University of Connecticut; } Superior Court University of Pittsburgh of the } Commonwealth System of Higher } J.D

UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT; } SUPERIOR COURT UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH OF THE } COMMONWEALTH SYSTEM OF HIGHER } J.D. OF HARTFORD EDUCATION; RUTGERS, THE STATE } UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY; VIRGINIA } AT TOLLAND POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE & STATE } UNIVERSITY; and WEST VIRGINIA } UNIVERSITY, } CASE: CV-03-0826088-S } Plaintiffs, } } v. } } UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI; BOSTON } COLLEGE; and ATLANTIC COAST } CONFERENCE, } } Defendants } INTERVENOR CHARLES J. CRIST, JR.’S MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF THE MOTIONS TO DISMISS Intervenor Charles J. Crist, Jr., the Attorney General of the State of Florida, respectfully submits this memorandum in support of the Motions to Dismiss filed by Defendants the University of Miami and the Atlantic Coast Conference. I. Introduction: The Freedom To Contract Is A Public Good. Vigorous competition underlies much of what we value as a society, forming the foundation of our economic and political system. It is a principle the parties to this action are intimately familiar with - they compete in lecture halls and laboratories, on their playing fields, to recruit new students and faculty members, to establish alumni bragging rights, and for public and private funds. Underlying competition are the freedoms to contract and to freely associate, and fundamental to those freedoms are the abilities to both join and leave the voluntary relationships so created. These principles inure to the benefit of us all, helping to create a dynamic society whose members are motivated to strive for the best, and the Attorney General of Florida has intervened in support of the jurisdictional motions to dismiss because of his concern that Plaintiffs’ action could cause long-term harm to these principles. While the Court will decide these motions based on the allegations in the complaint and on the jurisdictional facts, it should not ignore the larger context in which this dispute arises. This lawsuit appears to be a strike suit designed to intimidate the University of Miami (“Miami”) and the Atlantic Coast Conference (“ACC”) from exercising the right to contract and to freely associate. It is a strike suit because the contract governing the members of the Big East expressly contemplates and permits member withdrawal. Plaintiffs’ attempt to intimidate Miami into not exercising its contractual and fundamental right of free association could cause long-term harm to collegiate athletics and impair the healthy competition that has brought greatness to individual student athletes and to their schools, and benefitted alumni and fans who enjoy the competition in the athletic and academic arenas. The lawsuit also flies in the face of a course of dealing among universities that is almost a century old. That history has been dynamic, with new athletic conferences arising to challenge older established ones, and marked by conference members shifting from one league to another. This lawsuit seeks to stifle that competition to the detriment of our public and private educational institutions. II. Background: A Brief Overview of Collegiate Conferences Collegiate conference, or league, play goes back more than a hundred years. The first collegiate athletic conference, the Big 10, was founded in January 1895 in Chicago.1 Over time other conferences emerged to serve the needs of college athletes and universities. Among the NCAA 1http://www.bigten.org/history/index.cfm. 2 Division 1-A conferences, the Pac-10's roots go back 87 years2, and the Southeastern Conference is 70 years old.3 The ACC was founded in 1953.4 The Mid-American Conference was founded three years later, in 1956.5 The Western Athletic Conference has existed for 40 years,6 the Big East has operated for 25 years7, and the Sun Belt Conference was established 28 years ago.8 Other Division 1-A conferences are younger: the Big-12 Conference was founded in 1994 in the wake of the Southwest Conference’s dissolution9, while the Conference-USA and the Mountain West Conference were founded in 199510 and 199811 respectively. These are just Division 1-A conferences. There are many others.12 Not only have the number of conferences grown over the years, but the existing conferences have expanded. Sometimes this occurs with the recruitment of colleges. For example, the Big East 2http://www.pac-10.org/school/conf-of-champs-intro.html 3http://www.secsports.com/index.php?well_id=2&url_publish_channel_id=19 4http://theacc.ocsn.com/this-is/acc-this-is.html. 5http://mac-sports.ocsn.com/ot/about-the-mac.html. 6http://www.wacsports.com/section_front.asp?arttypeid=5. 7http://www.bigeast.org/about/. 8http://www.sunbeltsports.org/info/history. 