Future B1G member and perennial pain in the ‘ACC’ just can’t seem to go away quietly.
Big shock there.
Monday, the Terps filed suit for $157Mil, this time in Guilford County, NC….
The suit, filed by the state attorney general’s office on behalf of the University of Maryland in a North Carolina court, alleges that two ACC schools attempted to recruit Big Ten members into switching conferences and the league has violated Maryland Antitrust laws. Maryland claims that the ACC’s actions were “unlawful and tortious” and “constitute an illegal restraint of trade, unfair competition, and unfair or deceptive trade practices.”
Maryland is seeking $157 million from the ACC — according to the suit, $156,799,026 is “three times the amount of compensatory damages.”
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The two ACC schools alleged to have done the dastardly deed are Wake and Pitt, btw. The B1G schools allegedly contacted are not named.
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The suit also alleges that the ACC has withheld $16Mil in monies due to UMd since the school announced it’s intended move to the B1G (repeat after me…E-x-i-t F-e-e), and that UMd President Wallace Loh has been excluded from conference meetings since that time as well.
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Perhaps some of our SFN resident legal eagles can weigh in here, but isn’t suing on anti-trust grounds kind of missing the mark here? I mean, it seems to me trying to stop the ACC from courting other schools is probably closer to legally restricting fair trade.
But, what do I know?
Exit fees and (allegedly) withholding payouts would probably be an interesting discussion as well.
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Maryland is scheduled to exit the ACC and wade into the B1G pool this summer, btw.
Good Riddance (if I never have to see those horrible uniforms again, it’ll still be too soon).
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If you’re having trouble with insomnia, you can read the PDF of the suit in it’s entirety here.
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