ACC Files Lawsuit Against Maryland Over Exit Fee
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -- The Atlantic Coast Conference has filed a lawsuit against Maryland seeking full payment of the approximately $53 million exit fee for its move to the Big Ten.
According to the 10-page lawsuit, the ACC said the school must pay $52,266,342, which is three times the league's annual operating budget for the 2012-13 season.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the lawsuit filed Monday in Guilford County Superior Court.
In a statement, Commissioner John Swofford says the ACC's council of presidents unanimously decided "to file legal action to ensure enforcement of this obligation."
"We continue to extend our best wishes to the University of Maryland; however, there is the expectation that Maryland will fulfill its exit fee obligation," Swofford said.
The league raised its exit fee to roughly $50 million in September after adding Notre Dame in all sports except football. The exit fee is three times the league's annual operating budget so it could fluctuate from year to year.
Maryland was one of two schools that voted against the increased exit fee. Florida State also voted against the increase.
Brian Ullmann, Maryland's assistant vice president for marketing and communications, didn't immediately return a call for comment Tuesday afternoon.
The ACC twice increased its exit fee in the span of a year. The fee was around $12 million to $14 million before the league announced in September 2011 it would add Pittsburgh and Syracuse from the Big East, which led the league to up the fee to $20 million.
But Maryland President Wallace D. Loh told The Washington Post he voted against the increase connected to the Notre Dame move because he thought the higher fee was "illegal and philosophically not a good idea." He also called it an "exit penalty."
Maryland is scheduled to begin Big Ten play in 2014.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
