Breaking News Updates: FSU BOT meeting, unanimous vote to push forward with legal filing

[seminole72]

Everyone wants it to be about more but this is more likely.

Not sure that aged well.

Go Noles

 

[1NoleWay]

Lawyer forecasts the penalty of a departure at $572 million

Wow

(To update, Ashburn later says his view is the departure should be zero)

Re: that update: I don't believe that's quite what he said. As I watched the meeting, what Ashburn said is that a court, having found that the current exit penalty was inappropriate and/or unenforceable, would not then adjust the penalty amount, but would rather invalidate it, making the penalty zero. I don't recall that he expressed any view on what the exit penalty should be, but only that the current penalty is "draconian." I could be wrong.

 

[impex]

OK Allnoles...Assuming we have a landing spot(BIG/SEC) What's a reasonable/likely timeline to negotiate down an exit settlement?

 

[Octoberfest]

This isn’t the ACCs fault.
Who the hell signs a contract that they’ve never seen and don’t have access tsigning

This isn’t the ACCs fault.
Who the hell signs a contract that they’ve never seen and don’t have access to?

Signing an unseen legal document is impossible. One can’t provide consent/approval without actually listing what is being agreed to. FSU did not agree to the ACC agreements in question.

 

[JerryKutz]

Lawyer David Asburn concludes: We're prepared to file this complain today

Want to be sure our Osceola readers understands Ashburn is independent counsel for FSU and the managing partner of the local office of Greenberg-Trauwig. Carolyn Egan is FSU's legal counsel.

As I noted last night, because of Florida's very real Sunshine Laws, two or more trustees may not meet privately to discuss a matter. It must be done in public. However, prior to that public meeting, documents can be sent to each BOT member and a non-BOT member, such as legal counsel may meet with trustees one-on-one, as Collins noted Ashburn and Egan have done, to vet facts or questions with each trustee individually.

If you noticed, there were not a lot of questions asked in the board meeting as every question a board member may have had, was answered prior to the meeting in those one on one meetings. Do not take their lack of questions or passionate discussion to mean that this board did not ask very critical questions in those one-on-one meetings or have passionate discourd.

its not uncommon for there to be differences of opinion or approach that were vetted one-on-one during the process so that by the time the vote is taken, every thing had been hashed out, and there is unanimity.

Do I think two or more trustees had conversation by phone or at a tailgate party? I'm not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree nor am I the village idiot. It happens.

 

[LauderdaleNole]

Re: that update: I don't believe that's quite what he said. As I watched the meeting, what Ashburn said is that a court, having found that the current exit penalty was inappropriate and/or unenforceable, would not then adjust the penalty amount, but would rather invalidate it, making the penalty zero. I don't recall that he expressed any view on what the exit penalty should be, but only that the current penalty is "draconian." I could be wrong.

So the GOR expires in 2036 and with our stellar legal system we should get a final ruling (after all appeals have been exhausted of course) to vacate the penalty by 2035.

 

[seminole72]

Re: that update: I don't believe that's quite what he said. As I watched the meeting, what Ashburn said is that a court, having found that the current exit penalty was inappropriate and/or unenforceable, would not then adjust the penalty amount, but would rather invalidate it, making the penalty zero. I don't recall that he expressed any view on what the exit penalty should be, but only that the current penalty is "draconian." I could be wrong.

That matches my recollection

 

[TheRealLefty_29]

I’ve been crazy busy today getting crap done at work b4 the long vaca.

Could someone plz sum up in a few sentences what was said today by the BOT’s?

TIA

 

[NoleLizards]

Can we sue Thrasher and Wilcox for getting us into this mess?? 🤓

 

[seminole72]

So the GOR expires in 2036 and with our stellar legal system we should get a final ruling (after all appeals have been exhausted of course) to vacate the penalty by 2035.

Dang you can find a roach turd in 100 pounds of pepper.

