I Hope Hanky and Raese are Happy Tonight

[dangerousdaneerfan]

http://wvmetronews.com/2015/06/26/w...vernors-pays-937k-in-media-rights-settlement/

If Lyons had any sense, he would tell the Azzhole to take his WVRC and shove it.

 

[WiiWii]

They may be happy, but this is just more jibberish from Raese in an effort to save face. There is nothing new in this article and no proof of anything...

 

[irishladdy]

Do you also hope Drew Payne and Bray Cary are happy tonight?

 

[BackpageNews]

They may be happy, but this is just more jibberish from Raese in an effort to save face. There is nothing new in this article and no proof of anything...

Proof of nearly a Million dollars to go away so more than nothing in my world.

 

[Nova Mountaineer]

It seems to me if one side is paying other side nearly $1 million, it's easy to determine who won.

 

[BobbyBoucheer]

It seems to me if one side is paying other side nearly $1 million, it's easy to determine who won.

Really? WVU lost and WVU fans lost and you're gloating over it.

 

[wbgvwbgv]

It seems to me if one side is paying other side nearly $1 million, it's easy to determine who won.

Another one just fell off the turnip truck. WVU didn't lose much at all especially since Raese pledged to donate any money after legal expenses back to WVU's Foundation. I seriously doubt there will be any thing left after the legal bills are paid. The real losers here are the State tax payers and the real winners are the lawyers.

So WVU's contract with IMG remains firmly in place for the next decade, and the allegations of wrong doing vanish (cause they never really existed), and Raese goes back to Florida and his pink marble driveway. What a joke.

 

[wbgvwbgv]

Another one just fell off the turnip truck. WVU didn't lose much at all especially since Raese pledged to donate any money after legal expenses back to WVU's Foundation. I seriously doubt there will be any thing left after the legal bills are paid. The real losers here are the State tax payers and the real winners are the lawyers.

So WVU's contract with IMG remains firmly in place for the next decade, and the allegations of wrong doing vanish (cause they never really existed), and Raese goes back to Florida and his pink marble driveway. What a joke.

You could also consider WVRC as the biggest loser because without that contract they are going to lose tens of millions of dollars in advertising revenue which would have went right into Raese's pockets. Taking the IMG contract into account, WVU could be considered the biggest winner since they are now getting a market price for their 3rd tier media content.

Raese's threat of a lawsuit prevented WVU form signing up with IMG years ago and Oliver Luck and others should be commended for ignoring the threats and doing the right thing for the University.

 

[Nova Mountaineer]

I guess I missed something here. Having somebody pay $1 million for your legal bills hardly seems a total loss. I suggest that once WV Radio stations are included in the Mountaineer Sports Radio Network that the money from that network will increase WVU's IMG payments. The original IMG network wasn't getting it done. I have a friend who lives in the city of Charleston and was unable to get the Mountaineer broadcasts because the network didn't include Charleston most powerful station (WCHS). Since the advertising prices are based on the reach of the stations - you can bet that if WCHS is included in the coming year that the ad prices will go up and so will the amount paid to WVU. To me this means that both Mountaineers and WVU Athletics are the winners. Granted such a move (including WCHS) would result in WV Radio increase its revenue also. The same situation exists (to a lesser extent) in Morgantown. It's difficult to get the broadcasts there also. I am assuming that we all want the Mountaineer Sports Network to reach as many fans as possible. Whether we like that fact or not - the only way for that to happen is to include stations owned by WV Radio.

 

[RMAC1107]

I've never posted about this subject since it began but I'm going to make a comment about it since it appears to be over. This lawsuit was NEVER ABOUT MONEY. If you think was then you're just not familiar enough with the parties involved. As far as the settlement goes, it was what WVRC settled for. This was agreed to by WVU and the other parties to basically resolve the affair and save the tax payers of West Virginia some money and believe me, as someone pointed out above, it cost the tax payers plenty. Now, as someone once said in a famous movie, " that's all I've got to say about that".

 

[Tallmadgeers]

It seems to me if one side is paying other side nearly $1 million, it's easy to determine who won.

Raese's legal fees, with all his filings, are easily that much. I was involved in a class action healthcare lawsuit against the Akron Beacon Journal. Our retirement-day coverage was restored and the newspaper paid out legal fees, which, if it matched its legal fees for its attorneys, would total $3.5 million. Lawyers aren't cheap. And Raese has to shut his trap for five years. That would be worth $3 million to WVU.

