ACC-Maryland Lawsuit Still Alive

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/nc-judge-keeps-acc-maryland-lawsuit-alive/1...

A North Carolina judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit filed against Maryland by the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Guilford County Superior Court Judge John O. Craig III on Monday denied the motion Maryland filed last month.

The school is leaving the ACC for the Big Ten. The ACC sued the school in November to make it pay its $52 million exit fee. Maryland sued the ACC last month in a Maryland court, calling the fee invalid.

The stability of the ACC might depend on whether or not the league can enforce the hefty exit fee which could serve as a deterrent for other schools potentially leaving.

Here's an interesting excerpt from an interview with Gerry DiNardo, an analyst for the Big Ten Network (http://www.offtackleempire.com/2013/2/12/3974794/ote-interview-with-gerr...).

I don't think we'll ever play with a 14 team team conference, I think it'll be 16 (by 2014, when Maryland and Rutgers join). And I don't think they're going to go through all this conversation and all this realignment and do it again for just two more schools. Where are they going to come from? Hard to say, but I would guess the footprint would continue to grow southeast, so that would leave me to believe that would be the ACC. When you look at schools institutionally, they'll be schools similar to Maryland and Rutgers. They'll be an academic fit, which I think is important, and appear to be in areas where there's population, and I think those are the similar things that has driven expansion. Once the (conference) footprints started changing, like when Texas A and M and Missouri went to the SEC, and you start talking about some of the crazy alignments like the Big East (was looking at), to me it looks like the B1G may keep going southeast.

It's only his opinion, although it seems logical. Either way, it's in the ACC's best interest if Maryland pays.