FSU LIVE BOT Meeting - Livestream link

[Hurracanes]

Let me explain something to some of you cretins ....

This is the ONE time you should be rooting for FSU to win at something. If they set the precedent, we are all free.

 

[RedSquare]

I will say it again: UM, UNC, and Duke, organizations with much smarter and sophisticated people than FSU, had their lawyers in NY at 2 major firms (Latham, and Skadden), review the GOR and the ACC operating docs for several months. They concluded the deal was airtight and there was no way to break the contracts, and litigation would be a waste of time and money.

And we are now supposed to believe these clowns in Tallahassee have figured the whole thing out?

Right. And I believe Bella Hadid is showing up at my house on Christmas to give me a hummer.

 

[Angry Ibis]

I will say it again: UM, UNC, and Duke, organizations with much smarter and sophisticated people than FSU, had their lawyers in NY at 2 major firms (Latham, and Skadden), review the GOR and the ACC operating docs for several months. They concluded the deal was airtight and there was no way to break the contracts, and litigation would be a waste of time and money.

And we are now supposed to believe these clowns in Tallahassee have figured the whole thing out?

Right. And I believe Bella Hadid is showing up at my house on Christmas to give me a hummer.

Perhaps the third time will be the charm... @TheOriginalCane

 

[TheOriginalCane]

I will say it again: UM, UNC, and Duke, organizations with much smarter and sophisticated people than FSU, had their lawyers in NY at 2 major firms (Latham, and Skadden), review the GOR and the ACC operating docs for several months. They concluded the deal was airtight and there was no way to break the contracts, and litigation would be a waste of time and money.

And we are now supposed to believe these clowns in Tallahassee have figured the whole thing out?

Right. And I believe Bella Hadid is showing up at my house on Christmas to give me a hummer.

This statement is fundamentally untrue.

Certain schools decided not to file a lawsuit for a variety of reasons, including not having a guaranteed landing spot.

F$U doesn't have that problem.

 

[RedSquare]

This statement is fundamentally untrue.

Certain schools decided not to file a lawsuit for a variety of reasons, including not having a guaranteed landing spot.

F$U doesn't have that problem.

you think FSU has a landing spot?

 

[TheOriginalCane]

you think FSU has a landing spot?

Absolutely.

 

[CaneFan79]

Absolutely.

Big 12 or AAC?

 

[Invalid Username]

Miami is going to the BIG in 2027 and FSU will go independent because they want the butt hurt ND treatment sympathy year in and year out.

 

[SinisterCane]

This is like a trick signing a contract to a Pimp

 

[AmherstCane]

I will say it again: UM, UNC, and Duke, organizations with much smarter and sophisticated people than FSU, had their lawyers in NY at 2 major firms (Latham, and Skadden), review the GOR and the ACC operating docs for several months. They concluded the deal was airtight and there was no way to break the contracts, and litigation would be a waste of time and money.

And we are now supposed to believe these clowns in Tallahassee have figured the whole thing out?

Right. And I believe Bella Hadid is showing up at my house on Christmas to give me a hummer.

A little insight into how the law actually works: sometimes court cases are decided on grounds beyond the strict application of law to facts. That is more the exception than the rule, but I could easily see a Florida judge exercising discretion to extricate FSU from an objectively unjust entanglement. And I could see appellate courts letting it stand.

 

[SSCane]

If we end up in the big 12 we should just fold the program

I agree, we would be ****ed. It would be the death of the program as we know it.

Unfortunately, college football today comes down to money, and no way we could compete in the long term with the SEC or BIG10, the financial gap would be too large and viewership would tank. Who the **** would be watching a BIG12 matchup (unless you are a Miami fan), when there is a full slate of bigtime games in the SEC and BIG10 every weekend.

I don’t think that will happen though, I have a feeling we end up in the BIG10. I just looking forward to getting this done.

I’m probably off here, but perhaps the reason Miami has finally started to invest in football recently, with huge increases in coaching salaries, facilities, NIL etc, after so many years of neglect, is they saw this coming and wanted to make the Miami brand more attractive for the SEC or BIG10.
Not sure this administration and BOT would have that much foresight though.

