Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)

[Clonehomer]

Sounds like what the PAC would have liked to do, but we saw how that went.

College's biggest benefit is that its on OTA\Main ESPN. If they tried to take it to some kind of "sunday ticket" type setup it'd probably crater viewership (the way we see most games crater in ratings once they're off ABC\CBS\Fox\ESPN)

I think you’d keep a lot of the TV slots. But limit it to 2 to 3 on TV at a time. If you want to watch games beyond that, you’ve gotta go to the CFB package to see those.

In the end, it’s not that different than ESPN+ but if you can get all the conferences together, it’s easier to create scarcity to drive up the price of those 2 to 3 games you have on TV. Right now, there’s always another conference to fill a slot if someone wants to play hardball in negotiations. That’s the big advantage that the NFL has, a monopoly of professional football games available.

 

[Clonehomer]

Sounds like what the PAC would have liked to do, but we saw how that went.

College's biggest benefit is that its on OTA\Main ESPN. If they tried to take it to some kind of "sunday ticket" type setup it'd probably crater viewership (the way we see most games crater in ratings once they're off ABC\CBS\Fox\ESPN)

Competent leadership has its benefits.

 

[Kinch]

ACC filed a suit in nc so it wont get hometowned, but that still will happen.

The Florida SCT gets the last word, not anyone else, on whether the length of the gor violates Florida public policy. I think it does imho.

you cant tie up a public university to a piss poor contract for that many years--its insane. 5 should be the max.

if the ACC wins in NC, and FSU wins in florida, good luck collecting that judgment from fsu. A judgment is a piece of paper, and i doubt the florida sct lets anyone seize FSU's bank accounts or property in excess of what it determines is within public policy of that state.

I dont believe the NC Sct could even pretend to trump the florida sct on a matter of florida law.

In Iowa, public k 12 school districts can’t execute a contract or lease, outside bonds and employee contracts, for more than a year. Don’t know what the law is for regents.

 

[Gorm]

Again, no one said anything about a lawsuit, just that it wouldn’t go anywhere because of the GOR. Just because FSU sued doesn’t mean anything will come of it.

Yah...hence my comment about the upcoming court action.

 

[Gorm]

ACC already counter sued in NC, location isn’t going to matter on this one

Something tells me this might end up in federal court anyway.

 

[Gorm]

Everyone said they'd be stupid to. They're still stupid to. There's no real case here. They signed what they signed up for knowing full well the decision they made. That they're now mad about it after cashing the checks for several years isn't a valid reason to get out of the contract they signed.

It does look stupid.

Of course, a court victory would change the tune pretty quickly.

 

[Kinch]

I can see the Supreme Court deciding this. ACC and FSU aren’t going to settle. Neither side will back down.

 

[cyatheart]

I can see the Supreme Court deciding this. ACC and FSU aren’t going to settle. Neither side will back down.

Good chance that’s where it ends up.

 

[Pope]

Gotta feeling that 4 years from now, we won't recognize college athletics.

 

[SolterraCyclone]

I can see the Supreme Court deciding this. ACC and FSU aren’t going to settle. Neither side will back down.

They got quite a bit going on right now. I doubt they’d take this case up to be honest. Unless there’s a justice with ties to FSU or other ACC schools

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

It is a good proposal but it isn't quite that simple. For example, there would probably be no legal basis to end NIL, which courts have ruled is an individual right of the athlete and not something that means it probably could not be collectively bargained.

You might do away with these collectives via an agreement to pay players at some point, but product endorsements and things of that type are here to stay.

I think the hardest part will be getting the B10 and SEC to give up the money they are going to receive in the future, to ensure that the whole thing does not come crashing down.

 

[isucy86]

I can see the Supreme Court deciding this. ACC and FSU aren’t going to settle. Neither side will back down.

The scope of the lawsuit seems pretty narrow. I would be surprised if the US Supreme Court would feel the need to hear the case, unless they feel a Federal Appellate court errored (if it gets to that).

