In the lasted round of lawsuits relating to conference realignment, the Big East Conference (“Big East”) has filed suit against TCU in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking $5 million for breach of contract damages.  According to the lawsuit, on November 29, 2010, TCU agreed to join the Big East as a member effective July 1, 2012.  Accordingly, the parties entered into a Membership Expansion Agreement (“Agreement”).  As stated in the petition filed by the Big East, TCU participated in Big East meetings from November 29, 2010 to October 6, 2011.  On October 6, 2011, TCU agreed to join the Big 12 Conference and, subsequently, formally notified the Big East of its intentions to join the Big 12 Conference by letter dated October 17, 2011.

The Big East states “damages would be difficult to determine if TCU did not follow through on this agreement to join the Big East on the Effective Date, a reasonable estimate of the conference’s damages would be $5 million.”  The petition further states “TCU agreed in the Agreement that if it refused to join the Big East on the Effective Date, it would pay the Conference $5 million.”  As such, the Big East seeks $5 million for TCU’s alleged “material breach” of the Agreement.

For any questions, feel free to contact Christian Dennie at cdennie@bgsfirm.com.