(02-12-2014 12:32 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(02-12-2014 12:25 PM)solohawks Wrote:  would a school who signed a GOR but left a conference, not get paid by their old conference? I was under the impression that a GOR meant you could not leave and then go sell your media rights to another conference. As long as the member school in question is still getting paid fairly by someone, whether it be the conference or the network whom the conference sold the rights to, then the courts should find it legal. I do think it would be highly questionable to not pay a school who has committed to a GOR but is no longer with the conference.

To me a GOR is a sale of a schools media rights for X number of years to a conference. Even if you are no longer in that conference the GOR says the sale is still valid and you cannot shop your rights elsewhere. If that is the case, then they must still be paid for that sale or else it I see it as a restraint of trade.

FWIW---Ive heard the AAC GOR still pays the school after they leave, but the B12 does not. My guess is the B-12 GOR wont hold up if it fails to pay the departing school its fair share of revenue. Maybe the GOR can be salvaged by simply paying the departing school their share of revenue---but I don't think holding the rights while giving the departing school no revenue will be upheld.

What would be the point of having a GOR if you still have to pay a school who leaves the conference? Perhaps this comes down to an interpretation (or more likely, to the wording of the Grants contract itself) of exactly what the consideration is that the granting school receives. Is the consideration the future payments the league will get, and distribute, or is it just the greater assurance of financial stability that all members gain from having entered voluntarily into a mutual pact?

If it's the former, then why wouldn't the school continue to receive a share of the payouts? But if it's the latter, then the departing school can be said to have willingly abandoned the consideration it had already received, and is therefore not due any further consideration.