 

[seminole72]

Can we sue Thrasher and Wilcox for getting us into this mess?? 🤓

On what basis? That they were given fraudulent representations of an ESPN ultimatum?

 

[nole1111]

Want to be sure our Osceola readers understands Ashburn is independent counsel for FSU and the managing partner of the local office of Greenberg-Trauwig. Carolyn Egan is FSU's legal counsel.

As I noted last night, because of Florida's very real Sunshine Laws, two or more trustees may not meet privately to discuss a matter. It must be done in public. However, prior to that public meeting, documents can be sent to each BOT member and a non-BOT member, such as legal counsel may meet with trustees one-on-one, as Collins noted Ashburn and Egan have done, to vet facts or questions with each trustee individually.

If you noticed, there were not a lot of questions asked in the board meeting as every question a board member may have had, was answered prior to the meeting in those one on one meetings. Do not take their lack of questions or passionate discussion to mean that this board did not ask very critical questions in those one-on-one meetings or have passionate discourd.

its not uncommon for there to be differences of opinion or approach that were vetted one-on-one during the process so that by the time the vote is taken, every thing had been hashed out, and there is unanimity.

Do I think two or more trustees had conversation by phone or at a tailgate party? I'm not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree nor am I the village idiot. It happens.

Damn we have the managing partner of Greenberg- Trauwig. FSU is not f***ing around. Guy is probably $2000 an hour.

 

[NoleLizards]

On what basis? That they were given fraudulent representations of an ESPN ultimatum?

Just a silly question, hence the emoji. I'll leave yours to all the lawyers on here.

 

[fredfarkle336]

Here's what I'm thinking...

It has been reported by numerous sources that FSU will discuss an ACC exit strategy either through litigation, a buyout or some other means. We expected this meeting to take place in January so I'm only mildly curious to why now, two days before Christmas and a week before the bowl game. Other than the timing, we knew this meeting was coming.

Here's some background...

After the August zoom meeting, when the BOT formally discussed leaving the ACC, there was thought FSU might not renew the ACC agreement by August 15. August 15 came and went with FSU not filing an intent to leave.

At the Sept. 8-9 meeting, BOT Chairman Collins told the Osceola on video that there would be no further discussion about realignment until after the football season as the trustees did not want to create a distraction for what would be a special season but Collins added, we should not take their silence as inactivity.

He did not elaborate on what that activity would be but it's not a reach to think it could include an independent legal review of the Grant of Rights and a report on what grounds FSU could pursue for litigation or mediation.

That time could have also been used to examine private equity funding options and costs with a private consultant doing a feasibility study, calculating the exact value of the marketing rights, which the Osceola has previously guesstimated to be over $500 million, and the exit fee to be $100-125 million. The private equity study would calculate what the annual payment would be to borrow various amounts of debt over time.

These months could have been used for any number of other studies and reports behind closed doors in preparation for a future meeting as long as they were compliant with the Sunshine law (see law below)

At some point, perhaps tomorrow, any of those studies could be presented to the full board for discussion, or a vote,. I expect whatever is discussed tomorrow has been vetted one-on-one with each trustee by the consultant who can answer or investigate any questions they may have without violating the Sunshine law, so I don't think any of the trustees will be flying blind during the meeting.

Hope that helps.


GOVERNMENT IN THESUNSHINE LAW2•
Florida’s Government in the Sunshine Law, s.286.011, F.S., commonly referred to as the SunshineLaw, provides a right of access to governmentalproceedings of public boards or commissions at boththe state and local levels.• The law is equally applicable to elected andappointed boards, and applies to any gathering of twoor more members of the same board to discuss somematter which will foreseeably come before that boardfor action.3• There are three basic requirements of the SunshineLaw:• (1) meetings of public boards or commissions mustbe open to the public;• (2) reasonable notice of such meetings must be given;and• (3) minutes of the meetings must be taken andpromptly recorded.

This has moved from message board fodder to a very serious and immediate event. Just WOW.

