Why did the ACC settle with UH, UCF and Cincinnati? IIRC, they were looking for a A LOT more than the schools ended up paying. But of course they want out early and Yormack is on record saying he’s open for those negotiations. It will reach a point where it will benefit both sides to move on. When and how much remains to be seen but I’d bet a lot of money that UT and OU don’t pay the full buyout “baked in the receipt.”
Everything has a price but tbh I haven't heard much of an appetite from hateful 8 fans around letting OUT leave early. But of course fans don't make decisions.
FWIW the AAC wasnt working with a grant of rights which is probably a bit thornier than just a set of conference by laws. Also, I don't believe there was a "discount" as much as pro-rating the time to leave early VS the normal exit fee. Everything has a price. Just depends on what 1 or 2 more years is worth to them.
The GOR is a forfeit of their distribution which they wouldn’t give a crap about since they’d get that back and more going to the SEC. The exit fee is the big ticket item here. As @Major posted, neither side wants to stick things out to the very end and that only happens with a settlement of some sorts.
Everything is negotiable. Just because the $80M is a flat fee, it doesn’t mean the Big 12 can’t come down on it if they choose to. It’s literally what the AAC and your Cougs did not that long ago.
The AAC by-laws (not a GOR, TV rights, etc, as with the B12) stipulate a 27-month notice before departure and a $10 million exit fee. UH/UC/UCF got out earlier by paying more ($18MM), not less. This cut their exit waiting period almost in half and nearly doubled their exit fee, which makes perfect sense. The situation with OU/UT/B12 is way different. Here are the stipulations they are dealing with AFAIK: The exit fee is the amount equal to the final 2 years of the per-school pay for the B12s current media deal (80MM/per) This fee is the same if you leave today, yesterday, or at the literal end of the present media deal (2025) The B12 schools all signed a 99 year "GOR" back during the last conference apocalypse (which explains why there is an 80MM fee to leave even at the expiration of the current media deal) What is unclear to me is whether that 80MM releases them from the GOR (I don't think it does) If it doesn't Even if OU and UT left tomorrow their games would still belong to the Big 12 for broadcast purposes through 2025 If UT and OU want to buy back those rights from the B12, they can, but it will cost them more money than the 80MM already owed, not less It seems unlikely this would happen since the story from Day 1 has been that OU barely has the appetite to pay what they owe, let alone take on an even larger fee They could just go Leeroy Jenkins and leave and let their media rights sit and rot in the B12's hands, but that's not really in anyone's best interest. If it does The door is wide open for UT and OU to leave ASAP as long as they pay the 80MM Even still don't see a lot of incentive for the B12 to lower the fee to let them go early
The 99 year deal is just an agreement to stay in conference that has no real meaning or penalties associated with it. The GOR - which is the big piece of the puzzle - is only through 2025. If OU and UT just stay through 2025, they can walk at no cost.
That is what I assumed but damn near every news article out there is saying it's 80MM no matter when. Oh well, internet be wrong some times. In any case, it's quite easy to do a little napkin math and create a pro-rated exit fee. Not "discounted", but basically in line with what the value vs. time proposition is. Edit: Source
This is what I'm seeing (highlights included): https://www.oklahoman.com/story/spo...s-potential-ou-texas-move-sec-faq/8048313002/ That grant of rights was eventually extended to coincide with the expiration of the Big 12’s current television deal, which expires following the 2024-25 school year. ... As the years remaining on the deal dwindle, the potential money lost by leaving becomes more palatable, plus the remaining schools figure to be more likely to agree to a modified deal that would put them in a better position moving forward than if those two schools left without penalty after the end of the deal. ... According to the Big 12’s bylaws, the 10 programs have agreed — with the other members — to remain in the conference until July 1, 2111, a period of 99 years from the July 1, 2012 agreement. It’s the grant of rights deal, though, that more closely ties the programs together. Without an agreement changing the terms, schools leaving the conference must notify the league at least 18 months in advance of departure, pay a buyout fee equal to the sum of the conference distribution money that otherwise would be paid out during the final two years of membership and forfeit all conference distributions during the period between notifying the league of departure and when the program departed. So the penalty for leaving during the grant of rights would be severe
AAC commissioner Mike Aresco initially sought $35 million, meaning they are far off from an agreement. Negotiations are still ongoing. “Multiple sources said they are ‘fully confident’ that a settlement will be reached this month by UC, UH, UCF and the AAC,” McMurphy said. AAC asks for additional $35M from schools wanting to leave early for Big 12 (sportsbusinessjournal.com) I don't know what that additional $35 million entailed but I don't think the commissioner of the AAC pulled it out of thin air. At the end, the AAC sought a much higher exit fee but they settled on an amount that worked for both sides and are moving on. I fully expect the same to happen here. You have this wrong, UT and OU would forfeit their portion of the tv distribution under the GOR. They would not have to pay more out of pocket. And as I posted earlier, they would then get their share of the distribution from the SEC which would likely be more than what they forfeit. That's why the GOR isn't the big obstacle here. As far as the exit fee, it is completely negotiable. Neither school wants to pay the full amount even if they could. And don't think it's in the best interest of the conference to keep them through 2025 at which they wouldn't get a single dime. If the conference isn't willing to budge, Yormack would've said so. He has literally said he is open to negotiations.
