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Lawyers gear up on Big East-ACC suit
By The Associated Press
HARTFORD, CT — While Big East officials are close to reshaping the
conference in response to the defections of football powers Miami and
Virginia Tech, the legal dispute that resulted from the departures is still
ongoing.
A Connecticut judge will hear arguments Monday from the ACC and Miami on
whether to dismiss the case on jurisdictional grounds. The hearing will
include sworn depositions taken over the last several weeks from Miami
athletic director Paul Dee and ACC commissioner John Swofford.
"We are as adamant as ever that both Miami and the ACC broke the law and
violated their responsibilities to the four schools that are suing,"
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said.
The lawsuit, filed June 6 in a Connecticut court, contends Rutgers, West
Virginia, Pittsburgh and Connecticut have spent millions on their football
programs based on presumed loyalty from schools they had been aligned with.
The defendants are accused of participating in a conspiracy intended to
weaken the Big East.
The original lawsuit listed Boston College as a defendant and Virginia Tech
as a plaintiff. When the ACC formally invited only the Hokies and the
Hurricanes this summer, the lawsuit was amended. Tech is no longer a
plaintiff, Boston College was dropped as a defendant.
Connecticut will join the Big East in 2004 and in preparation built a $90
million stadium in the its upgrade to Division I-A football. Other schools
spent millions in upgrades as well.
"We have an obligation to reduce the harm as much as possible," Blumenthal
said. "What the damages ultimately would be we can't quantify right now, but
certainly we are pursuing our rights as vigorously and relentlessly as
possible."
The schools are seeking to recover what they say will be losses in ticket
sales and broadcasting fees, and the cash value of diminished recruiting
power and scarred relationships with donors.
But before the suit can even address the question of fractured loyalties,
Rockville Superior Court Judge Samuel J. Sferrazza must decide whether Miami
and the ACC can even be sued in Connecticut.
"The ACC just doesn't have any business with entities in Connecticut," said
Steven Errante, the ACC's New Haven-based attorney. "You need enough
contacts to say its fair to makes someone from another state to defend
themselves in this state."
Errante said the lawsuit fails to meet the statute known as the "long-arm"
law, which allows a business to be sued by another state if it does a lot of
business with that state. Errante said he will also argue that the
conference is not a business.
"The ACC is an unincorporated, not-for-profit association," Errante said.
"We feel as confident as we ever did."
But Blumenthal contends the plaintiffs will be able to show, through
depositions from Swofford, Dee and others, that there are plenty of contacts
between the ACC, Miami and Connecticut. He cited games, recruiting,
fund-raising, and even television contracts with the Bristol-based ESPN as
examples.
"There's a variety of activities that demonstrate they had a reasonable
expectation that they could be sued in Connecticut," Blumenthal said.
Legal analysts say the precedent-setting lawsuit still has a long way to go
and ultimately may end up with an out-of-court settlement, but it has caught
the attention of conferences around the country.
"The conferences will be watching to see how it all shakes out," Jim McKeown,
a sports industry lawyer for the Minnesota-based Foley & Lardner law firm.
"It will affect what other conferences do only if the Big East prevails. I
think that the most important issue is what's in the contract and the
league's agreement in terms of withdrawal. It may cause conferences to
review again the procedure in their conference."
Big East officials can't afford to wait for the outcome of the legal issues.
They've been busy lining up potential new members to flesh out the
conference next year. A source close to expansion plans told The Associated
Press that Conference USA teams Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville and Marquette
will be invited before the year is out.
Commissioner Mike Tranghese wouldn't comment on specifics of the expansion
but said the final decision will likely come during a Big East presidents
meeting in November in Philadelphia.
"The good thing is we've got a lot people working hard together," Tranghese
said. "We'll reshape ourselves in football and in basketball. We're already
good and we're about to become better."
02.23.07 10:36 AM
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