 

[LauderdaleNole]

Signing an unseen legal document is impossible. One can’t provide consent/approval without actually listing what is being agreed to. FSU did not agree to the ACC agreements in question.

But that was my implied question.
There are 2 items here…the GOR with the ACC and the media rights between the ACC and ESPN.
We must have seen the GOR to sign it.
If, as you say, there were aspects hidden from FSU then why wait 10 yrs to challenge it?
It seems more plausible that we simply hooked our wagons to the ACC and then the ACC negotiated the media rights with ESPN which suck. We are now mad that the media rights with ESPN suck and are powerless to do anything about it including even seeing the agreement but the cardinal sin was re-hooking our wagons to the ACC in the 1st place.

 

[LauderdaleNole]

Dang you can find a roach turd in 100 pounds of pepper.

Worse
I’m married to a contracts lawyer. No way we are waiting around for the results of a lawsuit. This has settlement agreement written all over it.

 

[fredfarkle336]

But that was my implied question.
There are 2 items here…the GOR with the ACC and the media rights between the ACC and ESPN.
We must have seen the GOR to sign it.
If, as you say, there were aspects hidden from FSU then why wait 10 yrs to challenge it?
It seems more plausible that we simply hooked our wagons to the ACC and then the ACC negotiated the media rights with ESPN which suck. We are now mad that the media rights with ESPN suck and are powerless to do anything about it including even seeing the agreement but the cardinal sin was re-hooking our wagons to the ACC in the 1st place.

I think you are right. I hate that you are right, but you are.

 

[JerryKutz]

I’ve been crazy busy today getting crap done at work b4 the long vaca.

Could someone plz sum up in a few sentences what was said today by the BOT’s?

TIA

I think Bob's posting do just that.

In my opinion, this is a necessary first step and the most urgent action item is a legal request to get copies of all the relevant executed documents --- GOR and Multi-Media Rights Agreements -- that the ACC has not made available to member institutions.
I don't see this being resolved overnight but every journey begins with the first step.

 

[RHT 3]

If it does nothing more than bring out the ESPN contract then I'm happy.

I smell bullcrap from letting these new teams in. Expanding with loser programs does nothing for the conference and I would allege it was nothing more than collusion between the ACC admin and other ACC programs to keep FSU, UNC, Clemson from leaving. And ruining their free loading ass paydays.

It's been time to see just WTF happened with these documents. I'm ready to party.

 

[Octoberfest]

But that was my implied question.
There are 2 items here…the GOR with the ACC and the media rights between the ACC and ESPN.
We must have seen the GOR to sign it.
If, as you say, there were aspects hidden from FSU then why wait 10 yrs to challenge it?
It seems more plausible that we simply hooked our wagons to the ACC and then the ACC negotiated the media rights with ESPN which suck. We are now mad that the media rights with ESPN suck and are powerless to do anything about it including even seeing the agreement but the cardinal sin was re-hooking our wagons to the ACC in the 1st place.

The courts will decide (assuming the case makes that far) plausibility. The timing seems to be due to the widening revenue gap that was acceptable at $6M but no longer acceptable at $30M.

 

[goldmom]

Dismiss rumors and non-fact? I would really not care to know what people's opinions are or what they hear from their wife's cousin's hairdresser. I would like to hear an actual announcement about leaving the ACC not speculation about a meeting that could be anything.

You ask and you get.

 

[buckeyenole]

This isn’t the ACCs fault.
Who the hell signs a contract that they’ve never seen and don’t have access to?

If the ACC refused to release a written copy to members - or some members - and misrepresented it verbally, the ACC absolutely IS still at fault. FSU can be faulted for trusting the ACC representations, being assured by the ACC and believing that the ACC would be faithful to their fiduciary responsibility and to their moral, ethical, and relational responsibility.

 

[goldmom]

Ok. When you talk to him tell him to let everyone know what the meeting is about. That is whenever you can break away from talking to normal people on here.

Also, Im not saying its not about leaving just that everyone here is speculating or they wouldnt be on here. Including me. I dont think anything will come out of this but ill gladly eat crow if im wrong.

