[College Football] Big Ten, Texas have initial talks

So now it's looking like the Little 10 after all of this?

What's the over/under on an OB report coming out before noon saying that UT has done no such thing as commit to anything and are exploring all options?

 

If Fox Sports Network can pay the freight on the Pac and the Big 12 (probably 24 teams eventually instead of a Pac 16's 16 teams), it is the best solution for everyone.

UT gets a mini-network, tradition is saved, travel money stays in the State of Texas, Jerry Jones keeps his Championship game, UT and OU can fight over a BCS bid every year, Texas High School Football keeps it players close to home, Baylor gets what it needs, TCU would probably get invited to a BCS conference....

It a win/win if the money is close.

Wasn't it quoted that Mack Brown wants the Big 12 option? What about DKR?

 

This is terrible news for me. I wanted Texas to partner with the Pac 10.

A 10-team version of the Big XII moves OU to the north and eliminates (by rule, I believe) a conference championship game. Thanks for leaving Nebraska. Now we might have what you wanted in the first place.

This sucks.

 

a 10 team big 12 would not have divisions or a conference championship game due to stupid NCAA rules.

 

and i can't imagine A&M playing the role of "bad guy" now politically and breaking this thing up. i don't think it's any coincidence this news comes out now.

 

If true, Texas screwed themselves. Not only do they not improve their situation, but they actually end up in worse and less stable conference than they had prior.

 

NU leaving wouldn't break up the conference.

CU leaving wouldn't break up the conference.

A&M leaving wouldn't break up the conference.

UT & 4/5 pals leaving together would break up the conference.

The two parties with the most blood on their hands here if the Big 12 dies would be Nebraska (started it all) and UT (finished it).

NOT that I fault UT for that, it would be smart of them to do so and I wouldn't consider them the "bad" guy for doing so. Just the same as I don't blame Nebraska, it was smart of them to leave.

 

If you're a state rep out of Central Texas and you're not arguing about economic impact to that region because of BU being moved to a diminished conference, you're not doing your job.

 

disagree. they own the conference. they control it. if they believe revenues are to come, they're in the best shape of all. and they still have the liberty to go start their own network. they're coming out like bandits.

 

They would add two teams and have 3 years to do it. TCU is the obvious first choice, Arkansas if Jerry can swing it. Memphis and their $10,000,000 in FEDEX money could be a mercenary option.

 

By Chip Brown
Orangebloods.com

In a bombshell development that could bring a halt to seismic changes in college realignment, sources tell Orangebloods.com Texas has been convinced by a plan presented by commissioner Dan Beebe to stay in a 10-member Big 12.

UT officials are expected to announce their decision to remain in the Big 12 as early as Monday.

Such a move would appear to end a courtship between Texas and the Pac-10, which all but seemed solidified as of Friday when Nebraska announced it was heading to the Big Ten and Colorado had a press conference with its new commissioner - Larry Scott of the Pac-10.

But as it became clear over the weekend that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State appeared ready join the Pac-10 and Texas A&M appeared ready to join the SEC, Beebe was able to obtain assurances that a TV deal could be reached paying each of the 10 remaining members of the Big 12 between $14 million and $17 million.

Under Beebe's plan, schools would also be able to explore their own distribution platforms, including networks.

Texas would not be able to pursue those options in the Pac-10, which is planning to launch a conference network in 2012 and would require schools to turn over all of their inventory.


YOUR MOVE TEXAS A&M

The big question now is if Texas A&M, which, according to Orangebloods.com, has the votes on its nine-member Board of Regents to join the Southeastern Conference, would reconsider a possible move to the SEC and remain in the Big 12 with its long-time, in-state rival.

The stakes for Beebe to somehow rescue the Big 12 seemed to get exponentially higher on Sunday as Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott and chief operating officer Kevin Weiberg conducted a tour of Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Texas.

