Dissolve the conference would probably sue the others claiming the remnant still represents the official ACC, and try to retain that name. And being the official ACC they are still owed the exit fees and still retain media rights of the schools that left. They would also claim to have the rights to all of the NCAA basketball tournament money that is forthcoming. Which would probably result in a long legal fight, and some negotiated settlement.

Assuming there is language that allows 8 schools to disband the conference (it's stated here often enough that I'll assume it's true), disbanding the conference would make the ACC that the rights were granted to a non-entity. Reforming it, even with the same name, does not make it the same legal entity, thus the new entity does not have the rights granted to it. Doubt even Lionel Hutz would be willing to take that case. ** Edited by Vienna_Hokie at 8/2/2023, 5:25:26 PM

Webster's defines it as "an agreement under the law, which is unbreakable."

Other teams chose to leave. Therefore, since they chose to stay, the conference continues to exist through them. In essence, it never really dissolved. I'm not saying that would be a valid argument. But I bet that's an argument that would be made. They would argue that the other teams didn't really want to dissolve the conference, they just wanted to leave the conference and because of the GOR the only way they could do that was to dissolve the conference. It is not fair for those who wanted to remain in the conference to have the conference dissolve around them just so some schools could leave without paying their exit fee. Therefore, the disillusion of the conference is invalid, and the conference was never rightfully dissolved and therefore continues in those that wanted to remain in the conference. I think a good lawyer could find some good argument to make in all of that. And it's too much at stake for them to not try. Dissolving the conference just to avoid your exit fee, which is exactly what would be happening, could be argued as invalid and unfairly detrimental to the schools that wanted to remain in the conference. If I was a school left behind I would certainly make that argument and pay my lawyers. ** Edited by wwhokie1 at 8/2/2023, 6:55:41 PM

school decides to join a conference, it agrees to whatever bylaws and any future amendments the members pass including the process for dissolving the conference. I would be very surprised if a conference doesn't have a section that talks about it in its bylaws or charter. FWIW there is an example of a DI conference that dissolved since 2000. The Great West Conference (GWC) dissolved in 2013. Over the course of its existence it had 7 full members. South Dakota left in 2011 and North Dakota left in 2012. In 2013 Chicago State, Houston Baptist, TX-Pan American, and Utah Valley voted to dissolve the conference so they could leave too. New Jersey IT was the only member to vote to not dissolve the conference and even wanted to remain in the conference because it didn't have a future home. However, 1 member was below the charter's/bylaw's minimum threshold to continue existing as a conference, so NJIT was forced to accept the dissolution and become an independent until it could find a new home. If NJIT wanted the GWC to continue to exist as essentially the GWC 2.0, then it would need to find enough new members to satisfy the NCAA's conference requirements and establish a new charter. If the ACC were to dissolve, then I suspect it would play out the same way assuming any members want the ACC to continue to exist. I would even go as far to say that the ACC's charter or bylaws states somewhere that either 8 members or a majority of members (which is still 8 in this case) is required to support the dissolution of the conference. Any member wishing to continue using the ACC name is free to do so under a new charter assuming the ACC 2.0 could satisfy the NCAA's conference requirements.

requirements for dissolving the conference, which would make it easier to fight any attempt. Also, that leaves people debating how many schools would be required to dissolve the conference. Is it a simple majority or a higher percentage? Dissolving the conference would not be a simple matter. And would definitely result in lawsuits.

or bylaws because it is basic contracting 101 to include a section and the appropriate clauses to address the termination (or ending) of a contract early which includes dissolving a contract. It was a very simple matter to dissolve the Great West Conference and it didn't take much effort to dissolve the Big East Football Conference. It isn't unreasonable think the same would be true for the ACC because a conference isn't going to take the time to re-invent the wheel when it comes to the information found in a conference's charter or core bylaws.

If the conference can be dissolved by 8 votes, it's because the conference charter allows it. Again, I've never read the charter, just going with what's been said here over and over, if it's not true, the point is irrelevant because the 8 can't dissolve it so it won't happen. If it can, because the charter says they can, then the others have no claim that they left or anything. Sure they can sue, but it won't cost much to litigate that because it will get thrown out before a judge sits down.

I wouldn't hold my breath on that being enough to dissolve. now if you can get to 11 (w/o ND), you can do whatever you want

However everybody including the FSU administrators have always said uneven revenue sharing was a hopeless cause. The Big 12 was a fighting bunch due to that.

That's 4 football games and a few MBB games you don't share. It's a bit of an accounting exercise but it could be done. And easier to take a few risks with non-walkovers now that the top 6 ranked conf champs get auto births in the CFP ** Edited by daveinop at 8/2/2023, 7:04:35 PM

If an organization like the Atlantic Coast Conference dissolves itself and no longer exists, then anyone would be free to start using the trademarks that that organization had abandoned at dissolutionment. So the remaining schools could just sign a new charter and call themselves the Atlantic Coast Conference. They could also argue that the dissolution vote was illegal and therefore void, and that the old ACC was never legally dissolved. Therefore all the media contracts and grant of rights were still in force. A judge would then have to sort out that mess over several years of litigation. ** Edited by tarheelblue at 8/2/2023, 3:01:32 PM

If that ACC Conference and the legally inherent Registered Trademark are dissolved. How could anyone legally sign a hew charter and use that old ACC name? Anymore than I can reform the Beatles and start performing with a vocalist, guitarist, bassist & drummer? Not saying there will not be a lawsuit. I think that is assured. However ACC will not be the name on the complaint filing. No ACC will be legally re-formed.

Not being able to ever be legally abolished. I also don't think this all hinges on that. The issue is can the current ACC be legally dissolved by eight members? I already know your opinion on that. FSU and their cohorts driven into bankruptcy by endless lawsuits. FSU obviously would not want you as an Attorney. Perhaps we will see this play out. The FSU Chairman of the Board of Trustees is implying that something highly benefiting FSU on expansion is coming.

Music is still being sold under that name, so I can't start selling music under that name. But if there is no longer a sports conference called the "Atlantic Coast Conference" then it can be used by anyone. Right now, anyone could start an airline and call it "PanAm" or start an athletic conference and call it the "Southwest Conference".

They didn't kick the other schools out, they disbanded the conference and reformed it with a subset of the old conference.

I have been following this for a long time and haven't posted on this matter. However, if and it's a big if, FSU decides to leave and got an invite from the BIG or SEC, they are looking at paying penalties and fees of at least $300,000,000. Rather than go that route, why not just offer $25M each to 7 other schools if that would break the GOR. Then those 7 schools could either be free to go to another conference that invited them or rebrand the new ACC into something that they want and jettison some of the schools that don't have a commitment to play big boy football. It saves FSU a ton of money, but I'm not sure how legal that would be.

Also, unless the 7 other schools already have offers to the Big 10 or SEC they would prefer status Quo over the 25 million. Rebranding into a new more streamlined conference could be an appealing option, but only if the top teams in the ACC stay together to do it, otherwise it is a financial loss over the status quo. If the top 8 to 10 schools in the ACC dissolved the conference and formed a new conference they might could sign a competitive media deal, but only if they all stay together. The risk would be that once the ACC was dissolved some schools would join the SEC or Big 10 instead of staying with the other schools in a new conference. Also, you would have to create a new network. Lots of details to work out in such a scenario, and lots could go wrong.