Lmao we're way too deep into the rabbit hole now. Here's the bible: https://static.big12sports.com/custompages/pdfs/handbook/bylaws.pdf Page 14 and 15 corroborate your post above. Fee drops by half in 2024, and goes to virtually nothing in 2025. That makes way more sense. So, who is ready for 1 year of Big 14 football?
Aresco did indeed pull that out of thin air. That's because there was no specific monetary value attached to our membership over that 27-month waiting period... so Aresco could literally name any figure he wanted. This is unlike the Big 12, whom apparently have it written down in clear terms already how much leaving by X date costs. I guess it just depends on how badly the leftovers want money vs. another crack at yall.
Yup and if I’m taking the money, I’m taking it before the newcomers join and splitting it 8 vs 12 ways.
The new teams won't be getting any UT/OU money. I think that was already put on paper as terms of their joining. In the case it wasn't, the new teams don't fully vest until 2026, so if they won't get paid but a fraction of what the other schools get anyway. Gonna be interesting to see what happens, because the clock is quickly running out on the opportunity to exit in Summer 2023. I think OU and UT leave in 2024. Whether that is for the full sticker price (40MM) or not I dunno. The other part of the equation beyond how badly the leftovers want a paycheck is how badly UT/OU don't want to be part of the UH/UC/UCF/BYU era. If I'm the leftovers, I don't think I'd be able to put a price tag on those last 2 years of UT/OU's membership, because once they're gone, you'll likely never voluntarily interact with those schools in any meaningful way ever again. You can't really quantify that. I'd ride it out, personally.
Yeah good point. Its a shame though to lose some of the regionalism and historic recurring matchups. Part of the evolution of the game I suppose. People probably said the same thing when the Ivy league was created or when the modern conferences were formed.
I’ve only read that they won’t get full distribution at first. Nothing about the exit fee although makes sense to build that in as well. 2024 is what I’m hearing as well but I’m guessing it won’t be for the full exit fee. That’s a hefty price to leave one year early.
It feels like we've hit a bit of a dead period. What's the next move? Notre Dame is basically on an indefinite clock and all signs point to them sitting on their hands as long as humanly possible, so that makes the whole Oregon/Washington to the B1G thing seem far off. That means the next shoe to drop will be the PAC's new TV deal. What are the possible outcomes there? A) The numbers are good and so everyone signs their life away and we enter a new waiting period until the ACC GOR expires B) The numbers are acceptable and so everyone agrees to stick together but the pact is tenuous with the doors still wide open C) The numbers are bad and so the four corner schools bolt for the Big 12 immediately Which then creates another decision point: C1) The remaining 6 in the PAC backfill from the G6 (Boise, SDSU, SMU, etc) C2) The remaining 6 all scramble for the lifeboats and the conference effectively ceases to exist
I assume this was discussed with the tv partners as a possible option. If so, the PAC may be in some serious trouble.
