ACC sues Maryland over Big Ten move

It's easy for a university to declare it's leaving a conference for another, but it's a bit harder to do so legally. The University of Maryland is about to find this out, as Monday the Atlantic Coast Conference filed a lawsuit in North Carolina state court, Andrew Beaton of The Duke Chronicle is reporting.

The lawsuit, which the clerk said is a contract suit, is likely regarding the payment of the $50 million required to leave the ACC. The exit fee was raised to that figure when the conference announced the addition of Notre Dame as a partial member in September. Maryland and Florida State were the only two schools to vote against the increase.

Last Monday, the Terrapins made an official announcement they were going to join the Big Ten Conference starting in the 2014-15 academic year. The announcement came after the Big Ten's Council of Presidents unanimously approved Maryland's admission.

A day later, Rutgers University made its move to the Big Ten official. The Scarlet Knights are facing a $10 million buyout and a 27 month waiting period to leave the Big East Conference.

The ACC released a statement Tuesday saying that the remaining conference Presidents voted unanimously in favor of legal action to force Maryland to pay the full $50 million exit fee.