BY THE WAY, I'M NOT A SOPHOMORE POSTER. IF I CAN EVER FIGURE OUT HOW TO RESUME POSTING AS CUYAHOGA FALLS EERS, THEN I'LL BE THE LEGEND I'VE ALWAYS BEEN. :sunglasses:

 

[LowFatMilk]

IF I CAN EVER FIGURE OUT HOW TO RESUME POSTING AS CUYAHOGA FALLS EERS, THEN I'LL BE THE LEGEND I'VE ALWAYS BEEN. :sunglasses:

You sound like Orlaco.

You two think you're the sh:]..... ....but neither can actually post.

 

[MikeRafone]

I have a friend who lives in the city of Charleston and was unable to get the Mountaineer broadcasts because the network didn't include Charleston most powerful station (WCHS).

100.9 WMXE-FM's transmitter and antenna are located on a hill near South Charleston. They broadcast all WVU football and basketball games. You can hear them thought the region with a good signal. I live in St.Albans, it's not a problem to hear WVU games here or driving around the Charleston metro area. Pass the info along to your friend.

I miss WCHS carrying the games,too. I've got a collection of old radios. You've never heard a game until you've heard one through a 30's/40's era console /floor model radio. Listening to a football game in high quality, high fidelity AM through one of those beasts is a treat. Half volume will rattle the windows.

The guy who owns the WMXE, Lynn Murray, is hauling in the advertising dough from getting the IMG contract. I've never been fond of Lynn, but watching him make a pile at the expense of John Raese brings tears of joy to my old eyes.

 

[Thumper]

It seems to me if one side is paying other side nearly $1 million, it's easy to determine who won.

Really? Then you understand nothing a at all about litigation of this size/type. This settlement was a relative pittance to make an annoyance go away. If there was ANY substance at all to Raese's claims, he would have been looking at a big 8 figure (minimum) award plus all legal fees and would never have walked away. He knew good and damn well he had no case. WVU paid him well less than they would have incurred in legal fees to fight a battle they knew they would win and JR knew he would lose. He's lost money on this vanity quest. WVU paid him to stop embarrassing himself and to stop trying to embarrass them. That's why there's a gag order on everyone.

It''s like being falsely accused of murder and walking away with a parking ticket fine. Big win for WVU and everyone with any sense knows it.

 

[Nova Mountaineer]

Paying out $1 million of public money and not releasing the details of why? That reeks to me. I don't care if it makes Raese look bad
or not. Covering up how public money is spent pisses me off.

 

[wbgvwbgv]

They paid the money to settle a lawsuit and to save money. Not that hard to understand.

 

[Tallmadgeers]

Really? Then you understand nothing a at all about litigation of this size/type. This settlement was a relative pittance to make an annoyance go away. If there was ANY substance at all to Raese's claims, he would have been looking at a big 8 figure (minimum) award plus all legal fees and would never have walked away. He knew good and damn well he had no case. WVU paid him well less than they would have incurred in legal fees to fight a battle they knew they would win and JR knew he would lose. He's lost money on this vanity quest. WVU paid him to stop embarrassing himself and to stop trying to embarrass them. That's why there's a gag order on everyone.

It''s like being falsely accused of murder and walking away with a parking ticket fine. Big win for WVU and everyone with any sense knows it.

You nailed it. From the puissant class action lawsuit I was involved with, over healthcare at the newspaper, the legal fees for the two sides were $3 million. This is throwing the mad dog a bone. Now Raese will have his minions trumpeting his "triumph." Hell, I would be tempted to pay $1 million to have Raese shut his trap and stop harming my alma mater with his hissyfits. If I had the money.

 

[Darth_VadEER]

This settlement just reinforces WVU position. The media rights contract is nearly $100 million just in WVU dollars, so this is a very robust contract. The fact Raese & Co. walked away with only $900,000 really shows this was only a stunt staged by a bitter old man who got pushed out of the cookie jar and needed to throw one last tantrum.

LOL - $100,000,000 + Contract, and Raese & Co. walk away with $900,000. Obviously, his claims had no legitimacy and no doubt does this settlement save WVU money, time and aggravation. I guess in the end Ol' Raese managed to milked WVU out of enough money to put a new roof on his house and pave a couple of his parking lots - that's a lot of work and grandstanding for a few measly bucks, but I guess every dime counts.

Now that we know his game, I wouldn't allow him on WVU property. Next he'll probably pretend to slip and fall in the Mountain Liar and file a Personal Injury lawsuit against us - that's another $15K in his pocket. Rumor is he's been lurking around inside WVU parking garages waiting to jumping out behind cars that are backing out of their spaces - boom, another $50K.

