Maryland ups the game

[dball]

I believe we should give them a charter member discount on the exit fee, provided they settle up on their unpaid fines for arson, being stupid-in-public, uncouthness, assault (physical), assault (verbal), hate crimes, conspiracy to commit a fake rivalry, slander, libel, failure to understand basic math, failure to follow generally accepted accounting practices, and all-around-butt-ugliness. $718 million should do it.

OOPS. Appears there was another couch, tack another thou on the total.

[BD80]

What was the exit fee prior to the most recent amendment?

Md is really opening itself up to some humorously wide-ranging discovery based upon its allegation that the ACC "knew" about Md's funding for athletics and the damages caused because Md ability to compete has been compromised. Md's athletic budget is a farce due to, inter alia, the stadium financing. It will also be interesting to see what financial negotiations were had to incentivize Md to jump to the Big Whatever. If the B1G agreed to or even offered to pay Md's exit fee or any part thereof, that undermines much of Md's argument that the amended exit fee is unreasonable, or unenforceable, or damaging.

[SupaDave]

There is a valid argument to be made that it is not enforceable, though. Possible it may be construed as an unfair restraint on trade. There was an undercurrent of skepticism, even when the exit fee initially was agreed to, as to whether it would be enforceable if push really came to shove.

That's neither here nor there, though, w/r/t the absurd counterclaim. UMd may have a legitimate argument as to the original claim brought by the ACC, but the counterclaim is just stupid. It's got Rule 12(b)(6) written all over it IMO.

12.b.6 and the State of Maryland will still find more ways to waste money that could be used much more wisely...

And that exit fee - while not a penalty, is designed to HURT and was intended to be a deterrent to conference exit in a time when the Big East was imploding and restructuring, the SEC was adding teams, the Big whatever was going through transition, and I believe the Mountain West and Big Sky conferences did some overhauling. Conference evacuation was everywhere.

They all agreed to it and while excessive it may indeed be enforceable. There are two likely scenarios: one is that the ACC simply gets to wash its hands of Maryland, not be able to collect on the fee, and pay Maryland the revenue owed to them OR the ACC gets to wash its hands of Maryland, the fee is ruled enforceable but excessive and the ACC gets to keep Maryland's revenue.

[-bdbd]

If you read the Testudo Times article, take a quick gander at the Fan responses underneath. It is really funny. For one thing, as a group, they genuinely have NO IDEA how MD could be perceived as the "bad guy" in all of this. Just wow!

I really hope the ACC doesn't settle, as that seems what MD is going for with this action.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Maryland viewing Penn St. as a rival now is news to me. The record speaks for itself. If Maryland has a football rival, it's West Virginia. Its usually pretty heated. The two schools play each other until 2017. Syracuse and Temple takes the spot for a couple years and the rivalry will probably resume in 2020.

As for the lawsuit, it seems like another method for them to settle. I'll probably sit down and read the whole thing tonight. If you're going to burn a bridge, might as well use a flamethrower instead of a match.

Wondering what conclusions you came up with from reading it. I was thinking the same, a scheme to promote a settlement. It seems like an extreme way to do it though. I would think an offer from Maryland would have preceded the actual lawsuit. Makes me wonder if there was one, and they were rebuffed.

[Here is a Turtle]

If you read the Testudo Times article, take a quick gander at the Fan responses underneath. It is really funny. For one thing, as a group, they genuinely have NO IDEA how MD could be perceived as the "bad guy" in all of this. Just wow!

I really hope the ACC doesn't settle, as that seems what MD is going for with this action.

From our point of view, we are looking at the ACC, a conference that has poached several teams in order to survive, create an excessive exit fee. Maryland is trying to look out for its best interest. ANY school staring at $52 million is going to evaluate their options, including lawsuits. Just because you strongly disagree with the move or hate the school does not automatically make it the bad guy. There is plenty of blame to go around here.

And CameronBornAndBred, I looked it over, and I still think it's just a way to get them to settle. I did laugh at them bringing in the SEC. Those are some fierce allegations though. The University did not add ESPN or WF and Pitt yet so there is still room for them to go harder if they wanted. I think now that both sides theoretically have something to lose, they will settle. I think that the ACC will probably keep the revenue and Maryland will maybe pay a little more on top of it and be done. I can't see the $52 million being the actual payment. When Nebraska left for the B1G, they only paid $9.5 million for reference.

[Class of '94]

From our point of view, we are looking at the ACC, a conference that has poached several teams in order to survive, create an excessive exit fee. Maryland is trying to look out for its best interest. ANY school staring at $52 million is going to evaluate their options, including lawsuits. Just because you strongly disagree with the move or hate the school does not automatically make it the bad guy. There is plenty of blame to go around here.

And CameronBornAndBred, I looked it over, and I still think it's just a way to get them to settle. I did laugh at them bringing in the SEC. Those are some fierce allegations though. The University did not add ESPN or WF and Pitt yet so there is still room for them to go harder if they wanted. I think now that both sides theoretically have something to lose, they will settle. I think that the ACC will probably keep the revenue and Maryland will maybe pay a little more on top of it and be done. I can't see the $52 million being the actual payment. When Nebraska left for the B1G, they only paid $9.5 million for reference.

I understand what you're saying; and i appreciate your thoughts on this matter. As I mentioned in previous posts, i've found you to be a reasonable and fair supporter of MD. That said, I wanted to get your thoughts (any other posters) on the following:

While I agree the ACC has poached several teams, you can say the same thing about the Big Ten poaching Nebraska, Rutgers and MD; and unsucessfully trying to poach Texas and ND. Moreover, the leaders at MD at the times the league expanded from 9-12 and 12-15 voted and supported these moves. Duke and UNC were the two main schools consistently voted against expanding (whether it be the the expansion from 8 to 9 or from 9-12). So when you say the "ACC" poached several schools, you are in fact saying MD along with support of other ACC members poached several schools away from other leagues; or at least say that the ACC with the full support of MD and other schools poached these teams from other leagues. With all due respect, I think it's easy and convenient to distance oneself or university from previous actions by saying "they" (which is this case is the ACC) did these things when one is walking out the door, eventhough you (MD) were a part of the "they" and fully contributed to and supported all of the actions that were made at that time.

As far as the exit fee and the countersuit, I think the situation between the ACC and MD has become very personal. I think MD and any other school has the right to make decisions that are best for them (even it means leaving one conference for another). I think the problem that I and many other posters have (as well as the ACC) is "how" MD chose to leave. Despite whatever supposed confidentiality agreement MD was under, it was disrespectful imo to its fellow league members for MD (especially considering they were a charter member of the league) to openly pledge support to the ACC while simultaneously and secretly negotiating with the BIG Ten to join them. And while I agree that both sides share blame in this current situation, I think the split could have been smoother if MD had been more honest and upfront with their intentions.