In January 2014, Maryland filed a $156.8 million counter-claim against the ACC in North Carolina, alleging the conference broke its own rules in setting the exit fee, which the schools set at an amount equal to three times the ACC's operating budget at the time a school provides official notice of withdrawal.
Maryland claimed that the ACC member schools took this action without the conference and commissioner John Swofford adhering to conference rules regarding pre-vote review and notice of the proposed change. Even if the vote had been proper, Maryland alleged that under ACC rules it should not have become effective until July 1, 2013 — after Maryland announced in November 2012 its intention to leave for the Big Ten and after Maryland had provided its official notice of withdrawal in June 2013.