How’s it taste? I hear it’s best fricasseed with humble pie for dessert.

 

[Octoberfest]

If the ACC refused to release a written copy to members - or some members - and misrepresented it verbally, the ACC absolutely IS still at fault. FSU can be faulted for trusting the ACC representations, being assured by the ACC and believing that the ACC would be faithful to their fiduciary responsibility and to their moral, ethical, and relational responsibility.

Whether the ACC has a fiduciary responsibility to FSU (requiring the ACC to act on the best interests of FSU) did cross my mind. If it does rise to that level, I think the ACC clearly failed.

 

[buckeyenole]

I think Bob's posting do just that.

In my opinion, this is a necessary first step and the most urgent action item is a legal request to get copies of all the relevant executed documents --- GOR and Multi-Media Rights Agreements -- that the ACC has not made available to member institutions.
I don't see this being resolved overnight but every journey begins with the first step.

I note that it's in the ACC's best interest to delay this as much as possible. I doubt seriously they will release documents until discovery is ordered by the Court, and may well delay discovery as long as possible. And don't be surprised if there is a media campaign to blame-shift the conflict to FSU.

 

[Fishbits]

It's a many centuries old axiom: "To become a man, you must first kill/replace the father." Or what your father built. It's sick, but it's a real thing.

I have said to a good friend of mine. If these people were hired to manage your money they would have been fired a long time ago. There are so many ways to have enhanced the brand of the acc and these people have failed miserably.

The acc - georgia tech, fsu, Clemson have all won national titles. Miami won while in another conference but they also have banners. Basketball has had duke, unc, uva - sure there are many others and this league has sat by and watched as others have made millions if not billions. It is straight bs. When the SEC started expansion….I was on another fsu site banging the drum they should have gone after Texas and OU. I would have gone after usc and Ucla. Where you were located did not matter…you could see this happening. Nah instead we have Barron and other bozos signing our rights away for 30 years. Awful…..they all should be sued. Barron left and what do you have now. I would make his sorry ass to the lawsuit.

 

[LauderdaleNole]

If the ACC refused to release a written copy to members - or some members - and misrepresented it verbally, the ACC absolutely IS still at fault. FSU can be faulted for trusting the ACC representations, being assured by the ACC and believing that the ACC would be faithful to their fiduciary responsibility and to their moral, ethical, and relational responsibility.

The media rights agreement is between the ACC and ESPN.
Does the ACC have responsibility to the members institutions other than negotiating on their behalf? Or did we sign over those rights when we signed the GOR?
The fact that we have no right to see the media rights agreement and and haven’t challenged any aspect of it for 10 yrs other than a handful of Warchant posting bi—ing leads me to conclude what I have.

 

[buckeyenole]

I urge everyone to read the 38 page legal filing. I've only read 3 pages so far, and I can tell you we are well-represented. Seriously, you owe it to yourself to read it, if you want to understand where we are and what comes next.

Added note: I finished all 38 pages. You will be even more angry than you already are.

 

[Fishbits]

We are going to challenge the legitimacy of an agreement that we signed 10 yrs ago? Based on not meeting certain ‘success initiatives’?
We all knew the ACC was dogs— . This isn’t something new in the past couple of years.
This will end up in a settlement agreement.
We will pay some portion of the exit fee (ie the most draconian financial withdrawl penalties) and we will finance that. I only hope we are smart enough to structure it as a loan instead of giving up equity.

so many keep saying fsu can’t get out it. No, they can. No one has seriously challenged it. Agreements are never iron clad and and can be broken. Fsu is going to prove that staying in the acc makes it very difficult to compete. Espn and the sec just showed they colluded and left fsu out of the playoffs. The damages financially are too much to overcome. There are zero positives to staying in the acc. The rest of the teams like Clemson and Miami will end up jumping into the lawsuit and the acc will die as a conference.

