Three of the most powerful men at OU held a press conference Thursday to tell us the Big 12 will survive.
OU President David Boren, athletic director Joe Castiglione and football coach Bob Stoops met with reporters about 6:30 p.m.
While it was interesting to hear conference commissioner Dan Beebe has stepped down and the Big 12 Board of Directors have reactivated the expansion committee, the biggest news was the members’ agreement to a grant of rights.
It turns out the nine schools — Texas A&M still seems to be out the door the moment Baylor quits threatening a lawsuit — basically agreed to give the conference control of TV revenue for the next six years, even if a member leaves.
So if the Mountain West somehow presented OU a deal sweet enough to entice the Sooners away from the Big 12 this year, the Big 12 would keep all the money OU would make from being on TV through 2017.
TV money is the biggest reason why college football is so profitable compared to other sports, so the nine university’s commitments to put their bread and butter in the hands of the conference is about as firm a vote of confidence in its continued stability as I could imagine.
Interestingly enough, though, the grant of rights will not include the Longhorn Network, Texas’ golden calf that everyone else in the conference wants a piece of.
No, Texas will keep complete control of its $300 million pie with ESPN and won’t have to share.
Similarly, if the Sooners launch a network of their own, they wouldn’t have to share. Now it’s only a matter of getting a lucrative enough deal, something Boren said OU could be about six months from securing, if not sooner.
Boren said the board did not discuss equal distribution of money from the top-tier TV contracts (like the Big 12’s deal with ABC/ESPN, for instance), but he said it will be a future option to consider.
So money will be the glue holding an otherwise unstable conference together.
Funny how money — the pursuit of which almost tore the Big 12 Conference to pieces — turned out to be the thing that saved the conference.
At least for the next six years or so, anyway.
James Corley is a journalism senior and the sports editor for The Daily. You can follow him on Twitter at @jamesfcorley.
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