ACC and PAC 12 Demise seems close (FSU officially stating intentions to fight ACC Grant of Rights… Clemson sues the ACC)

[selmaborntidefan]

Pete Thamel, I think was correct in saying the B1G nor SEC will touch FSU until all legal action has concluded . Including preliminary indication FSU would be accepted into either conference . The fear of being caught up in a lawsuit is real.

George Paglieri (FSU): Gonna have to break the deal. It's raining on us right now, and I don't care what the dry ink says, we can't go on like this. For Pete's sake, whaddya think it'll cost to get a backdated permission to go?

Johny Sack (B1G): George, what the hell good does FSU do us? Ya not even AAU. (Lights a cigar).

Tony Soprano (SEC): Things ain't like the old days. You looking at a nine-figure buyout, and you think the other eight hands in the cookie jar gonna just sit back and take it? If you go - you go alone. We can't have anything to do with this.

George: I'm telling you, between the low endowment, this bad contract, getting screwed out of the playoff....

Tony (interrupting): Ay ay AY!! I don't wanna hear that crap about snubbin' again. You'z had ya chance years ago, I tried to tell you to take it. If you'd looked out for anyone besides ya-self all these years, you wouldn't be in this mess. You'd be a .500 club, but now you've set yourself up to be a .500 club with no money. We coulda been pottners, you and me, but you got greedy. So shut up and take it. And I don't wanna hear about this anymore.

Johnny (puffing on his cigar): I might can help you. The part I'm trying to figure out is why I'd want to help you.

 

[crimsonaudio]

With this level of Karening I've lost what little respect I previously had for FSU as an institution.

What a bunch of whiners.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

I don't know how FSU gets out of this. They signed the contract. If they can invalidate a contract simply by saying they didn't understand it, how is any contract anybody (in no way limited to FSU) enters into enforceable?

Side note on the thing about no copies of the GoR. I would have thought that any contract of that magnitude entered into by a state institution was a matter of public record. Even if that's not the case in Florida, surely it's the case in one of the other states that have an ACC member.

Any lawyers out there have any thoughts on that?

 

[DzynKingRTR]

fsu needs to go back to being an all girls school.

 

[AWRTR]

With this level of Karening I've lost what little respect I previously had for FSU as an institution.

What a bunch of whiners.

They should have joined the SEC years ago instead of taking the easy way out in the ACC. They get what they deserve.

 

[Joefus]

This really seems like the dumbest move possible for them. Neither the sec nor the big ten seem to want them. If they got to the big ten they wouldn’t get full shares so it defeats the purpose. I’d bet dollars to donuts they lose the court case anyways. If it was that easy it would’ve already been done. If they do get out they’re gonna end up in the big 12 still making less than the sec and big 10. With a weaker strength of schedule. All this after a one time blip of a season. They have no big time qb on roster nor coming in. I hope they lose their case and never sniff 10 wins again

 

[Isaiah 63:1]

SMU’s finally getting back into a major conference, only to have said conference evaporate, would be among the most SMU things ever.

Also among the most SMU things ever:

 

[Isaiah 63:1]

…Side note on the thing about no copies of the GoR. I would have thought that any contract of that magnitude entered into by a state institution was a matter of public record. Even if that's not the case in Florida, surely it's the case in one of the other states that have an ACC member.

Any lawyers out there have any thoughts on that?