9http://big12sports.ocsn.com/aboutbig12/big12-aboutbig12.html. 10http://www.conferenceusa.com/about/. 11http://themwc.ocsn.com/about/mwc-about.html. 12http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/conferences/. 3 has expanded four times in the last 11 years by adding new colleges to its membership roster.13 Conference-USA also grew quickly by adding new colleges.14 Sometimes expansion has come with the merger of conferences, such as when the Sun Belt Conference merged with the American South Conference in 1991.15 At the same time that colleges have joined conferences, they have also left them. For example, Michigan left the Big-10 in 1907 and Chicago in 1940.16 Wayne State left the Mid- American Conference in 1947, Butler in 1950, Cincinnati in 1953, Western Reserve in 1955.17 The Virginia Military Institute left the Southern Conference, where it had been a member since 1924, in 2003.18 Troy State resigned from the Southland Conference in 2001 and Jacksonville State has announced its intention to withdraw from Southland effective this year.19 Georgia Tech left the SEC in 1964 and later joined the ACC in 1978.20 The University of South Carolina left the ACC in 1971.21 The Mountain West Conference arose when eight colleges broke away from the Western 13http://www.bigeast.org/about/. 14http://conferenceusa.com/about. 15http://sunbeltsports.org/info/history. 16http://infoplease.com/ipsa/A0758350.html. 17http://mac-sports.ocsn.com/ot/about-the-mac.html. 18http://www.soconsports.com/article.asp?articleid-10288. 19http://thegatewayconnection.com/petees/iaahistory.html. 20http://theacc.ocsn.com/this-is/acc-this-is.html 21http://theacc.ocsn.cm/this-is/acc-this-is.html. 4 Athletic Conference in 1999.22 Indeed, Virginia Tech, a former plaintiff in this case accusing the ACC and Miami of engaging in an improper conspiracy, recently announced its intention to leave the Big East after only a three year membership. Virginia Tech’s surprise announcement, after such a short relationship with the Big East, has elicited little public reaction from the remaining plaintiffs. So much for grand conspiracy theories. This informal history demonstrates that conference memberships are not marriages expected to last forever. College athletics is competitive on and off the field, with universities aligning and re-aligning as they see fit to obtain the best play opportunities for their athletes. The fact that the Big East’s 2001 Constitution contains an explicit mechanism for handling resignations from the conference is proof that the Big East and its membership understood this fact and planned for an orderly way to handle it. This dynamism has benefitted the athletes, the colleges, and the fans. It has increased opportunities for play and better shots at championships and bowl games, with the corresponding exposure and national prominence a champion sports team -- regardless of the sport -- brings to a university. It is a well known fact that successful, prominent college sports teams are a useful recruiting tool -- and not just for sports-minded students. They attract intellectually promising students who, while they may never play an inter-collegiate sport, contribute to the institution’s academic excellence and alumni support network. Allowing this case even to go forward throws sand in the gears of a competitive process that has served this country and its colleges well for a century. The prospect of similar suits is sure to 22http://sportplanet.com/ncaa/rosterpedia/ncaamoutwest.html. 5 chill other universities contemplating leaving their current conferences to form new affiliations, new alliances, and perhaps even new conferences. 6 III. The Court Should Not Exercise Either Specific Or General Personal Jurisdiction Over The Defendants, Particularly In Light Of The Weakness Of Plaintiffs’ Legal Theories. The issues currently before the court revolve around the questions of personal jurisdiction over Miami and the ACC. Defendants’ motions lay out the two-pronged test the Court must apply to this analysis: (1) does Connecticut’s long-arm statute provide a basis to exercise personal jurisdiction and, if so, (2) does the exercise of personal jurisdiction comport with constitutional due process requirements of fair play and reasonable expectations? It is unclear from the Complaint whether Plaintiffs ask this Court to exercise specific or general jurisdiction over Miami and the ACC. The Attorney General finds it hard to believe that Plaintiffs seek to assert general jurisdiction over Defendants. For example, unless there is as-yet-- unknown evidence that Miami has such pervasive and regular contacts with the State of Connecticut that uniquely distinguish its activities from the types of activities regularly conducted across the country by other colleges and universities, it is difficult to discern a basis for general jurisdiction over Miami. Indeed, should the Court find that activities such as attending

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