In the end, it was money and Texas that saved Big 12 from extinction
June 15, 2010 9:19 AM
The attached white paper, obtained by SI.com through a public records request to the University of Colorado, contains many of the same points Beebe made Monday as he worked with school officials to salvage the conference. In the paper, Beebe predicted that a network would pay more to televise Big 12 football games. Fox promised to do just that. Beebe also predicted that radical realignment could have serious consequences for college sports. Powerful outsiders, concerned that the Pac-10's plan to supersize to 16 by pillaging the Big 12 would set off an unstoppable chain of events, helped broker the deal, which may have saved college sports as currently constituted.
Beebe could not have predicted, however, that the factors everyone always assumed would destroy the Big 12 -- the outsize influence of the University of Texas and the Longhorns' desire to get richer -- would wind up saving it. Because when Texas officials asked Pac-10 officials at the last minute if the Longhorns could retain their local television rights, that's when the Big 12 finally got the upper hand. The Pac-10 wanted to start a cable network similar to the Big Ten's. To do that, it needed to retain its member schools' local TV rights.
Andy Staples
Beebe could not have predicted, however, that the factors everyone always assumed would destroy the Big 12 -- the outsize influence of the University of Texas and the Longhorns' desire to get richer -- would wind up saving it. Because when Texas officials asked Pac-10 officials at the last minute if the Longhorns could retain their local television rights, that's when the Big 12 finally got the upper hand. The Pac-10 wanted to start a cable network similar to the Big Ten's. To do that, it needed to retain its member schools' local TV rights.
Andy Staples
Filed under: Big Ten Expansion