I’m not a lawyer (as you know), but we work for Florida public entities, and they always remind us that everything we do with them is discoverable under Florida’s Sunshine laws governing public entities. However, four things:

1. There is an exception for any public business specifically exempt from the Sunshine Law by an act of the Florida legislature. If the ACC grant of rights was so exempt, I would think that weakens FSU’s argument. If it wasn’t, I would think that exposes them to significant sanction for de facto violating the Sunshine law..
2. No formal action can be binding unless conducted at a public meeting. If the Grant of Rights was approved at a public meeting, the media failed to do their job by not requesting a copy of the agreement. If it was not approved at a public meeting, I imagine it could be held invalid, but that would (I think) create liability for the trustees who improperly approved it.
3. No matter what, YIKES! Which maybe explains #4
4. My trial attorney friends tell me, “(1) If you have the facts on your side, argue the facts. (2) If you have the law on your side, argue the law. (3) If you have neither the facts nor the law on your side, tarnish your opponent.” That FSU is going straight to (3) should tell us something…

 

[cjhadley]

I’m not a lawyer (as you know), but we work for Florida public entities, and they always remind us that everything we do with them is discoverable under Florida’s Sunshine laws governing public entities. However, four things:

1. There is an exception is for any public business specifically exempt from the Sunshine Law by an act of the Florida legislature. If the ACC grant of rights was so exempt, I would think that weakens FSU’s argument. If it wasn’t, I would think that exposes them to significant sanction for de facto violating the Sunshine law..
2. No formal action can be binding unless conducted at a public meeting. If the Grant of Rights was approved at a public meeting, the media failed to do their job by not requesting a copy of the agreement. If it was not approved at a public meeting, I imagine it could be held invalid, but that would (I think) create liability for the trustees who improperly approved it.
3. No matter what, YIKES! Which maybe explains #4
4. My trial attorney friends tell me, “(1) If you have the facts on your side, argue the facts. (2) If you have the law on your side, argue the law. (3) If you have neither the facts nor the law on your side, tarnish your opponent.” That FSU is going straight to (3) should tell us something…

With the ACC filing its own complaint against FSU to have any cases in North Carolina, what are the chances this sticks in Florida?

 

[rolltide7854]

fsu needs to go back to being an all girls school.

As a proud father of a daughter and grandfather of 4 granddaughters 12 and younger I can tell you they don't whine as much as the supposedly grown men at FSU even when I run out of ice cream.

 

[Elefantman]

The FSU lawyers looking for legal precedence for their complaint against the ACC.

 

[Isaiah 63:1]

With the ACC filing its own complaint against FSU to have any cases in North Carolina, what are the chances this sticks in Florida?

This is not a matter of venue for the lawsuit. It’s a matter of what Florida law says about the validity of the contract…

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Even if FSU gets out, both the Big Ten and SEC have said they’re full and aren’t taking new members.


But do you know who else couldn’t find a place to stay, around this time of year a few millennia ago?

 

[colbysullivan]

fsu needs to go back to being an all girls school.

When did they stop?

 

[crimsonaudio]

fsu needs to go back to being an all girls school.

Go back?

ETA: dangit, @colbysullivan beat me to it...

 

[landonew]

I’m not a lawyer (as you know), but we work for Florida public entities, and they always remind us that everything we do with them is discoverable under Florida’s Sunshine laws governing public entities. However, four things:

1. There is an exception for any public business specifically exempt from the Sunshine Law by an act of the Florida legislature. If the ACC grant of rights was so exempt, I would think that weakens FSU’s argument. If it wasn’t, I would think that exposes them to significant sanction for de facto violating the Sunshine law..
2. No formal action can be binding unless conducted at a public meeting. If the Grant of Rights was approved at a public meeting, the media failed to do their job by not requesting a copy of the agreement. If it was not approved at a public meeting, I imagine it could be held invalid, but that would (I think) create liability for the trustees who improperly approved it.
3. No matter what, YIKES! Which maybe explains #4
4. My trial attorney friends tell me, “(1) If you have the facts on your side, argue the facts. (2) If you have the law on your side, argue the law. (3) If you have neither the facts nor the law on your side, tarnish your opponent.” That FSU is going straight to (3) should tell us something…

I’ve linked a copy of FSU's complaint below. FSU is essentially arguing that the the AAC breached its fiduciary duty to secure competitive TV contracts. And that, due to negligent mismanagement, the AAC bound FSU to an unfavorable ESPN contract the extends through 2036, and that is not competitive with contracts secured by similar conferences (with shorter terms).

https://news.fsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/12.22.2023-Final-Complaint-4.pdf

 

[4Q Basket Case]

I’ve linked a copy of FSU's complaint below. FSU is essentially arguing that the the AAC breached its fiduciary duty to secure competitive TV contracts. And that, due to negligent mismanagement, the AAC bound FSU to an unfavorable ESPN contract the extends through 2036, and that is not competitive with contracts secured by similar conferences (with shorter terms).

