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Let's get litigious: Boise State sues Old Big East to keep $5M

They say a fool and his money are soon parted (which explains the existence of the Vandal Store)...but Boise State is nobody's fool.

By Drew Roberts
Stacy Revere

The conference formerly known as the Big East has been threatening to sue Boise State to recoup the $5M they feel they're owed since the school turned heels and ran from the crumbling conference, so Boise State is giving them the lawsuit they so desperately want, and suing the flailing conference themselves.

Guinness-brilliant_medium

Now, I'm no law-talkin' guy...but I feel the Broncos can present a pretty good case to the district court—whom they're lobbying to declare that "no such penalty is due". The university's case is based on the obvious premise that the conference we agreed to join really doesn't exist anymore and that they voided any type of written or verbal contracts by becoming a flaming trainwreck before Boise State's scheduled July entrance to the conference. The "cancellation penalty" therefore is a bridge too far, in the eyes of Boise State (and I suspect most on this site). Let's look at the Big East's missteps, shall we?

  • Lost more than 78 percent of its membership between Dec. 6, 2011, and Dec. 31, 2012.
  • Failed to add any additional western members.
  • Lost its “automatic qualifier” status, while the other five BCS conferences continued their guaranteed access to the BCS bowl games.
The last point is technically moot since ALL "AQ" status will go away in 2014, but there's no arguing that the Big East lost significant revenue by being booted from the "power 6" when they became the "power 5"—on top of which, they lost all prestigious basketball institutions to defection and never offered Boise State full membership even though that was extended to schools like Memphis and Tulane.

New Bronco AD Mark Coyle says it best:
“Boise State worked diligently to try to salvage the Big East Conference and help lead it into the future, but in the end the changes and losses proved too great to overcome,”
/bangs gavel.

Your thoughts

I really do wish we were not still talking about the Big East, AAC, whatever...but until all matters like the aforementioned are settled, we kinda have to. I guess you never know what kind of dumb verdict will be handed down, but come on...this is a no-brainer, right? Right?!