Said this on his WFAN (NYC) radio show, as per a Rutgers message board.
He claims ESPN offered 5 million more per team to bring in Syracuse and Pitt. If the BE can find any shred of proof to this.....ladies and gentlemen, start your lawyers.
Baylor's lawyers are pretty good. But anyways what would they sue them for?
(09-26-2011 09:39 AM)NoQuarter08 Wrote: [ -> ]Link?
I only have a link to the RU board convo. Are links to other college sports message boards allowed here?
I don't see why not. I've seen all kinds of crap linked here.
Heck, I've seen links to other paid college boards on here. Don't think links to other boards are a big deal.
(09-26-2011 09:39 AM)NoQuarter08 Wrote: [ -> ]Link?
Dude, it's a radio show.
(09-26-2011 09:48 AM)Brahman Wrote: [ -> ] (09-26-2011 09:39 AM)NoQuarter08 Wrote: [ -> ]Link?
Dude, it's a radio show.
No crap. I was asking for the link to the Rutgers fans discussion.
(09-26-2011 09:41 AM)War Torn Ruston Wrote: [ -> ]Baylor's lawyers are pretty good. But anyways what would they sue them for?
The BE or even Comcast/NBC might be interested filing an anti-trust suit against Disney/ESPN, for instance. If ESPN is intentionally damaging a conference in an attempt to improve their business position, there are serious issues there.
Anyway, here is the link
link
Really don't believe this one. The ACC only broke even y'all. All 14 schools will get 12.9 M Per Team. Cuse and Pitt would've made more $$$ in the Big East if they would've stayed. So I highly doubt ESPN forced this raid because if they did, they would've opened up their wallets.
(09-26-2011 09:51 AM)Scarlet Buckeye Wrote: [ -> ] (09-26-2011 09:41 AM)War Torn Ruston Wrote: [ -> ]Baylor's lawyers are pretty good. But anyways what would they sue them for?
The BE or even Comcast/NBC might be interested filing an anti-trust suit against Disney/ESPN, for instance. If ESPN is intentionally damaging a conference in an attempt to improve their business position, there are serious issues there.
Anyway, here is the link
link
Why is this an issue? ESPN is doing the same thing that every BCS conference is doing to the non-AQ conferences. Seems its a different story when unfair business practices are applied to universities/conferences that are used to being the aggressor. Karma is a *****.
(09-26-2011 09:56 AM)Joey_Niklas Wrote: [ -> ]Really don't believe this one. The ACC only broke even y'all. All 14 schools will get 12.9 M Per Team. Cuse and Pitt would've made more $$$ in the Big East if they would've stayed. So I highly doubt ESPN forced this raid because if they did, they would've opened up their wallets.
They may yet open their wallets back up is probably the key thing here. Its too soon to say whether they will or they won't. The dust from part 2 of the 2010-2012 realignment has yet to finish settling anyway.
(09-26-2011 10:00 AM)Knightsweat Wrote: [ -> ] (09-26-2011 09:51 AM)Scarlet Buckeye Wrote: [ -> ] (09-26-2011 09:41 AM)War Torn Ruston Wrote: [ -> ]Baylor's lawyers are pretty good. But anyways what would they sue them for?
The BE or even Comcast/NBC might be interested filing an anti-trust suit against Disney/ESPN, for instance. If ESPN is intentionally damaging a conference in an attempt to improve their business position, there are serious issues there.
Anyway, here is the link
link
Why is this an issue? ESPN is doing the same thing that every BCS conference is doing to the non-AQ conferences. Seems its a different story when unfair business practices are applied to universities/conferences that are used to being the aggressor. Karma is a *****.
The Big East has been the aggressor what once ever in getting TCU last fall.
(09-26-2011 10:01 AM)brista21 Wrote: [ -> ] (09-26-2011 10:00 AM)Knightsweat Wrote: [ -> ] (09-26-2011 09:51 AM)Scarlet Buckeye Wrote: [ -> ] (09-26-2011 09:41 AM)War Torn Ruston Wrote: [ -> ]Baylor's lawyers are pretty good. But anyways what would they sue them for?
The BE or even Comcast/NBC might be interested filing an anti-trust suit against Disney/ESPN, for instance. If ESPN is intentionally damaging a conference in an attempt to improve their business position, there are serious issues there.
Anyway, here is the link
link
Why is this an issue? ESPN is doing the same thing that every BCS conference is doing to the non-AQ conferences. Seems its a different story when unfair business practices are applied to universities/conferences that are used to being the aggressor. Karma is a *****.
The Big East has been the aggressor what once ever in getting TCU last fall.
Brista, my comment isn't really pointing out the BEast specifically. I'm referring to BCS conferences vs. Non-AQ conferences in general. If this is true then the BEast schools are experiencing what non-AQs have experienced for years. I won't shed a tear for them.
(09-26-2011 09:41 AM)War Torn Ruston Wrote: [ -> ]Baylor's lawyers are pretty good. But anyways what would they sue them for?
