• The KillerFrogs

ESPN Sues Conference USA

West Coast Johnny

West Coast Johnny

Full Member
http://www.ky3.com/sports/os-espn-sues-cusa-0331-20110330,0,1994519.story

ESPN filed a federal lawsuit against Conference USA Wednesday alleging the league failed to fulfill its contractual obligations when it signed a new contract with Fox Sports Media Group in January.<BR itxtNodeId="519"><BR itxtNodeId="518">ESPN states in the lawsuit it reached a contract extension agreement with Conference USA via e-mail, but the league later decided to pursue a contract with Fox Sports Media Group. ESPN also alleges Conference USA never gave it a final offer to consider before beginning negotiations with another network, a right ESPN contends was part of the previous contact.<BR itxtNodeId="517">
 
F

Forza Frogs

Member
I am not a contracts lawyer, but I would imagine once a contract runs it's course there is very little legal grounds to forcing a league to negotiate a contract extension.

Seems more like ESPN is upset at the fact that ConfUSA didn't give them a shot at the new contract and so they are going to sue just to get the last little bit of money out of ConfUSA as possible. Sucks for ConfUSA if they do have to pay out b/c they failed to give ESPN a chance at bidding on the new contract, they could of let them put up an offer and immediately rejected it even if it was better than fox.
 
cdsfrog

cdsfrog

Active Member
Forza Frogs said:
I am not a contracts lawyer, but I would imagine once a contract runs it's course there is very little legal grounds to forcing a league to negotiate a contract extension.

Seems more like ESPN is upset at the fact that ConfUSA didn't give them a shot at the new contract and so they are going to sue just to get the last little bit of money out of ConfUSA as possible. Sucks for ConfUSA if they do have to pay out b/c they failed to give ESPN a chance at bidding on the new contract, they could of let them put up an offer and immediately rejected it even if it was better than fox.
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ESPN can suck it. Crybabies
 
Dogfrog

Dogfrog

Active Member
Risky move IMO. This isn't the kind of action that impresses ESPN's other business partners, especially if it turns out to be just bad faith. An email could be a contract depending on the wording, but it's risky to take this action because it could change the way other conferences view their ESPN partnership. If I was head of a conference, I would make it policy not to exchange emails with ESPN and to have an attorney present at all meetings. Their aggressive pursuit of control of college sports is going to bite them in the behind.
 
Froggy Style

Froggy Style

Active Member
The cartel administrator will do everything to stay in control, including suing anyone who attempts to work outside of the cartel rules. Part of the cartel working properly, is warehousing games of those who aren't part of the cartel. If other networks have rights to those games, then warehousing the games is no longer possible.
 
Delmonico

Delmonico

Semi-Omnipotent Being
I doubt the Big 6 conferences - all of whom have either primary or secondary agreements with ESPN - care much about this. They all know that exclusive negotiating periods and right of 1st refusal are usually SOP in these deals, and on the surface that's what's at the heart of this skirmish - whether those were honored. What its really all about is everybody knows ESPN's primary interest in CUSA is the midweek games and doing what they can to hold onto them, as well as keeping them away from Fox (a potential threat). I give credit to CUSA, though, for standing up to ESPN and going their own way (ironically, something their fans mocked the MWC for doing a few years back in a deal with many similiarities).
 
T

tetonfrog

Active Member
Watch out Cougar High! I'm sure ESPN will smear them all year when Case leads them on a national championship run. I bet ESPN will spend hours on UH's strength of schedule and how they don't deserve to play for the national championship........Rod Gilmore is starting to sharpen his axe! :tongue:
 
Nolaeer

Nolaeer

Member
The Big East will be looking for a much better deal with respect to TV money next time around now that there is legitimate competition. And the BE is the 1st BCS conference whose TV deal will expire. I assume the BE will take the higgest bidder, and there is nothing ESPN could put in a contract that would make the BE accept a smaller offer for them(since there is no renewal option).

I would not mind parting ways with ESPN and being the showcase for the new tru tv network.
 
Dogfrog

Dogfrog

Active Member
RSF said:
I doubt the Big 6 conferences - all of whom have either primary or secondary agreements with ESPN - care much about this. They all know that exclusive negotiating periods and right of 1st refusal are usually SOP in these deals, and on the surface that's what's at the heart of this skirmish - whether those were honored. What its really all about is everybody knows ESPN's primary interest in CUSA is the midweek games and doing what they can to hold onto them, as well as keeping them away from Fox (a potential threat). I give credit to CUSA, though, for standing up to ESPN and going their own way (ironically, something their fans mocked the MWC for doing a few years back in a deal with many similiarities).
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I don't think the big 6 care about this particular CUSA issue, but everybody is wary of a litigious business partner.
 
HG73

HG73

Active Member
Could be good news for the BigEast. ESPN loses some college programming, may want to bid more aggressively when BE contract comes up. NBC and Turner might want some of the BigEast.
 
E

Endless Purple

Full Member
HG73 said:
Could be good news for the BigEast. ESPN loses some college programming, may want to bid more aggressively when BE contract comes up. NBC and Turner might want some of the BigEast.
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Not if ESPN is looking for mid-week games. More money is noce but not if it is to fill their Mon-Wed slots.
 

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