 

[SSCane]

A little insight into how the law actually works: sometimes court cases are decided on grounds beyond the strict application of law to facts. That is more the exception than the rule, but I could easily see a Florida judge exercising discretion to extricate FSU from an objectively unjust entanglement. And I could see appellate courts letting it stand.

If that did happen, I wonder if a precedence would be set and allow other schools to follow, or would they need to go through the whole litigation process again as FSU is doing now?

I really hopes this helps Miami somehow get out of the ACC and into the big two conferences.

 

[SSCane]

you think FSU has a landing spot?

I do.
No way FSU files this without a spot, and my best guess would be the BIG10.
Their fans base might consist of a bunch of dopes, but there is no way their administration would be stupid enough to go through all this if they weren’t sure they knew where they were going. No way.

 

[theibisrules]

Why did they opt out vs Georgia? I was looking forward to the game.

 

[Squid Bumciorek]

A little insight into how the law actually works: sometimes court cases are decided on grounds beyond the strict application of law to facts. That is more the exception than the rule, but I could easily see a Florida judge exercising discretion to extricate FSU from an objectively unjust entanglement. And I could see appellate courts letting it stand.

Thats almost never the case when it comes to contract law. The chances that a court will look outside the strict application of law and facts on a contract that involves sophisticated parties on both sides is virtually zero. Both the schools that signed the GOR and the ACC itself had armies of lawyers at their disposal. There is basically no way the courts will buy the argument that the school didn't fully understand what it was signing.

Beyond that is the basic fact that FSU (nor any other acc team for that matter) complained about the GOR until after the SEC and B1G signed their massive tv deals. Then all of a sudden the acc schools had buyers remorse.

I think FSU is fully aware the lawsuit is going nowhere, but their hope is that with constant public whining and filing lawsuits, it will give the acc such a headache that the acc will agree to a lower buyout than 575 million and let FSU walk. That's the real strategy behind it. It's not a terrible strategy TBH, and if it works then it opens the door for other teams to go.

 

[Bender]

Here are my (somewhat, not expert, but decent) law-educated takes on this.

1. As @TheOriginalCane already said, FSU has a landing spot if they leave the ACC. You´re a complete and utter braindead ****flap if you leave any situation in life without an exitplan. As my father would say "Secure yourself before you quit your job. Its much easier to get out of a ****** situation than it is to enter a good one, so be prepared". And they have, which is not surprising to me. As much as we can **** on FSU, if you go by purely based TV numbers, they are the hottest shot in the ACC.

2. The reason why other programs have not followed suit is, as @TheOriginalCane has also alluded to, that they do not have such exit plan in hand. There is an old GOR document available on the internet, even with an analysis from a Harvard Law student and how GORs can be taken apart in a legal battle. It was pathetic. I was stunned that a bunch of universities with billions of dollars behind them would agree to something like this, but then again, revenues back then were not as seperated as they are now. College Football has realised its money making capabilities and the ACC plainly did not, as a whole.

3. Which leads us to the question why ACC officials would not let lawyers review their current GOR in a public setting. Fairly simple to answer: Because it would get killed in court. If you have nothing to hide, there is no problem. If you have something to hide, it smells really bad. And that smell goes all the way to Germany. The contents of that GOR must be so bad that ACC lawyers have advised officials to proceed that way. They likely can do that, but the fact that they are doing it that way is really bad. I remember that there was an article by The Athletic (https://theathletic.com/3396108/2022/07/01/acc-grant-of-rights-staples/) that explains this really well. A document that clarifies media rights and essentially handles hundres of millions of dollars should not be a couple of pages.

4. Whoever agreed on granting ESPN to have an option for broadcasting rights that would automatically extend the GOR for another ten years without the universities choice needs to be fired and beaten up immediately. Whoever agreed on letting ESPN get off the hook by 2027 but locks you in a GOR for ten additional years without an exit that does not cost half a billion dollars should receive the same punishment. This may also conclude that the GOR is not a contract, as the parties do not enact on the same level and one party severely benefits whilst the other does not. But thats purely speculation that high-level-officials will likely discuss about. Tricky.

