(02-13-2014 07:27 PM)Dasville Wrote: So what I'm reading is that a settlement of some sort was made prior to every team actually moving from one conference to another. Why is that? Is some sort of agreement/settlement needed before a team can leave one conference and join another? I mean, why did WVU settle before moving into the Big 12?
With West Virginia, the issue wasn't the money. You can only be a member of one conference at a time, and the old Big East bylaws had a 27-month waiting period to leave. That's why West Virginia had to jailbreak the bylaws in court.
Quote:They had the goods on the Big East didn't they? They had subpoenas ready did they not?
Not really. There were two related issues.
1. Could/would a court enforce the 27-month waiting period in the bylaws by issuing an injunction against WVU leaving the Big East? (Spoiler: Nope. At which point conference bylaws became nearly worthless as a barrier to teams moving.)
Without an injunction holding WVU to the Big East bylaws, the game was over. The Big East could have scheduled West Virginia in league games, but WVU wouldn't have shown up because they'd be busy playing Big 12 teams.
2. If the bylaws are set aside, what damages did WVU leaving on 6-8 months notice cause the Big East? (Negotiated answer: about $20M.)
Syracuse and Pitt, and later Louisville and Rutgers, arranged to leave with about 1.5-2 years notice, which is adequate time to find a replacement, so they paid less.
If Louisville or Rutgers had left without an agreement,