So either Texas A&M will consider Beebe's plan to rescue a 10-member Big 12. Or A&M will most likely end 100 years of tradition with rival Texas by heading to the SEC, likely triggering a exodus west of Texas, OU, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and possibly Kansas. The Aggies can be seen as the final piece of the puzzle to holding the Big 12 together.

A Big 12 athletic director and two other sources told Orangebloods.com that A&M president R. Bowen Loftin indicated to Scott and Weiberg in a brief meeting in College Station Sunday the Aggies were not interested in joining the Pac-10.

But A&M spokesman Jason Cook refuted that report and said, "Texas A&M continues to evaluate its options. At this point, all options continue to be on the table."

Orangebloods.com was able to confirm with a top source at Texas A&M that despite visits to College Station by SEC commissioner Mike Slive on Saturday and by Scott and Weiberg on Sunday, Aggies athletic director Bill Byrne was out of the state the entire weekend - at a family reunion in Idaho.

"As Bill Byrne and I have said on several occasions, our desire was for the Big 12 Conference to continue," Loftin said in a statement Sunday evening. "With the departure of two universities from the conference last week, the Big 12 is certainly not what it was.

"We are aggressively exploring our options, one of which is for the Big 12 to continue in some form. We have also had extensive discussions with other conferences over the past two days. We continue to evaluate our options in a deliberate manner as we work toward a decision that is in the best long-term interests of Texas A&M."

 

I hope A&M leaves for the SEC just so I can enjoy them turning into a weak sparring partner for the likes of LSU, Bama and Florida.

 

This is nauseatingly orange tainted kool-aid.

Can we please stop the BS about A&M being the ones who are "ending" the rivalry when they've already issued an open invitation to continue the series while UT has threatened to stop playing them altogether?

 

Or maybe you're actually smart enough to realize the economics of it and the concept of "opportunity cost". Money not spent by people in Waco to see the Bears play 4-5 home games on their way to a glorious 3 win season doesn't simply vanish, it goes to Wal-Mart or Cracker Barrel or whatever other crap it is people do around there.

Do you know that out of 120 teams, only 19 athletic programs at division IA/FBS level were self-sustaining at last count? You want to bet that Baylor was one of them?

 

Exactly, and most of the coaches hate the championship game anyway. Several times it knocked a Big 12 team out of a probable national title game.

 

Sure - they own a tiny conference with a fraction of the revenues & population of a behemoth conference. There's no way to make the numbers work such that they will come out better in the new B12 w/ unequal revenue sharing and a BevoNetwork than they would with equal revenue sharing in the Pac16. There's just not enough eyeballs.

Even with the Dan Beebe numbers + high end of BevoNetwork estimates (which is going to be a total disaster, in my opnion), they come out making less money with their next TV contract than the B10 schools make with their current contract. Nebraska, even without renegotiating the B10 contract, will make more money than Texas - and that's ignoring the millions in academic money that comes with the CIC or the millions more than Texas would have made with the expanded footprint of the B10. The P10 network is more up in the air, but the combined populations of the P10 states would be notably more than the current B10.

It's like choosing Mayor of Dripping Springs over US Congressman because you get more control.

 

I'm with you...but it's honestly how this will be remembered if A&M leaves.

 

Ummm...it's not money from Waco folks they're concerned with...it's money from folks travelling from elsewhere to see their teams play. Waco folks don't get hotel rooms to watch BU or their opponents.

 

Coaches don't like it because its another game they can lose. It's knocked a couple of teams out - it's also given a couple of teams the opportunity to get in if they had won (Texas in 2001 for example). OU destroying CU in 2004 ensured they got in over Auburn, who struggled in their game. They basically serve as mini-playoff games. If you can't win those games, you shouldn't be a national champion anyway.

 

We'll see...I've seen all sorts of reports saying the numbers the Pac 10 were trotting out were ridiculously illusory. CNBC had a report on that late last week, actually.

Remember...when the Pac 10 is playing most of their games, the rest of the country is sleeping.

I don't the folks at UT making these decisions are as stupid as you make them out to be.