 

[Darth_VadEER]

It seems to me if one side is paying other side nearly $1 million, it's easy to determine who won.

LOL - Yeah, one side is walking away with a new $85 million dollar media contract and the other has $900,000.

You're right, this is easy to determine.

 

[motownbilly]

http://wvmetronews.com/2015/06/26/w...vernors-pays-937k-in-media-rights-settlement/

If Lyons had any sense, he would tell the Azzhole to take his WVRC and shove it.

Screw who did or didn't win. Will the games be back on WAJR and other WV stations? That is what I want to know.

 

[Darth_VadEER]

The only thing missing from this settlement is a set of steak knives and maybe a years free Netflix membership.

The funny thing is when they began settlement negotiations, WVU's initial offer was probably around $400K. I think in the end Raese & Co. were the ones who didn't want this thing to see a court room and were happy to put an end to it.

 

[steeleer]

No one is mentioning the gag order on Raese...that alone was worth the money.

If I were WVU I'd have someone wired standing next to him at every public event he's at for the next 5 years and hopefully he gets drunk enough to shoot his mouth off about all this and get crushed in court.

 

[RMAC1107]

The only thing missing from this settlement is a set of steak knives and maybe a years free Netflix membership.

The funny thing is when they began settlement negotiations, WVU's initial offer was probably around $400K. I think in the end Raese & Co. were the ones who didn't want this thing to see a court room and were happy to put an end to it.

This is pretty close. I can assure their was an individual who didn't want to see a courtroom.

 

[Darth_VadEER]

If the allegations had any merit the settlement would have exceeded $10 million. This was simply an expense to close the book on the deception, prevent Raese from prolonging the fraudulent allegations and put an end to Raese's smear campaign against WVU.

 

[Nova Mountaineer]

The major item for WVU was to keep the score matter and the Foundation's role in it out of the public view. As a result of that the Foundation made some major internal policy changes and move personnel.

 

[wbgvwbgv]

The major item for WVU was to keep the score matter and the Foundation's role in it out of the public view. As a result of that the Foundation made some major internal policy changes and move personnel.

This is getting as bad as your campaign to fire Huggins two years ago. The Foundation has made no substantive changes as the result of this lawsuit or any lawsuit. Foundation personnel change all the time and WVU's Foundation isn't any different. There isn't a link between anything here and any changes.

As I said before WVU's contract with IMG remains firmly in place for the next decade, and the allegations of wrong doing vanish (cause they never really existed), and Raese goes back to Florida and his pink marble driveway. Game Set Match.

 

[HurdyGurdyEer]

I think we should all find it very interesting that Raese was willing to settle out of court AND RECEIVE MONEY as a result of this settlement AFTER Oliie left town.

I, for one, am convinced that John Raese successfully ran Oliver Luck out of town. Do you think this case is settled out of court if Ollie is still around?

Really .... If Ollie is around does WVRC settle out of court?

 

[wbgvwbgv]

I think that Luck took a national job with a very high profile and probably a very nice compensation package. If Raese ran him out of town he sure picked a nice landing place. LOL. This case was settled because it was nearing a trial date (when most court cases are settled). This case would have been settled out of court regardless if Luck or Clements or anyone else was still here because Raese IMO was only trying to embarrass the University and a few board members (not very successfully) with his lawsuit. He was very bitter over IMG being awarded the contract that had helped him keep his radio corporation afloat, and blamed anyone and everyone for his loss.

My guess is that within a few years, Raese is going to sell his radio corporation and it will be at a substantially lower value due to the fact that he wasn't able to keep the contract for WVU third tier media rights.

 

[LowFatMilk]

Really .... If Ollie is around does WVRC settle out of court?

Yes. WVRC had a weak argument.

You mentioned the coincidence that OL started a new job and the case was settled but you neglected to state that the case was about to go to trial.

Which has more merit.....

--OL started a new job so WVRC decided to basically come out looking like a loser with the weak argument to save face that they a made (relatively) a few crumbs after negotiations

Or

--WVRC KNEW they had a weak argument and decided to cut their losses (and huge future legal fees) before the actual trial started, facts became exposed, and they lost

??

---------------

I don't care if they kept or donated the money WVRC would have went to court if they actually thought they could win.

They didn't and the settlement number backs my opinion

 

[HurdyGurdyEer]

If WVRC has such a weak case why does WVU give them anything?

WRVC's case was strong enough that WVU was willing to pay something to keep it out of court. And with Ollie gone I don't think Raese cared too much about how much he really got.

