Will WVU go to the SEC??

[Apis Bull]

SEC is not in North Carolina either.  Although, I couldn't see them adding any of those schools.

[Bull Dozer]

Baylor is bluffing so that the Big 12 can find a way to save itself and convince OU to stay since they know they are screwed in the pending realignment.  The SEC should say **** you prove we did anything wrong in court. 

[Bull-Hornz]

Looks like the Big 12 is sticking it to Texas A&M...

http://www.ktvn.com/story/15414249/texas-am-accuses-big-12-of-backtracking

[macphisto]

Every conference has a loyalty clause, and they all get bought out.  If West Virginia has decided they are going to leave and give 27 months notice, the BE will let them leave earlier.  The BE won't want WVU around as a lame duck team.  Those clauses are built in to increase the amount of payout to get out of them. 

The money we are talking about it crazy.  $5mil isn't going to stop any team from leaving for a better situation. 

That said, I'm not all that convinced that WVU will leave, or even be offered.  But I do think if the SEC is going to negotiate with WVU and Missouri they will want both, not just take one and be done.  If the SEC can get the pair, they will easily be able to find a 16th team.  Or maybe they have a smaller fish in mind for that spot in the event both teams accept.

None of the other conferences have a loyalty clause written into the bylaws of the conference like the Big East.

It will take 27 months and West Virginia voted to approve those bylaws, so there's not a chance they could get out of it unless they shell out a massive amount of money to the Big East - probably $20 million or more.

The Big Ten didn't poach the Big East because they didn't want to wait.  They had a TV contract to negotiate.  The SEC has a right to negotiate if they expand, but they won't wait two years to do this.

The Big East loyalty clause is unique in its long time frame AND in the fact that the $5M is in addition to forfeiture of conference revenues from what I read. 

The other conferences all allow you to leave with basically a year notice and that also requires a forfeiture of league revenue (usually 80-90%) for that year. 

With the Big East you need to staple a $5 million check to your resignation form and wait 27 months while the conference cashes your check immediately and gives it to your rivals.  That's at least from what I've dug up through searches.

The Big East protected itself against further pilfering after the ACC raid. 

The SEC can get WVU and the Big Ten can get teams too, but they'll have to wait 27 months from that team's resignation.

On top of that, that school will have to pay the Big East $5M and forfeit most of their conference revenues for the 27 month period.  Total cost:  over $20M. 

That 27 month period gives the Big East time to respond instead of having to cobble something together quickly.

The reason the Big East has these rules is because ALL of the current teams wanted protection against it happening again. 

The kicker is these rules also apply to Notre Dame for all sports except football (though they are a voting member for many football decisions).  With Notre Dame's football revenue, they have no reason to leave the Big East at all.  Their NBC contract has always been the sticky point for anyone.  If you allowed ND to keep that and get full conference revenue then they might join a conference, but they get around $10M a year from that NBC deal.

[Joe]

Mac. Everything you've described exists with every conference.

The reason the Big Ten is because they got Nebraska. A monster traditional power who fills their stadium weekly...

I can't think of a school in the Big East that wouldn't drop their bags to be in the SEC. It will be millions more profitable.

As for our new TV contract. ESPN's last offer was less than the ACC. Not sure where you get "double."

If we got a shot to go to the ACC, I'd be all over that too.

[DELdaBull]

I would bounce too if the SEC called

[Reliable Source]

Every conference has a loyalty clause, and they all get bought out.  If West Virginia has decided they are going to leave and give 27 months notice, the BE will let them leave earlier.  The BE won't want WVU around as a lame duck team.  Those clauses are built in to increase the amount of payout to get out of them. 

The money we are talking about it crazy.  $5mil isn't going to stop any team from leaving for a better situation. 

That said, I'm not all that convinced that WVU will leave, or even be offered.  But I do think if the SEC is going to negotiate with WVU and Missouri they will want both, not just take one and be done.  If the SEC can get the pair, they will easily be able to find a 16th team.  Or maybe they have a smaller fish in mind for that spot in the event both teams accept.

None of the other conferences have a loyalty clause written into the bylaws of the conference like the Big East.

It will take 27 months and West Virginia voted to approve those bylaws, so there's not a chance they could get out of it unless they shell out a massive amount of money to the Big East - probably $20 million or more.

The Big Ten didn't poach the Big East because they didn't want to wait.  They had a TV contract to negotiate.  The SEC has a right to negotiate if they expand, but they won't wait two years to do this.

