(02-11-2014 04:49 PM)mlb Wrote:  

(02-11-2014 04:36 PM)C Marlow Wrote:  Yes, some people speculate... But what this speculation fails to acknowledge, which btw is typical of people who try to gin up traffic to their sites, is the GOR. The GOR dwarfs the exit fee currently in place. Technically, it is no longer needed because there is a GOR in place.

Agreed. And it could be declared invalid if this goes to court. If it doesn't go to court, other schools could leave saying a precedent has been set lowering the penalty for breaking the GOR. Due to the knowledge that Maryland has, and the subpoenas filed on behalf of Maryland to UL, UM, Syracuse, BC, etc., I'm going to guess that is some damning evidence regarding the Big East breakup, Pitt's role, ESPN's role, etc... Maryland will get out cheap, it will set the precedent, and if other schools so choose to leave then they will do so at a steeply discounted rate.

Alright, I am sure this has been posted around here before, but a brief primer on GOR:

(1) A grant of rights (common in the media industry for decades and the validity of which is well established) is an irrevocable transfer of property rights. It is NOT a contract and therefore the unenforceable penalty line of common law does not apply. Pretty sure whoever the high powered lawyer was that originally thought up the GOR did it precisely to get around judges who do not like contract provisions acting as penalties (which have long been considered restraints on trade).

(2) A GOR cannot be 'broken' and there are no penalties associated with it. The schools' media rights were transferred to the conference the moment the GOR was executed - it is a done deal.

(3) The only way to invalidate the transfer of property would be to prove fraud or other wrongdoing. It is extremely unlikely that was present on either part of the conference or its 14 member schools. Furthermore, these are 15 highly sophisticated business entities all represented by very expensive counsel - no one was getting duped in this deal.

(4) Maryland's success or failure with its lawsuit will have absolutely no impact whatsoever on the validity of the ACC's or any other conference's GOR. Even if Maryland wins on all counts (blows the ACC's $52m exit fee out of the water and wins millions in counterclaims), the ACC GOR of rights will remain unchanged. The only hurdle removed for any other schools thinking about leaving is the exit fee - they would still be leaving all of their media rights behind with the ACC.

Sorry for the long post, but I think there are a lot of misconceptions concerning GOR because they are relatively new to the realignment game (even though some conferences have had them for years, I suspect they were not talked about much). These have been in place a very long time in other industries and they are virtually impossible to undo. Unless a school does not care about leaving behind its media rights, the ACC, B12, B10 and PAC do not have to worry about being poached until their GOR expire (or maybe a year or so before depending on how much money a school might be willing to leave behind).