This was never about Raese WINNING A BIG CASE. It was about embarrassing Oliver Luck to the extreme. And so Ollie took his ball and found another job.

I'm sure that John Raese still harbors political ambitions, no matter how misguided they may or may not be. And if Oliver Luck had stuck around he might have become a very popular Republican candidate for an office that John Raese, a Republican, might aspire to.

The whole thing was personal. Sure, Raese took an inch and stretched it into a mile. But there actually was something there for Raese to work with.

Ollie was ready to go to Texas. But then he goes to the NCAA. He was looking for another job for some time. And when he left Raese's main target left.

I am absolutely sure certain that John Raese would have loved every minute of Oliver Luck being put on the stand in a court room, no matter what he may have actually won in a decision. An Oliver Luck on the witness stand forced into some embarrassing testimony is an Oliver Luck who has no future running for governor or senator in WV.

It was a personal vendetta against Oliver Luck. That was the primary motivation.

John Raese to Oliver Luck: "They may never elect me to office. But I'm going to make sure they never elect you either."

 

[Tallmadgeers]

Yes. WVRC had a weak argument.

You mentioned the coincidence that OL started a new job and the case was settled but you neglected to state that the case was about to go to trial.

Which has more merit.....

--OL started a new job so WVRC decided to basically come out looking like a loser with the weak argument to save face that they a made (relatively) a few crumbs after negotiations

Or

--WVRC KNEW they had a weak argument and decided to cut their losses (and huge future legal fees) before the actual trial started, facts became exposed, and they lost

??

---------------

I don't care if they kept or donated the money WVRC would have went to court if they actually thought they could win.

They didn't and the settlement number backs my opinion

Anyone who has been involved in a protracted lawsuit, as I have, knows that $1 million is chump change. That's 1.5% of WVU's athletic department budget for one year. Put it in better perspective: Dana gets more than twice that to coach football. So does Huggins to coach basketball. Peanuts in the giant scheme of things. And making Raese shut his piehole for 5 years will kill him, if we're lucky.

 

[HurdyGurdyEer]

This is not about the money.

Didn't it come out in depositions that Oliver Luck spent WVU money to travel to see his son play football? I think so. This is a very inconvenient truth that a lot of people push aside in their minds.

Ollie going on the stand would have been a disaster for him and for WVU.

Ollie. Did. Not. Want. To. Get. On. The. Stand.
And WVU didn't want that either.

Raese didn't care about the suit. He was after people ... and Oliver Luck and Drew Carey were at the top of the list. And now neither one of them is much of a factor in WV. I guarantee you that Carey most watched Decision Makers shows were those with Oliver Luck. And now Carey's Golden Boy is gone. He has no Oliver Luck to put forward in the public eye with the goal of 1) Building his own media empire, and 2) Setting up Ollie for a political office.

 

[HurdyGurdyEer]

Hank became unbearable. But he wasn't completely full of it. He was on to some things that really had legs.

 

[LowFatMilk]

This is not about the money.

Didn't it come out in depositions that Oliver Luck spent WVU money to travel to see his son play football? I think so. This is a very inconvenient truth that a lot of people push aside in their minds.

So the opening comment in your post is that 'this' isn't about money.... Immediately followed by the opinion that it is everything about money ?

Good job.

 

[HurdyGurdyEer]

So the opening comment in your post is that 'this' isn't about money.... Immediately followed by the opinion that it is everything about money ?

Good job.

You're not as stupid as your post. So why did you make it?

The case was never about how much money John Raese could win. Get it?
Sure, he was pissed about losing the MSN business. But he is not hurting for money.

It was about punishing certain people, primarily Oliver Luck. And one thing that would have been very embarrassing to Oliver Luck on the stand would have been answering questions about using a WVU expense account to go and watch his son play NFL games.

Raese embarrassing Luck on the witness stand, imo, would have been priceless for John Raese. Raese didn't care about the money. He did WVU a favor simply accepting 900K and making no one get on the stand.

Face it .... as big of a jerk that John Raese may be .... He started Ollies clock ticking and Ollie needed to get out of Dodge before the bell rang. It's all there to see unless you choose to ignore it.

Just because Raese comes off as jerk does not mean that 1) He is not a smart business man, and 2) That Oliver Luck would have fared well on the witness stand.

People can blah, blah, blah all they want about Raese marrying into money ... but he took what he married into and turned it into something bigger than it was when he got it. That's what a smart business man does.

