by Ehsan Kassim A date has been set for a North Carolina court to hear Florida State's motion to dismiss or stay the Atlantic Coast Conference's lawsuit against the FSU Board of Trustees on March 22. Greg Flugar of College Football's Peek Around the Corner reported on the notice Friday morning. In the document, it states that a Mecklenburg County business court will hear the case between FSU and the conference. FSU - which is the defendant in the case - has asked the court to review the case to stay or dismiss it. If the case isn't dismissed in North Carolina, FSU will ask that it be stayed so its lawsuit in Florida can proceed.

ACC's Lawsuit. by Jackson Bakich “Florida State is a victim of chronic mismanagement and self-dealing by ACC leadership and finds itself unable to effectively evaluate alternatives while the Severe Withdrawal ACC Penalties and the ACC GofR (Grant of Rights) hang over Florida State’s head,” the amendment states.The amendment accuses Swofford of negotiating with ESPN and Fox in 2008 to keep Raycom part of the ACC’s broadcasting partnership rather than “trying to bid against their deeper pockets.” With more and more evidence provided by FSU, this story continues to develop slowly but surely. It appears the public won’t know the entire story until a decision is made.”

The argument that FSU's president signing the GOR (and not their Board of Trustees) somehow makes it invalid is hilarious and almost certain to tick off the judge. Estoppel, ratification, apparent authority, etc....a 1L law student who's spent a few weeks in a contracts class could slice and dice that argument in a minute.

Kinda like Alina Habba……

Winston Salem, NC, Syracuse NY, Boston Mass and all other ACC jurisdictions. How can Florida decide whether the GOR agreement between the ACC and Wake, Cuse, BC etc. is valid? jurisdiction is if the ACC filing says the GOR only applies to FSU and Miami. But I don't see how that can be. Seems I heard the ACC was asking for a declaratory judgement that the GOR is valid on every ACC team, not just FSU. And the group of schools like Wake who have really no destination, sure want GOR upheld and want the Florida courts to butt out. GOR is either an extremely positive or negative issue for every team in the conference.

.... it go up to a Federal court?

states in play the only constant is the ACC is based in NC so that is where it should start. Now the other stuff on bad faith, etc that may well turn into a class action unless FSU can claim they were the only one harmed. 1st side to put $200 million on the table as the cost of FSU walking away, will probably take it although the ACC might not.

I can’t see ESPN wanting to extend the ACC contract without FSU at the same dollar amount. This almost seems like a repeat of what happened on the west coast. Their top school left for the B1G and then ESPN offered a below market rate for the media rights of the remaining PAC-12 schools going forward while Fox offered nothing. The PAC-12 rejected the offer and then spent a year unsuccessful trying to find another media partner that would pay them as much as the Big-12 in the new contract that Brett Yormark negotiated. In the end, the PAC-12 failed to find anyone and the hundred year old conference died. History didn’t matter. Location didn’t matter. Academics didn’t matter. Politics didn’t matter. The members (except for WSU &OSU) fled to other power conferences. Everyone (including me) was saying only a few weeks earlier that the ACC and PAC-12’s situation were totally different because the ACC’s GOR ran through 2036, but then we came to find out that ESPN doesn’t have to extend the ACC contract. They could offer the ACC after FSU leaves a below market rate for 2027 and beyond that could be similar to what they offered the PAC-12 or even nothing at all like Fox offered. If that take place and it is now seems likely, the ACC will die and members will flee to the other power conferences after voting for dissolution. Some schools will find a new home, but not every school. Fear is the driving force behind the scenes at this time. The ball is in ESPN’s court and the deadline for their decision is now only 12 months away - one more football season.

of what the B12 got. My guess, is that they wanted the PAC to backfill with B12 teams that were hanging on by a thread, but the PAC declined. It's also my guess that ESPN wanted the PACN, and again, the PAC declined. It is reported that the PAC wanted $50M per year for the remaining 10 teams - and ESPN walked. I'm not convinced they were offered a below market rate for their media rights, I'm convinced that they thought they were all that, and found out the hard way, that playing hard ball was not in their interest at that moment in time. It's also my guess that the B12 got the PAC contract, and were willing to expand into new markets. Cincy, UCF, and BYU put the B12 flag into new markets, even though only Cincy made sense geographically - and that is only because WVU. Houston was a basketball brand - which still doesn't make much sense to me - as we already had 3 good schools in Texas already. It's my guess that the ACC will keep their contract, even if FSU and couple of others leave. They will have to backfill however, with who and where is the question. They just will not see a "raise" until 2036. i will be totally shocked and dumbfounded if they work to dismantle the ACC. I continue to think that the goal was not to re-make college football. It was, and continues to be a money grab.