5. Miami should follow suit and probably will. I am 99% sure (the remaining 1 % is me lacking info) that Miami has been informed and updated over FSUs work over the past year, because the situation applies to us in the exact same way as it applies to FSU. The reason why FSU goes forward and attacks is because they are a publicly funded state university with an exit plan in hand and not a private university like we are. FSUs interest of exiting the ACC could very likely enter politics, as their playoff situation has already done so. And this matters waaaaaay more than people think.

6. Its completely impossible to say that FSU will leave for free, but they will leave with a much cheaper exit fee compared to the one that is existing now.

7. This case will set a precedent for all future GORs and likely cause every remaining conference to legally check and adjust theirs to prevent this from happening.

8. My prediction: FSU gets support from Miami, who join in this lawsuit. ACC buckles down to the pressure, essentially allowing both of them to leave at reduced pricing. The battle for power goes to the other remaining teams within the ACC and a completely new GOR will be negotiated to prevent other universities from suing in their respective states.

 

[BostonCanes47]

I tried to tell people...

What the ACC "should" do is to invite UCF and USF and Houston. Massive TV markets. Let the Big 12 have the west coast.

Yup. As you’ve been discussing and documenting for over a year plus now…the ACC has made every wrong decision humanely possible throughout this whole process

 

[TheOriginalCane]

If that did happen, I wonder if a precedence would be set and allow other schools to follow, or would they need to go through the whole litigation process again as FSU is doing now?

I really hopes this helps Miami somehow get out of the ACC and into the big two conferences.

Legal precedent is not self-executing. We would need to go through our own process.

More importantly, and the factor that a lot of people are MISSING, is that the ACC will probably settle on a reduced penalty with F$U long before this actually goes to trial. Which is why Miami MUST become a co-litigant.

Because the ACC isn't settling with any school that isn't suing them.

Can anyone tell me which ACC school got a reduced payout 10 years ago BESIDES Maryland?

Some people really don't understand how lawsuits, settlements, and legal precedent work.

I'll bet money that the ACC will never let the F$U lawsuit BECOME legal precedent. The ACC will settle with FSU. And Miami will still be in the ACC. Unless we sue too.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

I'm going to ask a simple question.

For the people who attribute "airtight" and "ironclad" descriptions to the GOR based upon the fact that lawyers drafted it and lawyers reviewed it and universities have massive resources and all these people must be soooo smart...

Did you READ the Miami-Arkansas State game contract?

Because if you DID read that game contract, you would realize that even "smart people" with "massive resources" and "teams of attorneys"...do dumb **** and sign dumb contracts that can be a pile of garbage terms and vague clauses.

 

[AmherstCane]

Thats almost never the case when it comes to contract law. The chances that a court will look outside the strict application of law and facts on a contract that involves sophisticated parties on both sides is virtually zero. Both the schools that signed the GOR and the ACC itself had armies of lawyers at their disposal. There is basically no way the courts will buy the argument that the school didn't fully understand what it was signing.

Beyond that is the basic fact that FSU (nor any other acc team for that matter) complained about the GOR until after the SEC and B1G signed their massive tv deals. Then all of a sudden the acc schools had buyers remorse.

I think FSU is fully aware the lawsuit is going nowhere, but their hope is that with constant public whining and filing lawsuits, it will give the acc such a headache that the acc will agree to a lower buyout than 575 million and let FSU walk. That's the real strategy behind it. It's not a terrible strategy TBH, and if it works then it opens the door for other teams to go.

This is not accurate in the context of claims for equitable relief or avoidance of obligations on public policy grounds. Ambiguity can also be somewhat subjective.

While it’s true Florida courts have trended toward enforcing contracts as written over the last 1-2 decades, FSU is seeking equitable relief which is subject to a great deal of judicial discretion.