The Big East loyalty clause is unique in its long time frame AND in the fact that the $5M is in addition to forfeiture of conference revenues from what I read. 

The other conferences all allow you to leave with basically a year notice and that also requires a forfeiture of league revenue (usually 80-90%) for that year. 

With the Big East you need to staple a $5 million check to your resignation form and wait 27 months while the conference cashes your check immediately and gives it to your rivals.  That's at least from what I've dug up through searches.

The Big East protected itself against further pilfering after the ACC raid. 

The SEC can get WVU and the Big Ten can get teams too, but they'll have to wait 27 months from that team's resignation.

On top of that, that school will have to pay the Big East $5M and forfeit most of their conference revenues for the 27 month period.  Total cost:  over $20M. 

That 27 month period gives the Big East time to respond instead of having to cobble something together quickly.

The reason the Big East has these rules is because ALL of the current teams wanted protection against it happening again. 

The kicker is these rules also apply to Notre Dame for all sports except football (though they are a voting member for many football decisions).  With Notre Dame's football revenue, they have no reason to leave the Big East at all.  Their NBC contract has always been the sticky point for anyone.  If you allowed ND to keep that and get full conference revenue then they might join a conference, but they get around $10M a year from that NBC deal.

You've made a lot of claims. Is there a source pending here somewhere?

[macphisto]

Mac. Everything you've described exists with every conference.

The reason the Big Ten is because they got Nebraska. A monster traditional power who fills their stadium weekly...

I can't think of a school in the Big East that wouldn't drop their bags to be in the SEC. It will be millions more profitable.

As for our new TV contract. ESPN's last offer was less than the ACC. Not sure where you get "double."

If we got a shot to go to the ACC, I'd be all over that too.

Prove it.  There is no documentation that I can find doing a search indicating there is anything that requires a 27 month window.  Most conferences have differing forfeiture percentages based on whether you file to leave before or after a season.  A slightly longer notice means you forfeit less in conference revenues.  There is nothing I can find that indicates that any conference other than the Big East has a long waiting period or an UP FRONT penalty.

Secondly, from what I've read we're not just looking at ESPN but looking to combine ESPN's contract with the launch of a Big East network and a Saturday night game on Fox to compete against the ABC and CBS to couple it with their PAC-12 coverage.  NBC is also reportedly interested in adding weekly primetime college football.  

Also, that ESPN deal currently offered PAYS MORE than the ACC deal on a per school basis for the football schools.  About $1.5M more per school, per year.  

ESPN or Fox also would probably bid out to run a Big East network to handle non-national football games.  NBC and Fox are also looking to expand their lineup.

That's why when Marinotto has said he's looking at around $20 million per school per year, he means it, but it's not just from ESPN.  

And remember, we have yet to open bidding.  The ACC's initial offer came in UNDER ESPN's initial offer to the Big East.  ESPN's offer grew by nearly 30% when the ACC bid out their contract.  If that same circumstance happened for the Big East then we'd be looking at around $18 million per year for each Big East football school from ESPN.  That would likely require exclusivity, though I'd guess they'd allow the Big East to have its own network, especially if they ran it for us.

It's also worth remembering that the Big East is in much larger markets than the ACC.  We'll let people bid and see where it goes.  

This is just aggregating things from a lot of different searches.  But it seems to me that we're going to end up with at least $15M per school per season from the TV contract looking at the growth in other conferences TV contracts - and that is on the conservative side of things.  I think we end up in between 15-20 and, as I've said, that the ACC ends up being the lowest paid of all the BCS conferences.

And I still seriously doubt any team will get around the 27 month rule.  They can leave, but they won't be leaving after this season and they and the conference they're going to will get sued.  WVU, Pitt, Cuse, etc all made sure of that when they had problems with the lawsuits against the ACC.  The Big East has made it tough to leave in a hurry.

[Joe]

The Big 12 has a 24 month rule and a buyout.

That being said, like Colorado and Nebraska last year, schools can negotiate a buyout, which I'd expect in any WVU case.

If you recall Colorado and Nebraska both worked out deals to waive the notice rule. Every conference has it. Most are around 24 months. Most have penalties. Etc.

[Joe]

Mac,

As for the TV contracts...you're expecting a 9 team Big East to get SEC, Big 10, PAC-10 money?

No. It will be similar to the ACC. 12-13 mil a year max.

Currently the Big East football contract pays a little less than $14 mil a year TOTAL!

Basketball pays about $50 mil a year.

We're making around 6-7 mil a year on TV contracts.

That will double at best. ESPN offered 150 mil for an exclusive deal back in April