but I have a difficult time believing that the PAC-12 actually thought they were ever going to get a media contract that paid them $50 million per school per years after USC announced that they were joining the B1G. I also don’t believe that ESPN ever offered the PAC-12 an amount anywhere close to the Big-12 contract. I know that was also reported by Canzano, McCollough, Wilnor and other PAC-12 beat writers, but these reporters had lost all credibility by that time. Numerous sources like the Monty Show had reported that the offer from ESPN was around $20 million per school per year and that wasn’t going to be enough to keep the conference intact. Greg Flugaur even reported that there was no offer from ESPN or Fox on the table. What we do know with certainty is that there were desperate attempts to find other potential media partners but to no avail. I see the exact same thing happening with the ACC and FSU. Their lawsuit is essentially an announcement that they are leaving the conference with the only major question remaining being the cost to exit. ESPN could agree today that they are exercising their option to extend the contract until 2036 and bring some stability to the conference that they broadcast, but they aren’t saying anything. And you have to ask yourself why would ESPN be willing to pay the ACC the same amount of money without FSU and maybe even other big brand schools? ESPN’s silence on the option to extend the ACC contract is deafening. Right up until the very day of the implosion, Canzano & Wilnor were reporting that a lucrative media rights agreement for the PAC-12 was inevitable, but the PAC-12 schools on the other hand were having confidential discussions with Brett Yormark and Tony Petitti for months about membership. I believe that is now happening on the east coast with Greg Sankey also being involved.

B12. And if the GOR holds even somewhat, there is no way any team is going anywhere but the P2 because the Big 12 's ability to provide a net over the ACC, including payout of the GOR, is really suspect. Like I have said before, I think someone above the ACC and Big 12 will lay out our lanes as being in a regional setup kind of like AAA to the majors in baseball. They will further lay out three 12 team regional conferences including, a revived PAC, with teams moving from and to each of the conferences to make each 12 team conference more regional. That setup may also include teams (say AA minor league in baseball) to be able to move up and bump the poorest performers from the AAA. Say a Tulane bumping the poorest performer in the B12 or a JMU/Liberty bumping the poorest performer in the ACC.

But as I posted, I believe the ACC, Big12 and future PAC will be joined at the hip.

to future media deals. If everything goes to streaming, they may divide up the money, not amounts conferences, but by the teams. There are only so many prime time slots in linear channel productions. With streaming, all of the game in the same time slots are competing with each other. We will be able to flip any game with that kind of platform. The productions of the games might be different, but it's like that anyway. All of the G5 will now be able to compete in the same time slots on a Saturday afternoon (example). No longer will we be limited to only the "top" games of the week. I think the P2 is over paid, and they are sweating a playoff system that is inclusive, because they are going to have a lot of bluebloods on the sidelines with 3 or more losses. it may even stop teams from defecting from the ACC, but that may already be etched in stone.

Defendant: “Plaintiff was not justified in bringing suit based an unfounded speculation that we would file suit.” Plaintiff: “What did you do?” Defendant: “we sued.”

with that? 🤷‍♂️

I'm not an attorney, but I don't think that would help the ACC, and it would create sympathy for FSU. So I don't see the ACC making any change in that regard.

As you stated, that’s probably a good thing for them to do. Certainly don’t want to cut the coverage.

Think that's interesting... It says it all at ACC last Spring meetings, the FSU AD came and said to press after welcome to the ACC and his AD Peers and does it make it difficult when FSU is complaining. (im paraphrasing).. He said, this isn't personal, but really Im employed with FSU, and these other AD's and just business entities I really don't care. Kinda said it all

I would if I had the cash. Let them battle it out in the Big 10 or SEC.

What’s Flunky State going to do if it’s denied? Most likely whine, *****, moan and throw a tantrum…..and spend more in attorneys fees while doing so.