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TALLAHASSEE - Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said Tuesday he will file papers seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit filed in light of Miami's decision Monday to move to the ACC.
The lawsuit contends Big East members Connecticut, Rutgers, West Virginia and Pittsburgh spent millions on their football programs based on presumed loyalty from schools it had been aligned with, including Miami.
Crist said he is acting not just on Miami's behalf, but in defense of the interests of Florida State.
Miami receives about $20-million annually in state funding, and FSU receives the bulk of its funding from taxpayer dollars, according to Crist.
Crist said he believes the Connecticut court has no jurisdiction over which conference Miami plays in.
But Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said he is confident the motion to dismiss will be defeated.
"Jurisdiction over the University of Miami in Connecticut courts is abundantly justified by the school's extensive student recruiting, fundraising, athletic contests, career programs and other activities here," Blumenthal said in a statement.
Blumenthal and the other parties in the lawsuit got official word Monday that a motion to speed up the case was rejected.
Instead, Judge Samuel Sferrazza began a two-week vacation. No depositions are scheduled.
Meanwhile, the ACC is likely to stick with an eight-game conference schedule in football and a 16-game conference schedule in basketball, commissioner John Swofford said.
That would mean basketball teams would play six conference opponents twice and four conference opponents once. Football teams would have one or more permanent opponents, but other conference opponents would rotate off the schedule.
At a news conference in Greensboro, N.C., Miami athletic director Paul Dee said he regretted the way Miami joined the ACC.
"Coming here is bittersweet for me," he said. "We really do wish to accept this invitation in the way that it is intended and meant, but we also leave behind great friends and great universities in the Big East Conference that we hope we will continue to compete with and be friends with."