tier 1 contract was already signed, sealed, delivered. if the TV company behind that contract stands up and says it's a problem, then it's a problem...until then, it's not, and i've yet to hear anything from them suggesting it is. my guess is the Horns checked with TV company before they did that. assuming they're kosher with it, A&M and the other members of the Big XII have zero in way of damages with respect to that.
No ... the tier 1 deal that comes up in 3 years ... yes we could (and will if we lose the sec) continue to fight it, but we (like Nebraska) are fed up of a conference run by 1 team so we will leave at the first opportunity and that solves the problem. And of course the tier1 provider is fine with it ... It is currently ESPN who owns the LHN ... So espn pays just as much come the new tier 1 deal, but more of it goes to Texas than the rest of the conference. Sorry, but A&M and anyone else with options should not be fine with that.
....sure, if they just run dead air and sham-wow commericials, otherwise they could just televise another conference game in it's place. Lost money found.
Yeah because Texas is not a big TV draw or anything and the network is going to pay just as much to show Baylor-Texas Tech as they are a Texas game
Look, I get it, Baylor and Texas are going to lose money if A&M leaves and they don't like it and willing to do ANYTHING to stop it. If they manage to work it out, then good for them. They win. Beyond that, all this arguing that the LHN is in the best interest of the conference (as they promised last year during realignment) is ridiculous.
Josh - That type of evidence, if any, would likely be found during the discovery phase if a suit was filed. Furthermore, while it is a factor, a defendant does not necessarily have to initiate the interference to be found guilty.
Yes, but the SEC and A&M had to see this type of tactic coming given the contract and I find it hard to believe that they would get this far without covering those avenues. Possible, but I seriously doubt it. Bottom line is that they know the evidence isn't there or they wouldn't have gotten this far.
Isn't Richard Justice a horn? This is the first time I've ever seen him squarely on A&M's side (and he has been since the inception of the LHN)
This is my feeling too. I doubt A&M's regents and the SEC commissioner would let the process get this far without foresight.
i don't think LHN is in the best interest of the conference either. not sure who you're having that discussion with .
The point is that this is what caused A&M to see out the SEC despite the TV deal. They broke our agreement amongst the Big XII and after that all obligations are off. Are you trying to say we were stuck here for the next 13 years no matter what? The Big XII did have a TV deal already in place last year when Texas was trying to leave. My understanding is that this lawsuit is trying to say we and the SEC knew we were leaving when negotiating that deal. Not the case. We agreed to the deal, and then Texas breached the agreement with the Big XII with the LHN (details about the contract did not come out until a few weeks ago) and this gives us our legal opening to SECede. If this falls through at this point it is really all on Mike Slive as they miscalculated the opposition. I'm sure A&M will get most of the grief, but there is no way A&M does what they did without some assurances from Slive that the vote for us was a slam dunk.
Then they shouldn't have signed the deal. That's what I'm saying...they knew all along LHN was coming. They signed the deal anyway, last summer. Texas did NOT breach any agreement. They've gotten slapped back by the NCAA about what exactly can be televised. But they've haven't breached an agreement. The agreements in question aren't amongst the members of the conference...but between the conference and the TV network. That's the agreement we're talking about here. If Fox has a problem with TLN, they'll say so...but if Fox cancels the agreement entirely because before the teams even start playing on a 13 year deal, one of the schools pulls out entirely with the SEC involved, then the other members of the Big XII who stood to benefit from that deal potentially have a claim for tortious interference.
Exactly how far have they gotten? The A&M BOR hasn't even met to officially discuss realignment. I'm not saying that there is any evidence but i think you'd be surprised at the amount of people who think they've covered their tracks. Also, there is a difference between having enough evidence to win a suit and having enough evidence to file one. The latter just might be enough for the SEC to hesitate for a bit or maybe scare them off all together. I need to reiterate that I have no idea what evidence is out there, but when you're talking about a 13 year 1 billion + suit, I would bet that a suit is filed at the very least. Don't forget that a lot of what we're hearing is word of mouth. If you go read the conference realignment thread from last summer, it's almost comical the amount of misinformation that goes around.
I guess the SEC's lawyers (who know both the rules and their own conduct) completely disagree. Nobody is better qualified to make that judgement. If the deal is closed and the SEC is legitimately vulnerable, they should be disbarred. If this thing goes through, my guess is the $1 billion lawsuit talk fades away quickly. It's a last ditch scare tactic.
The SEC's lawyers would be coming in AFTER the fact. "Hey, we've been talking to A&M for x months...now Fox is talking about cancelling their deal with the Big XII because A&M decided to join us." There's no malpractice there...they're being consulted after the fact. They didn't do anything to cause potential harm here. I have seen reports that A&M's attorneys are looking closely at their exposure at this point....I'm sure SEC lawyers are doing the same.
I agree... we are both lawyers so our perspective is different. The argument from some seems to be that "it isn't fair." .... well that is a different issue all together.
I dont disagree with that and have said the sec may just say it isn't worth it. If that is the case, then Texas and the Big XII won the PR war, and the SEC totally miscalculated the opposition to this in order to be scared off (dont know how they could have).
Are you really saying the SEC lawyers didnt already look at this? [Keyshawn Johnson] C'mon Man!! [/Keyshawn Johnson]
