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The ACC reached it's conclusion with the Maryland Terrapins today, as they "reached a mediated agreement that ends all litigation between both parties." Maryland, who is on their way to the Big Ten, was going to be subjected to $52 million dollars in exit fees that was going to be imposed by the ACC. To hold their feet over the fire, the ACC had already withheld $16 million dollars in earnings, and from the wording in the article, the final $15 million will be coming from whatever future revenue is owed to Maryland.
The ACC released this statement today:
"On behalf of the ACC’s Council of Presidents, I am pleased that all parties can move forward, returning our focus where it belongs – on our student-athletes, intercollegiate athletic programs and institutions of higher learning," said Donna Shalala, ACC Council of Presidents chairperson and president of Miami, in a statement. "There is great excitement surrounding the ACC and its 15 member institutions and we extend our best wishes to our colleagues at Maryland as we all look ahead to the upcoming academic year."
On the other side of the litigation table, Maryland agreed to drop the $156 million dollar lawsuit that they had planned to file against the ACC. The reasoning had to do with antitrust legislation, but their might have been some other reasoning behind the Terps lawsuit:
The counterclaim also alleged that the ACC in general and Wake Forest and new member Pittsburgh specifically recruited two unnamed Big Ten schools for membership in the conference. It's also alleged that the ACC received "counsel and direction... from ESPN" in its attempt to poach Big Ten schools, which remain anonymous for now but is suspected to include Penn State.
So with that we can no officially say bon voyage to the Terrapins. They are in a spot that is totally "not a basketball conference", and the ACC gets some more cash, gets rid of the lawsuit and gets to welcome Louisville into the fold . Mercifully this headache is finally over.