Big 12 meetings open with a plea for unity by the commissioner

Mack Brown and the Texas Longhorns were the latest Big 12 team to play in the BCS National Championship Game. Could the Longhorns be open to changing leagues? (Icon SMI)

 

The Big 12 meetings opened Tuesday in Kansas City with an air of uncertainty hanging over the gathering.

 

Recent talks about the Big Ten possibly expanding and offering invitations to Nebraska and Missouri to jump conferences has everybody a little worried. And well they should be. Thanks to the lucrative Big Ten Network, the league can dangle figures like $20 million guaranteed to schools if they would just join in the fun. It is more than double what schools usually take home from the Big 12 television revenue.

 

But Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe is not sitting back quietly waiting for other conference to come and raid his band of brothers.

 

“We had a healthy and productive discussion that will lead into more discussions with the Board of Directors on expansion,” he said.

 

“We have a tremendous group of institutions that have benefited greatly from the Conference. We need to consider the student-athletes, our fans that get to observe the games and the fact that our alumni and supporter bases are here. I would hate to seeb that be decimated.”

 

“We are doing all that we can to project where we are going to be in regard to the Conference. We have a very positive story that we have already told and will continue to tell our members that will be enticing,” Beebe said.

 

But he admitted he is watching the possibility of losing league members if other leagues realign. He is asking his conference members to stand firm and be loyal.

 

“I would be negligent if I wasn't looking at what possibilities there are for any scenario that might exist,” he said. “We're not doing anything outward, but inwardly we're doing a lot of research in case there might be any change in the whole landscape. We're not just sitting there and waiting for the best possible outcome for us. We're looking at all possible outcomes.”

 

With television revenue the main carrot apparently driving the expansion talks, Beebe says the Big 12 is looking at the current revenue sharing as it gets ready to start its next round of negotiating television contracts. It has been reported that the ACC has negotiated a 12-year, $1.86 billion dollar television deal with ESPN, which is encouraging to Beebe.

 

“We share the vast amount of our revenue equally. Any member that raises itself to the status of more exposure on national television also has the opportunity to earn more revenue,” he said. “I do have information that we have gathered, but I would not risk putting it in the public at this time. With very strong football and basketball, we drive great ratings to our television partners. I think we will be in a very good position with our TV partners in the future.”

 

That may be, if the Big 12 remains the compact family it is now. Should the league lose Nebraska, Missouri or even Colorado, who has been rumored to be eyeing the Pac-10, the Big 12 could probably survive in one form or another rather by closing ranks or by raiding other conferences, such as Conference USA, and getting back to 12 members.

 

Publicly, the conference members are saying they are committed to the Big 12.

 

Baylor Director of Athletics Ian McCaw, who is serving as the chair of the administrative and coaches groups, said, “There was a tremendous commitment to the Conference and an expression of how effective the Big 12 has been. We were very encouraged by the dialogue.

 

“Dan has the full confidence of the membership and has done a very effective job of leading the Conference through a very difficult time.”

 

But not everyone sounded as encouraging as McCaw and Beebe. There is one team the conference cannot afford to lose—the Texas Longhorns. Texas is the rock upon which the Big 12 currently stands both financially and in national prestige.

 

“I am not hanging back,” Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds said. “I'm not waiting to see what other people are going to do. I'm going to know what our options are, so that's not going to change. My hope is that the Big 12 survives and you and I retire knowing it's a great conference. It's been very viable, and if it stays in place, it will continue to be very viable.

 

“If we need to finish it, we'll finish it. We're going to be a player in whatever happens,” Dodds said.

 

That sounds like the Longhorns, while not necessarily anxious to pull up stakes and move on, they might be open to invitations. They certainly don’t want to be left holding the bag if the Big 12 starts to go the way of the Southwest Conference.

 

The Longhorns have been there, done that and they don’t want to do it again.