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Football is driving other conferences, not the B1G.CalvinistBuck;1998961; said:Forget conference expansion. If football is driving expansion/realignment, then shouldn't we drop Minnesota and Indiana since football is only a club sport at those two schools?
By DAVE MATTER
Published September 23, 2011 at 2:26 p.m.
Updated September 23, 2011 at 3:25 p.m.
Last spring, the 10 members of the Big 12 discussed granting their first- and second-tier media rights to the conference but failed to reach an accord on a decision that could have secured the long-term stability the league now lacks.
Seven schools were in favor of securing the rights to the conference, while three stood in opposition, a source with knowledge of the league proceedings told the Tribune. The three schools against the measure, according to the source, were Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M.
Had the measure gone to an official vote, it would have required eight votes to pass.
The other members ? Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech ? were in favor of the move, the source said, which would have turned over their schools' TV rights to its most attractive football and basketball games to the conference, making it virtually impossible to leave for another conference during the length of the agreement.
According to the conference bylaws, approval of the policies and procedures relating to revenue distribution requires affirmative votes by 75 percent or more of the board of directors. With 10 voting members on the board ? each institution is represented on the board by a campus president or chancellor ? passage requires eight votes.
"Obviously, getting something like that done would have shown a commitment by the member schools," the source said.
The granting of media rights became a troublesome topic during last night's simultaneous press conferences at Oklahoma and Missouri. In Norman, Oklahoma President David Boren told reporters that the league's board of directors had agreed that all nine remaining members would grant their media rights to the conference for a six-year period.
"These are very strong handcuffs," Boren told reporters. "The grant of rights really does bind the conference together and it shows that we fully intend to stay together."
Speaking at Jesse Hall, Missouri Chancellor Brady Deaton had a different take on the topic. Deaton said the board of directors merely agreed to discuss the proposal, saying, the board had "affirmed its intention to pursue the granting of media rights ? that's first and second-tier media rights ? for a period of six years in order to position ourselves in a dynamic media market nationally."
A Missouri source later clarified Deaton's statement: The Big 12 board had not fully committed to the idea but had agreed to discuss it further.
In the Big 12's media arrangement, first-tier rights refer to its network TV contract with ABC/ESPN, while second-tier cable rights belong to Fox. Under the league's Fox deal, league members share the second-tier revenue equally, though the fist-tier deal distributes revenue based on TV appearances. Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds has said recently the Big 12 ADs voted unanimously in the spring to also distribute the first-tier rights evenly, though the board of directors has yet to approve the measure.
Reluctance to vote for the measure by Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M could suggest they were hesitant on making a long-term commitment to the Big 12. That became apparent for A&M over the summer when the Aggies applied for membership and were approved to join the Southeastern Conference. In recent weeks, Oklahoma and Texas explored leaving the Big 12 for the Pac-12, up until Tuesday when the Pac-12 decided against further expansion.
The unrest in the conference has spurred Missouri to contact other conferences as well, which Deaton and Athletic Director Mike Alden admitted last night though stopped short of confirming reports MU has been targeted by the SEC.
When Nebraska left the Big 12 for the Big Ten last year, school officials rallied around the Big 12's failure to grant its media rights as a reason for their departure ? though for years Nebraska opposed equal revenue-sharing in the Big 12, a separate topic of dissension among Big 12 members. In June 2010, shortly before the Huskers joined the Big Ten, Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman cited media rights when the Big 12 asked for Nebraska's commitment to the conference.
"I said, 'There's only one way that you can fully commit, long term, to a conference, and that is you assign media rights to your athletic contests to the conference for the long term,' " Perlman told reporters. "And I asked, 'Were the members willing to do that?' The University of Texas made it clear they were not willing to do that."
Reach Dave Matter at 573-815-1781 or e-mail [email protected].
How am I arguing from "Baylor's viewpoint"? You want me to argue why A&M should commit their rights to the league. I started out by saying that the only way it makes sense is if they feel the Big 12 is their desired option as it would make ZERO sense otherwise. So I applied that assumption to answer your question as it is the only way that move makes sense and therefore the only way any answer could work. If arguing from a position of desiring to stay (as it is the only way to make it logical as I admitted in the first reply) is "Baylor's viewpoint" then you don't want a counterpoint, you want me to agree with you.
I then argued from that standpoint that if A&M wanted to remain here and was concerned about stability (only way it makes sense... again):
1- ATM's voting for it would eliminate stability concerns for the near future as all 10 would be locked in
2- Even if it fell apart you have a fallback with the SEC.
