UMD pays ACC 31.36 MM exit fee

[robinreed]

Maryland agreed to pay the ACC 31.36 million bucks!!!! This is the largest exit fee ever paid by any college to any conference. It makes the 5 MM per school we paid the AAC look puny. We kept the BE name and got the tourney in MSG to boot.

The article on the ACC website also says everything is settled. Does this mean the GOR is not valid? Check it out at:

http://www.theacc.com/#!/news-detail/ag ... -14_lryjmo

My guess is that this will cause other defections from the ACC. The Big-10 has been open in it's lust for UNC and UVA and Georgia Tech and Duke are also a possibility as they are also AAU which is required for entry to the Big-10 per their rules.

This might set off another round of expansion however I hope not. By and large expansion has not been good for college sports. At least that is my opinion.

I have long believed that if Georgetown had decent football (DIV 1A) they would be a great ACC candidate. They are much like Duke except for football and Duke football is not that good anyway.

Opinions ? What say you ?

[Michael in Raleigh]

Why did Georgetown or any Big East member pay the ACC anything?

I seriously doubt this will lead to further defections from the ACC. Maryland left before the ACC had created its GOR's but after the ACC had set a $52MM exit fee. Thus, Maryland had no need to challenge a GOR that never applied to them. They only challenged the exit fee. Maryland wanted to pay $0, and in fact countersued the ACC for $156MM; the ACC wanted the full $52MM. They settled at $32MM paid to the ACC. It never had anything to do with the GOR's. The grant of rights, as opposed to an exit fee, has never been even challenged in court, much less decided as to its legality. Exit fees have been challenged but courts have yet to rule on their legality because parties have always settled on them, at least in college sports.

If ACC members want to leave, they would have to forfeit their media rights to the ACC, which would cost them somewhere aroind $300 million. They could challenge that, but if they lose straight up, they would lose far more than they could gain even in the B1G. Even a settlement would cost far, far more than what Maryland paid.

[Michael in Raleigh]

Everything is settoed means that all the lawsuits against the ACC and against Maryland in both the states of North Carolina and Maryland are settled and dismissed. No one is suing anyone anymore. It has nothing to do with the grant of rights.

[GoldenWarrior11]

I think we have seen an end to the current round of realignment. Between the Grant of Rights and lack of viable options for conferences to poach, any additions to the P5 don't make much sense. UCONN is not going to be invited by the ACC or B1G. Cincinnati is not going to be invited by the Big 12 or ACC. Duke/Virginia/UNC/Georgia Tech (mostly likely) would not accept invites to the B1G - due to the $30 million+ exit fees, as well as stability in the ACC.

No schools will be poached by the P5 in realignment for basketball. Football is driving everything. So, the Big East is safe - for the first time in decades. Plus, I honestly can't see any of the Big East schools playing second fiddle (again) to a hybrid model with the football schools.

If anything, yesterday's decisions (Maryland's exit fee and the O'Bannon case) will force schools like North Carolina, Duke, and Wake Forest to put more of their basketball revenues back into their football programs. If they don't, they will be left behind.

The Big East is in a really strong position because the conference can afford to sit back and watch the situation unfold, rather than being reactionary and making rash decisions. We also won't have to shell out the big bucks for football salaries and scholarships.

[Boyee]

I don't think the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will ever leave the ACC for the Big Ten and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) isn't in a contiguous state as it is in Atlanta, GA. Big Ten expansion members must be Association of American Universities (AAU) member and in a contiguous state as a current Big Ten member. The University of Virginia would likely accept a Big Ten invite, but the government of the Commonwealth of Virginia might say that the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virgina Tech) would have to go with UVa, but Virginia Tech isn't an AAU member. The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is an AAU member but the Big Ten already has the flagship university in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, and would make a good inter-conference rivalry and they have 9 national championships in football but the Big Ten likely would not add a school from a big city like Pittsburgh. The Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State) is AAU, but the Big Ten already has the flagship university of Iowa, the University of Iowa (legal name State University of Iowa), so adding Iowa State would be highly unlikely. The only other two universities that would fit in the Big Ten are the University of Missouri-Columbia (Mizzou), which already is a rival of current Big Ten member the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Kansas (KU) which is the arch rival of Missouri and both schools are contiguous and AAU. I doubt Missouri would leave the SEC though. The University at Albany, State University of New York is also in a contiguous state but unlikely to be added as they are a Mid-American Conference (MAC) university. I am very surprised that the Big Ten chose not to add Missouri. As the East Division is far better than the West Division of the Big Ten and Missouri would give them another school that is good at both football and basketball.

