ACC sues Maryland over $50 million buyout

University of Maryland President Wallace Loh went on record earlier this year saying he did not think the $50 million Atlantic Coast Conference exit fee would hold up in court.

He will now get a chance to find out for certain.

The ACC has filed a lawsuit in Guilford County, N.C., against founding member Maryland in an effort to ensure the school will pay the full buyout before it joins the Big Ten Conference in two years.

“We continue to extend our best wishes to the University of Maryland; however, there is the expectation that Maryland will fulfill its exit fee obligation,” Commissioner John Swofford said in a statement. “On Friday, the ACC Council of Presidents made the unanimous decision to file legal action to ensure the enforcement of this obligation.”

The discussions on whether to file the lawsuit included incoming members Syracuse, PIttsburgh and Notre Dame. While those schools could not vote, they did support the decision, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions who asked for anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue.

The person said there was never any intention on the part of the ACC, which is headquarter in Greensboro, N.C., to negotiated the exit fee down from $50 million.
Maryland along with Florida State voted against raising the exit fee from $20 million to $50 million in September after Notre Dame was added as a member in all sports but football. At a press conference earlier this month when Maryland announced it would join the Big Ten, Loh said of the exit fee, “As we crunch those numbers, we are able to deal with this issue. As far as that exact amount of that sum, that is something that we will discuss in private with the ACC.”