All you can do is guess to all these. I think it's telling that Virginia Tech isn't the 14th member of the SEC, though. My guys have been telling me over and over again that VA Tech isn't interested in the SEC, but that the invitation was theirs if they wanted it; of course that's certainly subject to change.
Love this! Keep up the pressure President Starr. Everyone is trying to cover their ass and BU is no different. Suddenly the high and mighty aggies have issues with that. Look in the mirror. You're doing the same thing and would do the same if you were in BU's position. Justice's blog today is right on point.
Sorry - to clarify, this is different than the letter to A&M. This letter was from the Big12 sent to the SEC on Friday apparently. It also included: Dear Mike: This is to confirm our discussion yesterday during which I informed you that the Big 12 Conference Board of Directors unanimously authorized me to convey to you and their colleagues in the Southeastern Conference that the Big 12 and its members will not take any legal action for any possible claims against the SEC or its members relating to the departure of Texas A&M University from the Big 12 and the admission of Texas A&M into the SEC; provided, however, that such act by the SEC to admit Texas A&M is publicly confirmed by 5:00 p.m. (CDT) on September 8, 2011. So the Big12 at least communicated to the SEC that neither it or its members would sue the SEC. I guess my question is if the SEC were to rely on that information, would they have any kind of protection there? Or does this not hold any legal weight?
yeah, it's an argument for sure. I wonder if BU authorized that going out, though. Even if you and I are in an association/partnership, you don't have the authority to waive claims on my behalf unless I expressly give you that right.
I guess, though, none of that is really relevant as the SEC has made clear their position. According to Chip Brown, Big12 Conference Call is happening shortly. Will be interesting to see what happens there - I imagine TX, OU, etc want this all to be over, so will they take the side of BU trying to kill A&M's move, or do pressure BU to hurry up and get A&M out so they can figure out the next step?
I think the value of being in Houston is largely being overstated. Tech is a Dominating figure in the Dallas market and controls west Texas. Last year tech sold 45,000+ season tickets and has just upgraded a stadium that can now hold 60,000+ people. Your 50K overnight projection is already behind the curve. To a separate poster- you can't argue UofH is tier 1, they are not.
Wins what argument? No one ever claimed there are monetary damages. So yes, if he's arguing with himself, he won. Congrats! I say the Earth revolves around the Sun. Prove me wrong. You can't? I win! Yay for me?
http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1261679 8:30 AM WEDNESDAY- Here is the statement issued by Florida president Bernie Machen, chair of the Southeastern Conference presidents and chancellors board, on Texas A&M's (contingent) acceptance into the SEC: "After receiving unanimous written assurance from the Big 12 on September 2 that the Southeastern Conference was free to accept Texas A&M to join as a new member, the presidents and chancellors of the SEC met last night with the intention of accepting the application of Texas A&M to be the newest member of the SEC. "We were notified yesterday afternoon that at least one Big 12 institution had withdrawn its previous consent and was considering legal action. "The SEC has stated that to consider an institution for membership, there must be no contractual hindrances to its departure. The SEC voted unanimously to accept Texas A&M University as a member upon receiving acceptable reconfirmation that the Big 12 and its members have reaffirmed the letter dated September 2, 2011." 6:15 AM WEDNESDAY - Multiple sources say Baylor is the school the SEC is most concerned about when it comes to the threat of a lawsuit. One source said Baylor is seriously considering a lawsuit against the SEC alleging the acquisition of Texas A&M would set off a domino effect in realignment that would result in hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to schools across the country. The source also said Baylor would consider a lawsuit against Mike Slive personally. Obviously, the SEC is taking this seriously because the presidents in that league made their vote to admit Texas A&M contingent on the individual member schools in the Big 12 signing a waiver not to sue the SEC. ---- The suit against Slive personally would be interesting. I've seen this before in tortious interference suits, and it's scary as hell for the guy who is being named. My understanding from my guys (and no, there's no link, so believe what you want) is that the SEC had to vote 3 times yesterday before extending the invitation to A&M. There is tons of concern about this lawsuit and the potential for other universities to jump in.
Relevance? There is no current monetary damage there. It's a projection into the future of how the next TV contract would look if TLN takes more UT games. That's that whole forward looking thing I was talking about. Try again. There's no hyperbole. We have 4 potential games that were discussed to be moved onto TLN: Kansas, K-State, Tech, and BYU. BYU was a Tier-1 type game; Tech is either 1 or 2. KU and KSU are likely Tier 2. Every one of these games would have been televised at a higher priority than Tier 3. So ESPN is attempting to take control of games that should be given to the Big12 Contract. You have a conflict of interest, you piss off the fans of those schools, and you have to question whether 2 games is the end game or if there will be more in the future. Every one of those are valid concerns that affects every other Big12 school. Just because TLN didn't take the premiere Big12 game of the season doesn't mean it's not a concern. You do seem to love the strawman argument though. That's because you choose not to listen. Having your media partner not working in your best interests is a concern. Having your media partner pressuring fellow schools is a concern. Having a TV rights negotiation coming up with a partner that has conflicting goals is a concern. Their games were never at risk of being on the TLN - until now, given that Tech, KSU, BYU, and Kansas weren't ever intending their games to be on TLN, but each was in line to have games moved there. So says the person that can't seem to accept that organizations look forward and can project things beyond current financial concerns.
Ummm...it ain't just Baylor anymore: http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1261679 10 AM - Was just told by two Big 12 administrators the SEC now wants all nine schools in the Big 12 to sign a waiver saying they will not sue the Southeastern Conference over the depature of Texas A&M to the SEC. And I'm told the Big 12 schools will not sign those waivers. Texas A&M has confirmed to Orangebloods.com that a celebration planned for today in College Station to announce Texas A&M as the 13th member has been postponed indefinitely until the threat of litigation can be resolved. "At this time, we do not intend on making an announcement today," said A&M spokesman Jason Cook. "But the situation is extremely fluid." Things could get sticky because a letter on Sept. 2 from Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe to SEC commissioner Mike Slive said that the Big 12 would waive the right to any litigation against the SEC as long as he Aggies were members of the SEC by 5 p.m. on Sept. 8 (Thursday). Beebe sent a letter back to Slive on Tuesday saying the waiver in that Sept. 2 letter applied only to the Big 12 Conference and was not binding to the Big 12's member schools. The SEC was contacted on Tuesday by lawyers representing Baylor that BU did not intend to waive its right to sue the SEC, sources said. The SEC then admitted Texas A&M as the 13th member of the conference contingent upon the SEC being released from any legal liability by the nine member schools in the Big 12. And I'm being told there's no way all the schools will sign such a waiver. Stay tuned.
and forgot the obligatory, "check out the big brain on max!". he's been calling the legal stuff since way back. good work, chap.
And "looking forward" in Texas A&M's case means a time period limited to nomore than one year in which they re-upped with the Big 12 and then came to the ugly realization that all of the idiocy they learned in fish camp and "t.u." silliness was not shared by the sane 99.9% of the population and that people would pay large sums of money for longhorn sports.
i guess aggy wasn't happy with the conference getting a tv deal worth four times as much as the previous one. they wanted three.