[RDinNY]

Why did Georgetown or any Big East member pay the ACC anything?

NBEe tams paid an exit fee to the A-A-C, not the A-C-C, when exiting the olde Big East.

[paulxu]

They are much like Duke except for football and Duke football is not that good anyway.
Opinions ? What say you ?

They did win the Coastal last year.

[stever20]

Maryland agreed to pay the ACC 31.36 million bucks!!!! This is the largest exit fee ever paid by any college to any conference. It makes the 5 MM per school we paid the AAC look puny. We kept the BE name and got the tourney in MSG to boot.

The article on the ACC website also says everything is settled. Does this mean the GOR is not valid? Check it out at:

http://www.theacc.com/#!/news-detail/ag ... -14_lryjmo

My guess is that this will cause other defections from the ACC. The Big-10 has been open in it's lust for UNC and UVA and Georgia Tech and Duke are also a possibility as they are also AAU which is required for entry to the Big-10 per their rules.

This might set off another round of expansion however I hope not. By and large expansion has not been good for college sports. At least that is my opinion.

I have long believed that if Georgetown had decent football (DIV 1A) they would be a great ACC candidate. They are much like Duke except for football and Duke football is not that good anyway.

Opinions ? What say you ?

The schools left about 100 million in exit fees along with the NCAA tourney money from schools like Syracuse, WV, Louisville, etc. 100/7 is about 14 million. Granted we got the name and MSG- but still we paid about 14 mil each.

I do agree with you about Georgetown and the ACC. if we had football- we're in the ACC now unquestionably. Heck, could say the same thing about Villanova.

[Bill Marsh]

I don't think the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will ever leave the ACC for the Big Ten and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) isn't in a contiguous state as it is in Atlanta, GA. Big Ten expansion members must be Association of American Universities (AAU) member and in a contiguous state as a current Big Ten member. The University of Virginia would likely accept a Big Ten invite, but the government of the Commonwealth of Virginia might say that the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virgina Tech) would have to go with UVa, but Virginia Tech isn't an AAU member. The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is an AAU member but the Big Ten already has the flagship university in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, and would make a good inter-conference rivalry and they have 9 national championships in football but the Big Ten likely would not add a school from a big city like Pittsburgh. The Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State) is AAU, but the Big Ten already has the flagship university of Iowa, the University of Iowa (legal name State University of Iowa), so adding Iowa State would be highly unlikely. The only other two universities that would fit in the Big Ten are the University of Missouri-Columbia (Mizzou), which already is a rival of current Big Ten member the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Kansas (KU) which is the arch rival of Missouri and both schools are contiguous and AAU. I doubt Missouri would leave the SEC though. The University at Albany, State University of New York is also in a contiguous state but unlikely to be added as they are a Mid-American Conference (MAC) university. I am very surprised that the Big Ten chose not to add Missouri. As the East Division is far better than the West Division of the Big Ten and Missouri would give them another school that is good at both football and basketball.

1. There is no requirement that Big Ten candidates be AAU. If there was, they never would have approached Notre Dame on2 separate occasions.

2. There is no requirement that a Big Ten candidate be from a contiguous state. If there was, they never would have been in conversations with Texas.

3. I doubt that we would see a repeat of the VA Tech riding the coattails of UVA situations. It was never about getting them both in the same conference, it was about getting VA Tech into the ACC and protecting them from being destroyed along with the rest of the Big East, which was what appeared to be happening in 2003. No one expected the Big East to survive that raid as well as it did.

[Bill Marsh]

If ACC members want to leave, they would have to forfeit their media rights to the ACC, which would cost them somewhere aroind $300 million. They could challenge that, but if they lose straight up, they would lose far more than they could gain even in the B1G. Even a settlement would cost far, far more than what Maryland paid.

Numerous lawyers have written articles on the GoR. It's complicated, but a I don't think that it's near the deterrent that you think it is, nor do I think that it can be used to force a school to forfeit media rights although that's what it seems to purport to do.