Since Florida and North Carolina are in different Federal Circuits, the first battle would seem to be which circuit has jurisdiction.

 

[HouClone]

ESPN's option to extend the tv contact past 2027 is interesting. GOR is to 2036 with no guarantee there is a tv deal then. Think that is FSU's best chance of all the points they outlined.

 

[CloneJD]

Just to clear something up, these suits are declaratory judgment suits. The count is going to rule on validity of the contract provisions. They won’t be ordering anyone to pay anything.

FSU has not withdrawn from the ACC.

I don’t see any resolution until 2026 at the earliest.

 

[SolterraCyclone]

ESPN's option to extend the tv contact past 2027 is interesting. GOR is to 2036 with no guarantee there is a tv deal then. Think that is FSU's best chance of all the points they outlined.

I’ve seen this on this site, but can’t find a source anywhere. Is there really an ESPN option in the contract in 2027? It would be astronomically stupid for the ACC to commit to a long-term deal if you’re partner won’t guarantee payment for the entirety of it

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

ESPN's option to extend the tv contact past 2027 is interesting. GOR is to 2036 with no guarantee there is a tv deal then. Think that is FSU's best chance of all the points they outlined.

I agree it sounds silly, but why would ESPN not pick up the option for the life of the contract? It cheaper for them to keep the cut rate deal they have with the ACC then give up the deal and be forced to turn around and add to what they are already giving to the SEC. Then you throw in the fact that they are going to lose some schools to the B10 from the ACC and not be able to show them at all, seems like a no brainer decision to keep the rights until 2036.

 

[Kinch]

The scope of the lawsuit seems pretty narrow. I would be surprised if the US Supreme Court would feel the need to hear the case, unless they feel a Federal Appellate court errored (if it gets to that).

Since Florida and North Carolina are in different Federal Circuits, the first battle would seem to be which circuit has jurisdiction.

Acc suit was filed in state court.

 

[2speedy1]

I’ve seen this on this site, but can’t find a source anywhere. Is there really an ESPN option in the contract in 2027? It would be astronomically stupid for the ACC to commit to a long-term deal if you’re partner won’t guarantee payment for the entirety of it

Pretty sure it was highlighted in a tweet or something from the legal documents in the suit. I cant remember which tweet I saw it in. But there are several podcasters talking about it too.

I think this could be one of the major points to get FSU out of the GOR. ESPN requiring a GOR until 2036 but only obligated themselves to 2027, then saying sign it or get nothing brings in the duress argument. I can see this being a major point to reduce FSUs GOR obligations. So they could get out of it in 2027 or they could reduce their obligation to only until 2027, that takes 10 years off their GOR obligation, that would be a huge reduction if say they officially leave in 2025, they would only owe 2 years on the GOR, if you look at OuT and how much they paid, FSUs buyout would go from around $600M to about $100M.

I have a feeling they wont get out of their GOR completely unless the court says it is completely void and fraudulent, but they could get it significantly reduced to equal what ESPN is obligated.

The other thing I have seen is that FSU had no idea about this added clause. It was agreed and signed by the commish without a vote of the member schools. So it gives them another legal argument, being they never officially knew or agreed to it.

Seems there were some under the table deals made that brings the validity of their GOR in question. I dont think anyone realized some of these aspects, when they thought they could never break the GOR.

 

[Die4Cy]

I can see the Supreme Court deciding this. ACC and FSU aren’t going to settle. Neither side will back down.

I have my doubts they could get the case in front of the Court unless there's a valid constitutional question involved. Just not enough room in the docket

I don't know what the constitutional question here would be. It's a contract dispute.

 

[Clonehomer]

I have my doubts they could get the case in front of the Court unless there's a valid constitutional question involved. Just not enough room in the docket

I don't know what the constitutional question here would be. It's a contract dispute.

The only dispute would be who has the rights to hold the trial. If each state comes away with different verdicts, how do you resolve that? I agree that it doesn’t get to SCOTUS, but there will be a federal court that hears the case to resolve that dispute. But the actual issue at hand is a state issue.