Raese may come off as a jerk. But he is no dummy. And the truth is that he has a ton of very good people working for him in his various enterprises. I know people who have dealt with his employees on a professional level and they speak highly of the companies the man runs. Only a smart man builds businesses like that.

Anyone who wants to make judgments about Raese's intelligence because of the perceived lack of merit to this case simply doesn't understand why he pursued it. It wasn't about winning the case. It was about going after certain people.

Raese nailed every single person he went after. All of them are gone or largely now irrelevant. And since they are gone he chose not to make them testify and embarrass WVU in court and settled for peanuts because it (the court case) was never about the money to begin with.

Oliver Luck pissed of John Raese and was a potential political threat to John Raese. Not any more.

The whole enterprise makes perfect sense if you look at the facts through the lens of a personal vendetta that John Raese knew he could win.

 

[LowFatMilk]

Here's what I know...

The longer the 'defensive' reply the more correct my point was....

 

[wbgvwbgv]

This is not about the money.

Didn't it come out in depositions that Oliver Luck spent WVU money to travel to see his son play football? I think so. This is a very inconvenient truth that a lot of people push aside in their minds.

Ollie going on the stand would have been a disaster for him and for WVU.

Ollie. Did. Not. Want. To. Get. On. The. Stand.
And WVU didn't want that either.

Raese didn't care about the suit. He was after people ... and Oliver Luck and Drew Carey were at the top of the list. And now neither one of them is much of a factor in WV. I guarantee you that Carey most watched Decision Makers shows were those with Oliver Luck. And now Carey's Golden Boy is gone. He has no Oliver Luck to put forward in the public eye with the goal of 1) Building his own media empire, and 2) Setting up Ollie for a political office.

Luck gave a very long deposition under oath. It is essentially the same as taking the witness stand. Guess what - no disaster. And I doubt a Judge would even allow silly and trivial questioning about an unrelated matter such as Luck's traveling expenses. IMO any AD in the country who travels to any professional sports event to promote his/her school, establish contacts, and learn is a justifiable business trip.

Raese couldn't personally handle losing the WVU contract and wanted to make those responsible pay some kind of price. I don't think he was very successful.

 

[HurdyGurdyEer]

Here's what I know...

The longer the 'defensive' reply the more correct my point was....

Here is what I know ... people will say anything and believe their own BS.

It was a personal vendetta .... and a successful one at that. It was successful because he achieved his goals.


There is line of BS that people are spewing ... that Raese lost lots of money on a frivolous law suit. This just shows how stupid he is and so on.

Did he really lose lots of money? Or does he already have a team of lawyers that work for him and are paid nice salaries?

Get it? Mostly attorneys he already employed were the ones doing his bidding n this matter. He didn't spend lots of money and the $900K probably does more or less cover his extraneous expenses. I'm willing to wager that he lost very little to nothing with the filing and processing of this suit. Wouldn't surprise me to learn that when the final accounting comes in that he made $5.00 or something like that.

The case may strike many of us as frivolous and unnecessary (I'm one of those) but Raese had an angle and got full leverage out of it. He took aim on individuals and they are all gone or far less relevant than they were before the lawsuit .... AND ... John Raese is still John Raese and still in WV.

Meanwhile Bray Carey's emerging media empire is put on hold. And Oliver Luck is gone. Didn't the WVU foundation lend money to Bray Carey that he wasn't forced to pay back? Of course they did.

The thing is ... if certain individuals had played by the rules from the beginning they probably could have undone John Raese's connection to WVU. But they didn't and Raese made them pay.

Bottom Line: Raese got what he wanted out of the suit and it cost him virtually nothing. Seriously ... repeat this to yourself .... This whole affair cost John Raese little to no money.

If you can't wrap your head around that last point there is no helping you.

 

[HurdyGurdyEer]

Luck gave a very long deposition under oath. It is essentially the same as taking the witness stand. Guess what - no disaster. And I doubt a Judge would even allow silly and trivial questioning about an unrelated matter such as Luck's traveling expenses. IMO any AD in the country who travels to any professional sports event to promote his/her school, establish contacts, and learn is a justifiable business trip.

Raese couldn't personally handle losing the WVU contract and wanted to make those responsible pay some kind of price. I don't think he was very successful.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on the degree that Raese was successful. But I do see that we agree it was a personal vendetta. And ... as I say elsewhere .... I don't think this whole affair cost him much, if any, money.

 

[HurdyGurdyEer]

And let's not overlook that WVU is not the only entity paying money to WVRC. We have yet to hear the amount that IMG, the WVU foundation, and maybe some others, are paying. The 900K is just WVU's portion of the settlement.