[College Football] Big Ten, Texas have initial talks

says who? the deal is inked. A&M should be a top 1/3 Big XII team every year in terms of revenue sharing...they're well taken care of in that regard in the Big XII.


http://www.kansascity.com/2011/08/10...#ixzz1UkYGcWzS


Is this enough for the Aggies to take their ball to a new conference, assuming the SEC has the gate open? If the answer is yes, then the Big 12 …

Exists as a nine-member conference.

Fox Sports, which has offered up about $1.2 billion for second-tier rights starting next year, would want it to continue.

Fox wouldn’t like losing A&M, but it’s not as though the Aggies would be taking a market with them. Cable companies in Houston would have plenty of eyeballs following Texas and the rest of the conference.

ABC/ESPN, which owns the league’s first-tier rights, would want it to continue.

 

Deals henceforth, max.

 

got it.

 

So now what?

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/31261826

The NCAA is not allowing the televising of high school games on school or conference networks, the association ruled on Thursday.

For the moment, that seems to relieve some of the pressure created by the Longhorn Network's intention to televise such games. That was considered a main reason why Texas A&M is reportedly looking to move to the SEC.

The ruling has to be considered a blow to the Longhorn Network which forged a partnership with ESPN, based in some small part on the belief that Texas would be able to telecast high school games. An Aug. 22 NCAA summit had been scheduled to discuss the issue. The summit remains scheduled, NCAA president Mark Emmert said.

Emmert added that NCAA staff had made the interpretation and board of directors had approved it. Texas A&M had lobbied the NCAA hard for such an interpretation. It's unclear whether this changes A&M's reported intentions.

TLN and ESPN officials said previously they would be comfortable with whatever the NCAA decided. But clearly ESPN/TLN had ambitious plans. TLN chief Dave Brown said in June that the network had planned to televise up to 18 games per season. He also said there were plans to fly to different states to televise the games of players who had committed to Texas.

This does not affect the televising of high school games on networks not affiliated with a conference or school.

 

The next step in unreasonable bad-faith negotiation is to threaten to not raise the debt ceiling.

 

Exactly!

 

And on PTI, Wilbon absolutely destroyed them.

 

what did he say?

 

Wilbon hates TAMU. Oh well. Looks like its confirmed ey. It'll be official on the 22nd. Goodbye Big 12. Glad its over. Bottom line for me as a fan is that the Big 12 got hella boring to follow. Hope this incites some major changes.

 

UT and ND might form New Conference
Chip Brown per Shaggy

Per Chip Brown (OB):



The latest on Texas A&M, including comments from DeLoss Dodds

Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds said today if Texas A&M leaves the Big 12 to join the SEC, his hope will be that the Big 12 stays together.

Dodds' statement came in response to a question during a luncheon speech at the Young Men's Business League of Austin.

Dodds also said if it meant peace in the Big 12, the Longhorn Network would never air a high school football game.

Dodds asked how many Aggies were in the crowd. When one of the Aggies asked if airing high school games on the Longhorn Network would be an unfair advantage for Texas, Dodds asked the Aggie about the state 7-on-7 tournament featuring high school players on the College Station campus every summer.

Dodds smiled and asked, "Do you know how we feel about that tournament being in College Station?" Then he smiled and said, "You probably don't because we never talk about it."

If Texas A&M was to leave, Dodds said the Big 12 might seek to bring in another school. Dodds also said if there was not sentiment to hold the Big 12 together by the remaining members that Texas and possibly Notre Dame could join forces to create a new conference.

Dodds gave no indication that Texas would pursue the possibility of becoming an independent.

A top administrator at another Big 12 school said the possibility of some Big 12 schools talking to the Pac-12 could become a reality again if Texas A&M was to bolt for the SEC.

In short, everyone in the Big 12 is back in scramble mode until Texas A&M makes clear what its intentions are.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry told The Dallas Morning News Wednesday, "I'll be real honest with you. I just read about it the same time as y'all did. ... As far as I know, conversations are being had. That's frankly all I know. I just refer you to the university and the decision makers over there."

A Texas A&M source with direct knowledge of the Aggies' situation told Orangebloods.com the TAMU regents will be meeting later this month - possibly as early as Aug. 22 - to introduce a new chancellor and deliberate a potential move to the SEC.

A&M president Bowen Loftin has told reporters there is "uncertainty" about the Aggies' future in the Big 12.

The SEC has been largely silent on Texas A&M. And according to one SEC source, the Aggies will have to basically submit an application for acceptance into the SEC (that is expected to be rubber stamped in no time). That process allows members of the SEC to have plausible deniability about any move until A&M's application is submitted.

Two sources in the Big 12 said they've heard the SEC is also interested in adding Florida State to the SEC East.

Sources in the Big 12 say the same political forces that tried to slow down the breakup of the conference last summer are already trying to get answers from A&M about its intentions.

The Texas Legislature is no longer in session. But I was told Wednesday, "the legislators will have something to say about this."

For those wondering how Gov. Rick Perry might factor into all of this, Perry is weighing a run for the White House in 2012.

One source told me a move to the SEC by Texas A&M might help Perry, an A&M graduate and former yell leader, with voters in SEC states.

That's because a move by the Aggies into that conference would help the SEC get into Texas for recruiting purposes. Couldn't quite tell if the source was half-joking. Sadly, the source is probably right.

Several sources thought out loud about why Texas A&M would trade being in the more winnable Big 12, which has an easier path to a national title without a league title game, for a place in the SEC West with the likes of Alabama, LSU, Arkansas and Auburn.

"Texas A&M should be in the top three of the Big 12 in football every year," one Big 12 source said. "In the SEC, they'll fight to be in the top half of the conference every year."

