The Big 12 expansion groundswell

[Gaffords]

Are you talking about TV revenue? Oklahoma made more the last two seasons, but it's switched back and forth over the years.

I have never done the math but based it on the fact that they seem to have beaten us more than we beat them since the start of the BIG 12. lol

They have won the BIG 12 south/BIG 12/ and have gone to more BCS games than we have so I assume they have made more than us. Most of our money has come from merchandising than anything else.

[Babs]

I have never done the math but based it on the fact that they seem to have beaten us more than we beat them since the start of the BIG 12. lol

They have one the BIG 12 south/BIG 12/ and have gone to more BCS games than we have so I assume they have made more than us. Most of our money has come from merchandising than anything else.

Yes, it's true we have won more than twice as many Big 12 titles than Texas, but actual success notwithstanding, the Big 12's revenue sharing model has made it such that Oklahoma's and Texas' revenues have been virtually identical year over year. The two were/are in a league of their own compared to all the other schools, though.

As far as merchandise, Texas makes more from logo sales than any other school in the country.

[Moliere]

Yes, it's true we have won more than twice as many Big 12 titles than Texas, but actual success notwithstanding, the Big 12's revenue sharing model has made it such that Oklahoma's and Texas' revenues have been virtually identical year over year. The two were/are in a league of their own compared to all the other schools, though.

As far as merchandise, Texas makes more from logo sales than any other school in the country.

Texas is definitely #1.

Oklahoma is #10

[Babs]

Texas is definitely #1.

Yes, that's what I just said.

[Goatnapper'96]

Yes, that's what I just said.

If it will help, and OU stays in the Big-12, I will covenant to buy an OU sweatshirt once a year!

[byu71]

If it will help, and OU stays in the Big-12, I will covenant to buy an OU sweatshirt once a year!

I will one up you. I will go to Stillwater and watch the Oklahoma-BYU game no matter how bad the seats are. I will stay in a nice hotel and play golf and generally spread some money around town.

[myboynoah]

I will one up you. I will go to Stillwater and watch the Oklahoma-BYU game no matter how bad the seats are. I will stay in a nice hotel and play golf and generally spread some money around town.

Oh boy, you'll be standing around wondering where the game is. But still spread some money around town.

[Goatnapper'96]

I will one up you. I will go to Stillwater and watch the Oklahoma-BYU game no matter how bad the seats are. I will stay in a nice hotel and play golf and generally spread some money around town.

Not sure why you would go to Stillwater to watch BYU-OU. But I guess when one is old and senile and wants a humblebrag about going to roadies he might go to Norman to watch a BYU-Oklahoma State game. Gary Sheide still sees cross-eyed as well, amigo!

[byu71]

Not sure why you would go to Stillwater to watch BYU-OU. But I guess when one is old and senile and wants a humblebrag about going to roadies he might go to Norman to watch a BYU-Oklahoma State game. Gary Sheide still sees cross-eyed as well, amigo!

You guys just couldn't wait until Bab's let me have it for not knowing where Oklahoma was and I mistook Okla.'s little brother for Oklahoma. You really don't think I know where OSU, Tulsa and Oklahoma are located???

Sometimes you guys really piss me off.

[Gaffords]

Yes, it's true we have won more than twice as many Big 12 titles than Texas, but actual success notwithstanding, the Big 12's revenue sharing model has made it such that Oklahoma's and Texas' revenues have been virtually identical year over year. The two were/are in a league of their own compared to all the other schools, though.

As far as merchandise, Texas makes more from logo sales than any other school in the country.

I do love how the whole country is up in arms about unequal sharing and how UT takes everybody's money (even the sooner boards).

But right now you have our 3 smallest schools refusing to sign the waver because even though their fans whine about it on their forums, it is what kept the two work horses in place. It was better to make 3 mil less than OU/UT and still make 7 to 9 mil a year then 1.5 mil in a D2 Conference.

I am not defending the share thing and cannot wait for it to go away based on all the neg publicity from it, but is wasn't near the issue in the BIG 12 it has been played out to be. NEB left for 20 mil a year compared to 9 to 12 mil a year in the BIG 12. A&M is leaving 20 mil (to UT's and OU's 18 to 19 mil) to get away from Texas. The small schools are praying the BIG 12 stays intact.

I hope it does even if it is until 2014 with the understanding that all schools have that time to find a home.

[Babs]

You guys just couldn't wait until Bab's let me have it for not knowing where Oklahoma was and I mistook Okla.'s little brother for Oklahoma. You really don't think I know where OSU, Tulsa and Oklahoma are located???

Sometimes you guys really piss me off.

Yes. I got something similar yesterday when I deadpanned to borg that I found it hard to believe that borg's brother and grandfather could have been born on the same day, and borg helpfully explained that it's his grandfather's twin brother that shares a birthday with gramps.

It seems that the realignment climate has impaired the board's expressive and receptive humor potential.