 

[buckeyenole]

The media rights agreement is between the ACC and ESPN.
Does the ACC have responsibility to the members institutions other than negotiating on their behalf? Or did we sign over those rights when we signed the GOR?
The fact that we have no right to see the media rights agreement and and haven’t challenged any aspect of it for 10 yrs other than a handful of Warchant posting bi—ing leads me to conclude what I have.

Yes, the ACC has a legal fiduciary responsibility to negotiate in good faith. When you sign a document giving a stockbroker trading authorization in your account, you are ESTABLISHING his fiduciary responsibility, not ELIMINATING it.

 

[LauderdaleNole]

I have said to a good friend of mine. If these people were hired to manage your money they would have been fired a long time ago. There are so many ways to have enhanced the brand of the acc and these people have failed miserably.

The acc - georgia tech, fsu, Clemson have all won national titles. Miami won while in another conference but they also have banners. Basketball has had duke, unc, uva - sure there are many others and this league has sat by and watched as others have made millions if not billions. It is straight bs. When the SEC started expansion….I was on another fsu site banging the drum they should have gone after Texas and OU. I would have gone after usc and Ucla. Where you were located did not matter…you could see this happening. Nah instead we have Barron and other bozos signing our rights away for 30 years. Awful…..they all should be sued. Barron left and what do you have now. I would make his sorry ass to the lawsuit.

It’s clear the leaders at the time wanted us to be more like UNC, Duke, BC, UVA…academic institutions that have sports teams instead of Alabama, Texas, Georgia…which are academic institutions that see successful athletics as a tremendous way to build their university brand and fund all the great things they want to do.
The GOR was the shackles that those turds put upon FSU to ensure that, at least for 25 yrs, no one would be able to undo their vision of what FSU should be.

 

[LauderdaleNole]

Yes, the ACC has a legal fiduciary responsibility to negotiate in good faith. When you sign a document giving a stockbroker trading authorization in your account, you are ESTABLISHING his fiduciary responsibility, not ELIMINATING it.

How do you quantify ‘not acting in good faith’?
I’m sure the ACC tried to get the most cash they could out of ESPN.
The fact is that the conference has zero leverage when half the schools in the conference trot out that product each week…no one is watching which means they can’t sell ad revenue other than those horrible low tier commercials. We’ve all seen them.

 

[buckeyenole]

How do you quantify ‘not acting in good faith’?
I’m sure the ACC tried to get the most cash they could out of ESPN.
The fact is that the conference has zero leverage when half the schools in the conference trot out that product each week…no one is watching which means they can’t sell ad revenue other than those horrible low tier commercials. We’ve all seen them.

Read the 38 page legal filing.

 

[LauderdaleNole]

Read the 38 page legal filing.

I have read the first 15 pages.
So far…we gave away the media rights to the ACC and we were fine with the results for a while but now we don’t like the results.

 

[buckeyenole]

Note: FSU is suing the ACC for violation of

I have read the first 15 pages.
So far…we gave away the media rights to the ACC and we were fine with the results for a while but now we don’t like the results.

Have your wife 'the contracts lawyer' review the 38 page filing. See what she says.

 

[Reel Nole]

What gets me is we dont have a copy of the contract. Have to go to their offices to view it. When do you not have a signed copy of a contract you are a part of?

 

[impex]

Note: FSU is suing the ACC for violation of

Have your wife 'the contracts lawyer' review the 38 page filing. See what she says.

I'd like to hear what she has to say as well.

 

[buckeyenole]

What gets me is we dont have a copy of the contract. Have to go to their offices to view it. When do you not have a signed copy of a contract you are a part of?

Read the 38 page filing.

 

[Baytownole]

So the ACC jumped in and hit their suit in first. Wants to litigate in North Carolina. First thing they have done fast in their existence.

 

[seminole72]

Worse
I’m married to a contracts lawyer. No way we are waiting around for the results of a lawsuit. This has settlement agreement written all over it.

Of course it does. ACC was just hoping they could stare us down.