So if you WANTED to stay (as your admin kept telling everyone back then) it makes perfect sense. If not, it does not.
I took your "after what happened in 2010" comment to refer to instability resulting from the departure of 2 schools. You must take it to mean something else as I feel #1 and #2 adequately handle that concern for a school that wishes to remain here.
If it is the LHN, you have to know that:
1- They announced a desire for HS content and additional football games on their network when they announced the thing or shortly thereafter. Just because it received less pub than the 300m payout does not mean it was secret or anything.
2- It is highly likely that UT disclosed how it was subject to Big 12 and NCAA bylaws to other presidents so any issues had a mechanism to be handled in-house. They would have been stupid not to as it helps mitigate concerns held by other schools.
3- ESPN pushing too hard had to ruffle feathers but is not on it's own enough to prompt a "100 year decision" and I highly doubt a rational admin would move leagues over a perceived insult.
How does it make you any more of a second class citizen than OU, who last I checked was not a second class citizen?
Let's outline what they ACTUALLY agreed to so we are on the same page:
1- Minimum content of 1 FB game, 8 hoops games, 3 women's hoops and anything else nobody wants.
2- Acknowledged a mutual desire to seek out HS games and additional games on the network but.....
3- ALL of that #2 is subject to both Big 12 and NCAA rules so if either says no way it is gone
4- They outlined a contingency clause if UT ever went indy that any lawyer worth his salt would include
5- Other small stuff about tape services for highlight reels and stuff
6- Got a big paycheck
Do we like them having a major tv partner for their network? No. Did every school including the Ags agree to it? Yes.
Does it give them an advantage? Yes. Can A&M make their own network to get similar advantages over us? Yes.
Did you see A&M ever worry about different classes of citizenship when they took the forgotten five guarantee? No. When it's them on the short end of the stick? Yes.
The end result is they knew they were not staying and lied through their teeth about it. They certainly had every right to vote no but don't fault any other school for calling A&M out for duplicity. Your collective aggie butthurt over the LHN may have been magnified by the payout and having ESPN as a partner, but in principle was something UT had talked freely about pretty much all aspects for years.
Simple fact is nobody would have faulted A&M for going last summer as UT and OU already committed. Staying a year, lying about commitment, starting this crap again and almost screwing over several schools is a VERY different situation and deserving of every bit of crap being thrown A&M's way.
ScriptOhio;1999435; said:BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Southeastern Conference says Texas A&M is set to be join the league next year.
The SEC announced Sunday that the move will be effective next July, and says Texas A&M will participate in all sports during the 2012-13 academic year. That gives the SEC 13 members and its first addition since South Carolina and Arkansas in 1992.
The Aggies' defection from the Big 12 had been held up with threatened legal action from Baylor and other schools. The statement released by the SEC did not mention that situation, and spokesman Charles Bloom did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
A source told ESPN's Joe Schad that Texas A&M's negotiation of an exit fee with the Big 12 "will now begin in earnest."
Entire article: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7019493/texas-officially-gets-accepted-sec
ScriptOhio;1999435; said:BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Southeastern Conference says Texas A&M is set to be join the league next year.
The SEC announced Sunday that the move will be effective next July, and says Texas A&M will participate in all sports during the 2012-13 academic year. That gives the SEC 13 members and its first addition since South Carolina and Arkansas in 1992.
The Aggies' defection from the Big 12 had been held up with threatened legal action from Baylor and other schools. The statement released by the SEC did not mention that situation, and spokesman Charles Bloom did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
A source told ESPN's Joe Schad that Texas A&M's negotiation of an exit fee with the Big 12 "will now begin in earnest."
Entire article: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7019493/texas-officially-gets-accepted-sec
Gatorubet;1999530; said:Interesting, to say the least. For all the talk of not letting them join before a release from all the lil bros like Baylor - they go ahead and let them in. So they either have a letter saying they can leave, or they decided after due deliberation to say "F*** it! We'll see you in court"
As the soap opera turns I guess.
Saw31;1997591; said:All this "fear" of Texas is just dumb. Look at their situation. They are carrying a conference full of dead weight. TOSU or M*ch*g*n put in the same situation, wouldn't let KSU or Baylor ride our coat tails either. We'd be cashing out in each and every way we could. The B1G doesn't have dead weight. Texas would play nice because they understand and want this. Add ND and Texas and we are the supernovaconference...
cincibuck;1999718; said:Speaking of dead weight -- the B1G carries Indiana - with worse football and basketball than K State or Baylor -