Over the course of the last twelve months, the Big East Conference (“Big East”) has lost multiple members and gained eight new members.  During that time, the Big East has been a party to three lawsuits with former members (i.e., West Virginia, TCU, and Pitt).  Two of those lawsuits are still pending.  In fall 2011, Syracuse (along with Pitt) announced that it would leave the Big East to join the Atlantic Coast Conference (“ACC”) on July 1, 2014.  Syracuse and the Big East have now reached an agreement that will allow Syracuse to depart the Big East on July 1, 2013.  Syracuse agreed to pay an exit fee of $7.5 million (the amount called for in Big East Bylaws is $5 million).

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