Tortious interference. As I understand it (lawyers chime in here), it requires 6 things:
1. The existence of a contractual relationship or beneficial business relationship between two parties.
2. Knowledge of that relationship by a third party.
3. Intent of the third party to induce a party to the relationship to breach the relationship.
4. Lack of any privilege on the part of the third party to induce such a breach.
5. The contractual relationship is breached.
6. Damage to the party against whom the breach occurs.
So if the BE does eventually fold as a football conference, and a team...say Cincy...doesn't get picked up by another conference or gets picked up but at a lower revenue level, they could argue that the ACC directly and ESPN indirectly interfered with their contract.
This was basically Baylor's threat against the SEC. If the Aggie defection ends up sending Baylor to Conference USA (which could still happen), expect nearly everybody to get sued.
Comcast has no ground on which to stand as they do not have a contract with the Big East and you cannot be hypthetically aggrieved. However if this is true and the BE schools can prove it, then they do have a case. The problem will be proving it.
Personally I believe that the threat of legal action will ensure that all current BE schools wil retain their BCS bid, no matter what happens elsewhere. I also believe that a number of non-AQ schools will move up as a result of this shuffling, just like happened in 2003. However there is very little doubt that losing schools with the history and tradition of Pitt and Cuse is very bad for a league's overall health - especially one that has no other schools to have won the MNC. This will definitely negatively impact the Big East's meadia rights contracts and likely their bowl agreements as well.
(09-26-2011 09:56 AM)Joey_Niklas Wrote: [ -> ]Really don't believe this one. The ACC only broke even y'all. All 14 schools will get 12.9 M Per Team. Cuse and Pitt would've made more $$$ in the Big East if they would've stayed. So I highly doubt ESPN forced this raid because if they did, they would've opened up their wallets.
That isn't what is being written in papers in VA. There have been several articles where people have said something about 'more money per team' than before. They've stated several times the television contract will now be renegotiated.
These teams APPLIED to the ACC. The ACC simply went to someone they already had a contract with and asked for a quote on what a new contract might look like.
There is no anti-trust between ESPN and other media outlets or the Big East because Pitt and Cuse applied to the ACC. These programs didn't get any numbers from ESPN and weren't antagonized by ESPN to join the ACC. They did it on their own free will.
(09-26-2011 10:42 AM)Dr. Isaly von Yinzer Wrote: [ -> ]Comcast has no ground on which to stand as they do not have a contract with the Big East and you cannot be hypthetically aggrieved. However if this is true and the BE schools can prove it, then they do have a case. The problem will be proving it.
Personally I believe that the threat of legal action will ensure that all current BE schools wil retain their BCS bid, no matter what happens elsewhere. I also believe that a number of non-AQ schools will move up as a result of this shuffling, just like happened in 2003. However there is very little doubt that losing schools with the history and tradition of Pitt and Cuse is very bad for a league's overall health - especially one that has no other schools to have won the MNC. This will definitely negatively impact the Big East's meadia rights contracts and likely their bowl agreements as well.
I don't think they could sue if they have exit procedures in place that are being followed. Regardless of the motivation to leave, they already have a legal avenue to leave. That is the 5 million dollar 27 month period. It isn't even as though there is a television contract that'll be affected by the time they leave so proving damage would be hard to do.
(09-26-2011 10:35 AM)BigTex Wrote: [ -> ] (09-26-2011 09:41 AM)War Torn Ruston Wrote: [ -> ]Baylor's lawyers are pretty good. But anyways what would they sue them for?
Tortious interference. As I understand it (lawyers chime in here), it requires 6 things:
1. The existence of a contractual relationship or beneficial business relationship between two parties.
2. Knowledge of that relationship by a third party.
3. Intent of the third party to induce a party to the relationship to breach the relationship.
4. Lack of any privilege on the part of the third party to induce such a breach.
5. The contractual relationship is breached.
6. Damage to the party against whom the breach occurs.
So if the BE does eventually fold as a football conference, and a team...say Cincy...doesn't get picked up by another conference or gets picked up but at a lower revenue level, they could argue that the ACC directly and ESPN indirectly interfered with their contract.
This was basically Baylor's threat against the SEC. If the Aggie defection ends up sending Baylor to Conference USA (which could still happen), expect nearly everybody to get sued.
One of the things I was considering this morning is whether a member school should have the standing to sue in this instance. I was assuming that Baylor sued based on tortious interference as well.
The way I see it (and this is a really quick overview because I don't have the time to ponder right this minute) is that each member school of a conference has a contract with the conference. The conference then, which is a separate entity has a contract with the network(s).
In the case of A&M it makes complete sense to me that the Big 12 would have standing to sue the SEC for interfering with their contract with Texas A&M. The question then becomes - does Baylor have standing? Since under my theory (which admittedly could be incorrect) they are not a party privy to the contract between the Big 12 and A&M. Then we have questions about whether they are a third party with standing which admittedly I do not know the law on. I do know that in some instances beneficiaries to a will may sue an attorney who "incorrectly" drafted the decedent's will. Is this situation similar since Baylor's contract with the Big 12 is contingent upon other members as well?
As for the case of the Big East, Syracuse, Pitt, and the ACC it would seem clear to me that the Big East would have standing to sue either the ACC or ESPN.
I may touch on this later if I have time/do the research.