Antitrust – Big 10

[palos_verdes_ute]

I wonder if anyone is looking at potential antitrust lawsuit. Basically, Big 10 raided 4 of the most valuable schools and ended a decade long conference. The amount of money lost is going to continue with leftover schools (OSU, WSU, CAl, Furd), potentially going poof.

[utefansince79]

Not really much can be done. MWC had no recourse when Utah left for the PAC and BYU joined the WCC about 13 years ago and TCU headed to the BIG12 a few years later.

Dirty but legal what they did.

[AllInUteFan]

As I understand it, anti-trust is only an issue if consumers are affected. I don’t see it applying on any level to realignment.

[Waybackutefan]

So what you’re saying is they had no right to offer a spot to teams that are going to be under no contractual obligation to their current conference after 2023?

[palos_verdes_ute]

No, not what im saying. I’m just wondering if someone is going to make a case out of it. Whether be it a from a school or the conference itself. I’m also certain there was a lot of stuff happening behind the curtain in the last 2-3 years.

[Charlie Foxtrot]

The only reason that the B1G was able to pull USC/UCLA and now Oregon/Washington goes back to the PAC12 not getting distribution on Direct TV and not willing to partner with a traditional sports media partner (ESPN/FOX Sports) in formation of the network. The current state of the PAC 12 dissolution goes directly back to those decisions.

I think those facts undercut any potential B1G Antritrust arguments. Plus if you can’t get a good enough deal to get a GOR signed (months if not weeks ago), that isn’t the B1G’s fault.

[utefansince79]

Sure the BIG10 and networks played dirty, but definitely a big reason for PAC12 imploding lies in not being able to get the PAC12 channel on Direct TV in over a (expletive) decade A staggering level of incompetence.