clemson and FSU shares get distributed. That’s about 7 million per team. So now at 57 million. Spread the one time 260 million buyout over 3 years between 15 teams and its around another 7 million (rounding up).
So the ACC teams would be getting 64 million each.

Now there is the rumor that the ACC is looking at BYU. That’s the Mormon Notre Dame. Big fan base across the country and more carriage fees from the state of Utah.

But let’s throw in a wrinkle and say espn doesn’t pay the 260 million buyout for Clemson/FSU, instead each school has to come up with the amount themselves. ESPN just tells the ACC, “They pay the buyout, we will kick in an extra 75 million per year, plus full shares for BYU, to the conference if you stick together through 2027.” (ESPN easily makes that much off the carriage fees for the new states). That’s another 5 million per year, so now pushing 70 million per year before the per team before the performance based distribution.

This is all just to buy time for the next big reorg (the final reorg IMO). Big 12 deal ends in 2030, ACC is 2027 (maybe espn and ACC also find a deal that gets the conference to extend and also stay together through 2030). With players now getting salaries and collective bargaining, you can’t have 5 or 6 conferences all having their own separate deals with different player unions. It’s not practical. This pushes the merger into one super conference, fox and espn split it up like the NFL does (Fox has NFC , cbs has AFC)- so they figure out some combination like fox gets the traditional big 12 and pac 12, and B1G schools, espn gets traditional SEC and ACC games. Putting together the puzzle pieces- from what Flo said before, the UM brass thinks this is the end game in 5-6 years, and I think they are right. So their main goal right now isn’t to join the P2 and pay some exorbitant buyout, it’s to make as much money as possible for the next 5 years regardless of “conference football prestige” and then everything falls into place.

Also if everyone knows the super conference is inevitable, then it takes away the main argument that anything other than the P2 is a death sentence. No need to swim against the current if all cfb fans know the non P2 schools are all joining the P2 schools in the super conference in 5 years anyways.
 
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Rickd said:
You have it all wrong. There is no "opt out" for ESPN in 2025. The way this has taken place is:

-ESPN media agreement has a termination date of June 30, 2027. That is the current expiration date of
the ESPN media agreement ... and due to the wording of the GOR ... that it was created specifically to support the
ESPN media agreement ... the GOR expires with the media agreement.
-The ACC granted ESPN an OPTION TO EXTEND the media agreement for 9 additional years. That option expired
in January 2021 and was NOT exercised by ESPN.
-Jim Phillips, Swofford's replacement, UNILATERALLY granted ESPN an new option with an exercise date expiring
on February 2, 2025. Phillips granted this new option WITHOUT MEMBER 2/3 APPROVAL AS REQUIRED BY
THE ACC BYLAWS. Therefore there is a high probability that ESPN could not exercise the "illegal option" even if
they so desired.
-The wording that has leaked regarding the ESPN MEDIA AGREEMENT is even more problematic for Phillips and the ACC
given that their goal is to mislead the members into believing they are committed through 2036. The ESPN media agreement
is said to include the wording "this agreement is in effect while a member institution remains a member of the conference".
The ESPN media agreement STATES it's rights to broadcast a schools games is in effect ONLY while the school is a conference
member. A schools leaves, paying the conference exit fee, and they leave WITH their future media rights in tact.

The Florida AG is awaiting a copy of the ESPN media agreement requested from the ACC, while Clemson has already received an unredacted copy ... under an order of confidentiality. They cannot publicly disclose it's contents or share it with any other ACC member ... it can only be used
in the court proceedings in the SC Clemson suit. FSU and Clemson are both in a position of strength going forward to win the suits and that is a primary reason that ESPN will most likely pressure the ACC to settle, and likely very soon. I expect FSU to be playing in another conference in 2026.

Basically your take on the current status appears to be inaccurate on every count.
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No. I think you are basically 100% wrong. But we will see.
 
I guess the only thing that matters is money. So I'd be happy to take Utah if that meant the league made more. Otherwise eh. That would be huge culture shock.

A program with elite coaching and meh recruiting. Definitely would be a tough out.
 
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Handsome Squidbum said:
good catch. You might be right, but I think the current contract says espn can only renegotiate the deal if the number of teams drop below 15.

ACC added 3 teams so it stays above the number. ESPN could try and sue but I don’t think it has much of a case as the deal didnt say which 15 teams have to be included. So the money that would have gone to Clemson and FSU still goes to the ACC each year.

Remember espn will now make an insane amount of money off the carriage fees for getting into Texas and California markets. UNC fan living in California and want that ACC network? Your bill is about to go way up.

ESPN already had a sweetheart deal, whatever money in might have lost by not carrying a handful of games played by FSU and Clemson with high ratings will be more than offset by the California and Texas carriage fees. Next years payouts will be around 50 million per team in the current contract. So that’s about 100 million per year going to the 15 ACC teams through the end of the deal (end of 2027) in the current deal if the Clemson and FSU shares get distributed. That’s about 7 million per team. So now at 57 million. Spread the one time 260 million buyout over 3 years between 15 teams and its around another 7 million (rounding up).
So the ACC teams would be getting 64 million each.

Now there is the rumor that the ACC is looking at BYU. That’s the Mormon Notre Dame. Big fan base across the country and more carriage fees from the state of Utah.

But let’s throw in a wrinkle and say espn doesn’t pay the 260 million buyout for Clemson/FSU, instead each school has to come up with the amount themselves. ESPN just tells the ACC, “They pay the buyout, we will kick in an extra 75 million per year, plus full shares for BYU, to the conference if you stick together through 2027.” (ESPN easily makes that much off the carriage fees for the new states). That’s another 5 million per year, so now pushing 70 million per year before the per team before the performance based distribution.

This is all just to buy time for the next big reorg (the final reorg IMO). Big 12 deal ends in 2030, ACC is 2027 (maybe espn and ACC also find a deal that gets the conference to extend and also stay together through 2030). With players now getting salaries and collective bargaining, you can’t have 5 or 6 conferences all having their own separate deals with different player unions. It’s not practical. This pushes the merger into one super conference, fox and espn split it up like the NFL does (Fox has NFC , cbs has AFC)- so they figure out some combination like fox gets the traditional big 12 and pac 12, and B1G schools, espn gets traditional SEC and ACC games. Putting together the puzzle pieces- from what Flo said before, the UM brass thinks this is the end game in 5-6 years, and I think they are right. So their main goal right now isn’t to join the P2 and pay some exorbitant buyout, it’s to make as much money as possible for the next 5 years regardless of “conference football prestige” and then everything falls into place.

Also if everyone knows the super conference is inevitable, then it takes away the main argument that anything other than the P2 is a death sentence. No need to swim against the current if all cfb fans know the non P2 schools are all joining the P2 schools in the super conference in 5 years anyways.
Click to expand...

If true, Thats a huge risk we are taking hoping everything ends up as a super conf in 5 years... it could completely sink our program.
Plus once payment of players becomes normal, we could see some schools who are barely breaking even, just plain drop football
 
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