Big East Lawsuit: West Virginia Move Blocked by Rhode Island Judge

Media outlets have recently reported that West Virginia University’s request to a Rhode Island court to dismiss the Big East’s breach of contract lawsuit against the university was denied. Other than making the dispute between the university and the Big East more antagonistic, it also makes any lawsuit filed against Pitt or Syracuse that much more likely to stick.

It is true that West Virginia is technically breaching the contract, but that contract was, in my opinion, voided when the Big East failed to keep its football conference together and neglected football altogether. A contract is only valid if both sides stick to it, and since the conference failed to create a good and competitive football conference West Virginia should have every right to move to the much greener pastures of the Big 12.

All hope is not lost though for West Virginia. WVU is also an arm of the state of West Virginia, and if the university's lawsuit in the state of West Virginia succeeds, that would set up an inevitable clash in the federal court system.

As we all know, however, the federal court system moves at the same pace as California is drifting from the North American continent. That snail-like pace dictates that any resolution would probably happen after the two-year waiting period ends.

In addition, the merits of the Big East’s case are compromised by expanding the conference. This and many other cases have been in litigation because the conference is wants to protect itself against schools leaving, which would set it back severely in football. But by adding Boise State, a comparable replacement for West Virginia, the conference sends the message that it is already prepared for a future without West Virginia.

This decision also puts the Big 12 in a pickle because its television contract requires 10 teams be in the conference, but after this season there will be nine teams if West Virginia is not allowed to join.

In the 1980s there was a court case in regard to the NCAA having its own television contract for all of college football that didn't allow schools or conferences to negotiate their own. It was determined by the US Supreme Court that every school has the right to look after its best interest. This case is somewhat similar because it is not in West Virginia’s best interest to stay in the Big East.

There was another similar case when the NFL tried to stop Al Davis (God rest his soul) from moving the Raiders to Los Angeles. Al Davis won the case, and because of the outcomes of these other cases I believe that WVU will win in the end.

One possibility for West Virginia, if litigation will carry on and neither side drops their lawsuit, is whether or not they are simply in the Big East in name alone and schedule their in conference games against Big 12 schools. However if history is any guide for what will happen, The Big East will probably drop the lawsuit because that is exactly what happened when Miami, Boston College, and Virginia Tech left the conference. Besides the conference has already added more schools thus acknowledging the exit of West Virginia and should have no interest in holding Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia hostage in a conference that has degenerated into a glorified Conference USA.