But sources close to Texas A&M say the Aggies are losing faith in the Big 12 as it is currently constructed and have serious issues with Texas and the Longhorn Network.

 

Info moving really quickly now...

http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1250840

August 22 appears to be D-Day for the 10-member Big 12 as we know it.

Three sources close to the situation said Texas A&M's regents board will meet on August 22 to deliberate and likely vote on an application to join the Southeastern Conference as early as 2012.

Texas A&M System spokesman Jason Cook denied reports that A&M has already agreed to join the SEC.

"There's no agreement in principle, nothing," Cook told Orangebloods.com.

Two sources said the SEC presidents are being gathered Saturday in an emergency meeting to address the possible addition of Texas A&M.

The sources said the Aggies' nine-member regents board is leaning toward leaving the Big 12 and are being fueled by a lack of confidence in the current configuration of the league - i.e. the relationship between Texas and ESPN (the Longhorn Network) and how it could negatively impact the rest of the members.

There's growing concern in the Big 12 that A&M is already well down the road toward joining the SEC.

According to multiple sources close to the situation, Aggies' president Bowen Loftin met with SEC officials prior to an Aug. 1 meeting among Big 12 athletic directors in Dallas to discuss how to co-exist with Texas and its Longhorn Network (LHN).

Loftin apparently aired A&M's grievances against LHN to SEC officials during the meeting. Cook said he wasn't aware of any such meeting.
"I think this is pretty far along," one administrator at a Big 12 school said of A&M's courtship with the SEC.

One of A&M's concerns - LHN airing high school games - was eliminated on Thursday when the NCAA ruled no high school games would be allowed to be shown on school or conference networks.

But it didn't appear the NCAA's ruling would have much bearing on A&M's momentum toward the SEC, sources said.

The question is if anything can slow the apparent momentum. Sources across the Big 12 said lawmakers were being contacted in hopes of reaching Texas A&M officials to fully consider preserving all the history and tradition between Texas A&M and the Texas schools in the Big 12.

The SEC has been eerily quiet about all the speculation surrounding Texas A&M. But sources said SEC commissioner Mike Slive and Texas A&M president Bowen Loftin have formed a relationship since Slive visited College Station last June during the Big 12 Missile Crisis.

Loftin was impressed by Slive when it appeared half the Big 12 was headed to the Pac-10, and Slive made a pitch to Texas A&M to head east - not west.

The two have spoken intermittently since then, sources said. Bowen's most recent visit with Slive apparently happened on SEC turf two weeks ago, according to sources.

Upon learning of Loftin's alleged meeting with SEC officials before huddling with Big 12 ADs on Aug. 1, one official at a Big 12 school questioned the Aggies and their Code of Honor, which states, "An Aggie does not lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do."

The source said Texas A&M made a 10-year pledge to hold the Big 12 Conference together when ABC/ESPN vowed a year ago to keep paying the Big 12 as if it was still a 12-member league with a championship game. The source also questioned if A&M might be liable for breach of contract after signing a 13-year, $1.17 billion TV contract with Fox Sports for the Big 12's second-tier rights to football in April.

An A&M source told Orangebloods.com the Aggies are having their lawyers look at everything, including the exit fees A&M would have to pay to leave the Big 12.

Under the current bylaws, Texas A&M would be required to relinquish 80 percent of revenues over a two-year period if the Aggies left with only a year's notice.

Nebraska and Colorado were able to pay substantially less than that by settling with the Big 12.

Sources said Thursday the SEC would be interested in adding Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech in addition to Texas A&M to form a 16-team super conference. Florida State has also been mentioned as a possible target of the SEC, according to Big 12 sources.

Two officials at separate Big 12 schools said Oklahoma and Oklahoma State would stay in the Big 12 as long as the other schools were willing to stay together. A third official in the Big 12 said the remaining nine schools were "solid."

Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds said Wednesday it would be Texas' goal to hold the Big 12 together. But if there wasn't sentiment for that he said Texas and a school like Notre Dame should look at starting their own conference. Dodds has said he is against Texas going independent.

A high-ranking official at a Big 12 school said the Pac-12 could re-enter the picture if Texas A&M leaves for the SEC. The official said Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott has indicated he would love to set up regional networks in Oklahoma and Texas Tech to accommodate Oklahoma and Oklahoma State as well as Texas and Texas Tech.

Scott didn't respond to an e-mail Thursday night.

Such a plan by Scott would require a complete re-working of the 20-year, $300 million Longhorn Network contract between Texas and ESPN, which is obviously a massive undertaking that would require Texas to give a little in terms of revenue sharing.

Stay tuned.

 

Good, get it done quickly before the legislature can screw it all up.

 

RandyMcIlvoy Randy McIlvoy
Heard tonight fr source that #big10 may invite #aggies and #longhorns next week. #SEC Aggies only. Stay tuned.

 

What's the point of inviting the aggies to the big 10 w/ the longhorns? Seems like the whole reason they're doing this is to get away from them, lol

 

Longhorn network pretty much screws the pooch on UT going anywhere quickly.

 

exactly...they're not giving up that network.

 

http://tamu.rivals.com/ saying its official, ags to SEC

 

Nebraska would be pissed if that went down...

 

aggieyell (or whatever it's called) is saying the same. but ag spokesmen are saying that's premature....i'm hearing it's not done, too...for same reason chip says, they haven't figured out legalities of it yet. concern about them being held in breach of 13 year contract they signed a year ago

 

Just read that AggieYell (tamu.rivals.com) also reported it was 'official' last year so I guess that has no credibility...Next few days should be real interesting