The problem: Despite months of planning for an idea that was hatched years ago, the Big Ten, which controls the school’s media rights, was left in the dark. And this plan, according to a letter sent from Big Ten Network President Francois McGillicuddy to Maryland Athletic Director Damon Evans, would “flagrantly violate” the assignments of rights among the school, the conference and the Big Ten Network. That forced Maryland to remove its news release published Oct. 25, 2022, and tweets about the launch.

In the Oct. 26, 2022, letter, obtained by The Washington Post through an open-records request, McGillicuddy wrote that the Big Ten Network was “stunned” to learn about Terps Plus the day the school distributed its news release, indicating that the network had no knowledge of the platform’s impending launch.

Brian Ullmann, Maryland athletics’ chief strategy officer, declined to comment on if the school contacted the Big Ten to discuss the planned launch of a subscription streaming platform.

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In the emailed letter, McGillicuddy cited the Big Ten Media Agreements Reference Manual and mentioned how those guidelines warn “in all bold, after the heading ‘Important,’ ” that schools cannot license ancillary programming to third parties. (Maryland announced Terps Plus as a partnership with Sport & Story, which has built subscription platforms at several other schools but none in the Big Ten.)

McGillicuddy continued to cite this manual, noting that on the internet, the Big Ten Network “owns distribution rights to all Ancillary Programming beyond distribution on the Member Institution’s official athletic website.” McGillicuddy wrote that Maryland described Terps Plus content “in almost the same words” as the manual’s examples of ancillary programming. (Video content that is not game action is considered ancillary programming.)

McGillicuddy wrote: “So when you say that Terps+ will be available to ‘Terrapin fans nationwide’ and ‘will be consumable wherever Maryland fans want to watch,’ whether on TV, internet, social media, or phone apps, what you are saying is that the University intends to disregard all of the limits on how it can distribute Ancillary Programming. And when you say that Terps+ will be the ‘exclusive’ source of that programming, what you mean is that the University intends to deprive us of our ‘right to distribute [the University’s] Ancillary Programming at no cost.’

“The University has already harmed BTN by falsely implying that BTN is an ‘[un]official content network’ for the University’s Ancillary Programming. And actually launching Terps+ would inflict far greater harm. We look forward to resolving this amicably, but we reserve all rights.”

The day after the announcement of Terps Plus, McGillicuddy and Evans spoke on the phone, according to an email from McGillicuddy that included Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren. McGillicuddy wrote: “Given your indication of the absence of a contract with Sport & Story, and your expressed willingness to abide by our agreement with the B1G conference by not proceeding with Terps+, and removing all references to its launch, I am hopeful we can resolve this as efficiently and painlessly as possible.”

In 2020, Maryland launched Terrapin Club Plus as a perk for donors. The platform distributed ancillary programming but was housed on the school’s website and didn’t directly charge customers. Still, at the time, the Big Ten Network reminded Maryland of the media rights guidelines, according to the letter from McGillicuddy. (It is not clear with whom Michael Calderon, a BTN senior vice president, communicated about Terrapin Club Plus. Athletic department spokesman Jason Yellin did not provide any details on this exchange.) Two years later, Terps Plus crossed the line of what was permissible.

Unlike Terrapin Club Plus, Terps Plus was set to be available on over-the-top streaming apps such as Apple TV and Roku. That capability, combined with the cost for customers, could have made Terps Plus be perceived as more of a direct competitor with the Big Ten Network. And Terps Plus would have been contracted with Sport & Story, a third party that is not a Big Ten media rights holder.

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A Big Ten Network spokesman said in a statement that it is common for the network “to have discussions with Big Ten institutions around content and ancillary programming initiatives.”

The reference manual that McGillicuddy cited included the conference’s reasoning for why Terps Plus couldn’t go forward. A Big Ten spokesperson said in a statement that all schools received a copy of the manual in 2017, when the term of the current media rights agreement began, and schools can request additional copies or ask specific questions.

Yellin said Maryland now has a copy of the manual, but he declined to say when the school received it. Emails obtained by The Post through an open-records request show a message from Ullmann directly quoting the manual in October, the same day the Big Ten Network raised its concerns.

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When Maryland announced Terps Plus, the school did not yet have a contract with Sport & Story but rather a “handshake agreement,” Ullmann said, and Terps Plus had not yet launched its “e-commerce mechanism,” so no customers had paid before Maryland backtracked on its plan. The formal launch of the streaming platform was set for later in the fall.

The additional revenue from Terps Plus would have been small compared with the massive check the school receives annually from the Big Ten. In the 2021-22 fiscal year, Maryland received $48.8 million in conference distributions, according to a financial report obtained through an open-records request.

As Maryland prepared to announce Terps Plus, athletic department staffers worked to provide Sport & Story a list of email addresses of possibly interested fans. One email exchange, obtained through an open-records request, revealed a list that combined Terrapin Club members and season ticket holders for football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball included under 6,000 people. In the 2022 season, Maryland’s average attendance at home football games ranked 65th among the 131 Football Bowl Subdivision schools and 58th of the 65 schools in the Power Five conferences.

Sport & Story has launched similar subscription platforms at SEC schools Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi State and South Carolina as well as at Oklahoma State of the Big 12. Sport & Story founder and executive producer Bo Mattingly said “there has not been any sort of pushback or any feeling of infringement that we’ve been made aware of” with those schools and their partner networks.

Mattingly did not anticipate issues would arise with Terps Plus, and the school had confidence that stemmed from its existing Terrapin Club Plus product.

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When Sport & Story launches a streaming platform at a school, it hires a videography staff — usually around three to five people per school to go with additional support from company headquarters. According to Sport & Story’s website, schools pay nothing to partner with the company but can reap some of the revenue.

Mattingly said the company had been in the “early stages of identifying candidates” for positions at Maryland before the Big Ten Network forcefully raised its concerns. Those videographers would have worked with Maryland’s existing staff to produce Terps Plus content.

The letter from the Big Ten Network quickly halted those plans. Maryland scrubbed its website and social media accounts of mentions of the announcement. And while Ullmann referenced hopes for a path forward and a Big Ten Network spokesman said in a statement the network has had “productive conversations” with Maryland, no concrete plans have been announced in the months since.