[Paperback Writer]

You guys just couldn't wait until Bab's let me have it for not knowing where Oklahoma was and I mistook Okla.'s little brother for Oklahoma. You really don't think I know where OSU, Tulsa and Oklahoma are located???

Sometimes you guys really piss me off.

I had no doubt that you knew OU was in Norman and Okie St. was in Stillwater. I just thought you were going to host a watch party in Stillwater for the OU-BYU game in a massive suite with a big screen TV at a really nice hotel. In order to do this, one would first have to build a nice hotel with a massive suite in Stillwater. Now that would really be "spreading the money around town", Lord knows Stillwater could use the investment.

[DapperDan]

which part? The 70 million out clause? Yeah, that seems way to hefty. But the first part makes some sense....

The 70 million seems fine. A&M's is already 30ish and if the new TV numbers are what people project 70 mil won't be much more than what exit fees will be under the current rules.

Not that anyone will actually pay the whole thing.

[Uncle Ted]

Big 12 teams failing to see that if league blows up, everybody loses

I'm just wondering:

Has everybody in the Big 12 lost their minds?

This is all so ridiculous, and it is fueled by fear and mistrust instead of anything resembling logic. This isn't about right and wrong. It is, like virtually everything else in college athletics, about winning and losing.

Well if the Big 12 blows up, everybody loses.

There has been so much hand-wringing and talk about the loss of tradition that we're missing the big picture here. Everybody in the Big 12 is better off staying in the Big 12. On a pragmatic level, that is what makes sense.

If the Big 12 stays together, Texas and Oklahoma would get to print money and be the bullies in a league of familiar rivals. Kansas would be a basketball power in a legitimate big-time conference. The other schools would get Big 12 money and the possibility of rising up to compete for a title once in a while (Missouri did it with Chase Daniel, and Kansas State has done it). It won't happen a lot, but it can happen.

Texas A&M's ship may have sailed onto the back of a pickup truck headed for the SEC, which is too bad; the Aggies are also better off in a well-structured Big 12. When you are one of the two biggest rivals for the dominant team in the league, you are extremely relevant. In the SEC, A&M is counting on TV money (which is higher than people realize, because of various contracts that the SEC does not over-publicize), and the vague notion that being in the best conference will improve recruiting. Maybe it will. But A&M had a much better chance of contending in the Big 12.

[...]

Texas is acting purely out of self-interest. So is Texas A&M. So is Oklahoma. So did Nebraska and Colorado when they left the league. Even Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe is acting out of self-interest -- he can't be a commissioner if he doesn't have a league. Iowa State and the Kansas schools would act out of self-interest, too, if they were allowed to act. Instead they are desperately putting frosting on cupcakes for their annual athletic department bake sales.

Yes, everybody is trying to get what they want -- and as a result, it is highly possible that nobody will get what they really want.

All of these schools would be better off finding an amicable, workable, long-term structure to save the Big 12. Swallow your egos. Put fear aside. There is a deal to be made there, but only if everybody wants to make it.

And I thought aTm was the only insane one around here.

[shoganai]

1. Academic and athletic reputation through association with other like-minded universities. This reason gets poo-pooed but it is a factor and will continue to remain so as long as academics are running universities.

This reason gets poo-pooed because virtually every conference that crows about academics summarily invites new members that do nothing but drag the conference reputation down - Arizona State, Nebraska? What we've actually learned is that it is most commonly used as an excuse for why one school was NOT invited, not as an actual reason for extending an invitation to someone. It's double-talk, and the proof is in the pudding about how much it really matters when the final decisions are made.

2. Scheduling. Yes more independents would eventually make scheduling easier but ease of scheduling as an independant is years and years away especially if superconferences come before most big schools have an individual network. (though this post is not specifically about BYU I can't help but say that BYU can't afford to sit on the outside while waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.)

I've mentioned this before, but the scheduling argument is one big circular round of logic. It's tough to be an independent because it's hard to schedule in October/November. It's tough to schedule in October/November because most teams are in conferences. Most teams are in conferences because it's tough to be independent... Conclude what you will, but this is not going to keep teams from going independent once the money is there to be made.

3. Even if every school has their own network they will still need ratings and/or subscribers in order to be viable. Most university fanbases do not offer enough of a subscriber base or ratings to make a network work without conference partnerships. Without a conferences rivalries dissolve and become less meaningful. These are fuel to the ratings machine that is college football.

Of course it's unrealistic to expect every school to have a proprietary network capable of being a cash cow. Only the teams with large fanbases, and the ones that currently anchor the major conferences will be capable of it

4. Other sports need conferences. Football may eventually find a way to have most of the major players operate as an independant, but conferences for other sports are not going the way of the dinosaur.

You are absolutely right about this, which is why we'll inevitably see things like conferences that exist for no other reason than to hold the minor sports of schools that are independent, or in other football-only alliances.