View attachment 39418

https://news.fsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/12.22.2023-Final-Complaint-4.pdf

FSU is saying they don't have to abide by the contract because their agent (the ACC) is an idiot.

The original GoR was signed in 2013. The conference members renewed and extended it in 2016. So 10 years after the original and seven years after the extension, they're just now deciding that their agent was incompetent?

Keep in mind that all members of the ACC signed the extension. If the ACC was incompetent, so was the legal counsel of every single ACC member, including FSU.

So not only does FSU not have to abide by the contract because their agent's an idiot, they themselves are idiots and therefore not responsible. (Couldn't decide whether blue font was appropriate there.)

I'm no lawyer and my live-in attorney didn't practice in this area. Still, I see no grounds for FSU to weasel out. They might (maybe) get a favorable hearing in Florida. But the ACC is headquartered in North Carolina (Greensboro until 2023, when it moved to Charlotte). I don't know the status of the move, but either way it's in North Carolina.

So you have entities headquartered in two different states suing each other. My recollection of simple Business Law is that such things usually end up in Federal court -- where FSU is likely to face a much less sympathetic judicial system. I'm guessing that they not only lose the case, but end up having to pay the ACC's attorneys' fees.

This is about the dumbest thing I've seen since Walter Leroy Moody said all that bomb equipment in his front bedroom was a cold fusion experiment.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Funny how this 'AAC contract folly' has only become a pressing issue once it was obvious their weak conference was keeping FSU out of the playoffs.

 

[KrAzY3]

is not competitive with contracts secured by similar conferences (with shorter terms).

Oh, so you mean the easy conference that FSU has been clubbing like baby seals all this time doesn't have the earning potential of conferences full of the best teams in college football? They're "similar" conferences like FSU is "similar" to Boise State. Also, I would add that ACC deal was actually quite generous relative to other deals and their lack of ratings generators, in return for the length of the contract... The Pac-12 could only manage 20 million a year per team.

Anyway... I think they are taking the most bombastic and least diplomatic approach possible right now. The FSU faithful follow up weeks of hatred towards ESPN, the committee and the SEC with direct aspersions towards the ACC, ESPN and specific member schools. The irony is these are the parties they would likely need to come to some sort of agreement with in order to leave and not pay half a billion, so all they are doing right now is just throwing a fit and hoping for a biased court.

Having basically backed themselves in a corner here, where Fox and the Big 10 are their only potential saviors let's just review the hurdles.

A: They have to get out of the exit fee, which is over 100 million. This is different from the GOR so it's a hefty chunk of change the ACC and schools they have been bashing are not likely to excuse.

B: They have the GOR which with their estimates is worth around 400 million. This is there specifically to force schools to stay and something FSU themselves noted when they signed it.

C: A big part of their complaint about needing to leave the ACC is that they make less money than the SEC and Big 10 (something I've talked about for years, it's not a new observation). Well, Maryland and Rutgers previously, and Oregon and Washington currently had reduced shares, you know something like FSU is making now. So they have three major hurdles to get past to actually make more money then they are currently making.

Long story short, FSU is broke and stupid.

 

[B1GTide]

Funny how this 'AAC contract folly' has only become a pressing issue once it was obvious their weak conference was keeping FSU out of the playoffs.

Thing is, their schedule did not keep them out of the CFP this year. They beat LSU and Florida. If their QB was even 50%, they would be in the CFP.