Archive: On February 7, 1999, World-Herald columnist Tom Shatel discussed Notre Dame's unwillingness to join the Big Ten Conference — then threw out the idea that the conference may look west to the Big 12 for suitors. Jump in the time machine to see what wisdom Shatel shared over a decade ago on the conference expansion topic.
Sunday's column below:
Blame it on Midwestern hospitality.
There's a lot of talk about whether Nebraska and Missouri should move to the Big Ten. You hear folks say they can't wait to leave the Big 12, because Texas runs the league and Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds is the real commissioner, and Bevo wants his own TV channel.
If any or all of that is true, perhaps it's the fault of the old Big Eight Conference.
Last week, I asked Tom Osborne to recall the beginning of the Big 12, back in 1995. Osborne, like a lot of old Big Eight types, insists that the Big Eight was helping Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor and Texas Tech — offering them a safe and secure place to live.
When the league started, a lot of things looked upside down to Osborne. The Big 12 office was set in Dallas, not Kansas City. Several Big 12 rules — including one that required partial qualifiers to attend junior college before heading to a Big 12 school — were the opposite of what was going on in the Big Eight.
“It surprised me, the decisions made by the presidents when they met,'' Osborne recalled. “I asked our chancellor (Graham Spanier) what happened and he said, ‘We felt sorry for them (SWC schools).'''
Typical Midwest folk. We invite someone into our house for a warm meal and they end up taking our car.
Texas and the south took the ball and haven't stopped running yet. In the wake of this rumored courtship between NU and the Big Ten, it's crystallized, for some, the idea that this isn't the Big 12 the Huskers signed up for. No matter what happens, one thing needs to be very clear.
The fact is, the Big 12 has been very good to Nebraska.
Oh sure, there was that 1996 Big 12 title game that got in the way of an NU bid for a national championship. The rules of the game changed, and yes, Texas certainly stood to benefit. But so did Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Kansas and Colorado.
I've heard some say that the Big 12 and Texas need to find a way to keep Nebraska — offer an olive branch list of things that would pacify the Huskers. But what exactly does NU need?
A new revenue-sharing policy? Huh? Nebraska benefits from the Big 12's policy. Half the Big 12's TV money is divided equally. The other half is put into an “appearance pool.'' The schools that make the most TV appearances in football and basketball get to keep most of that money. It rewards the schools that earn the money and also serves as incentive for others to schedule themselves into TV games.
As Osborne said, “I don't have any real concern about that.'' In fact, if the Big 12 changed its revenue-sharing policy to make it more equitable, that would be a reason for NU to leave.
What about the Big 12 championship game? This, along with the location of the conference office, has been a constant burr in the saddle of many Nebraskans. Wanting the Big 12 game to rotate north (Kansas City) has its merits; it allows Husker fans to drive to it. And, symbolically, it throws the north a bone.
But how many North schools really care? In March, the Big 12 A.D.s voted 11-1 to consider keeping the Big 12 title game in Arlington, Texas, three more years. In other words, Missouri, Kansas and Kansas State (the only Big 12 North school to win a Big 12 title at Arrowhead Stadium) didn't mind going to Dallas.
Better TV deal? The Big 12 is currently locked into its ABC/ESPN deal through 2016. Oklahoma President David Boren said last week he thinks that the Big 12 will get a better deal next time, and a Big 12 network might be in the works. Unless Texas starts its own Longhorn Channel first.
So what about Texas? Do the Longhorns really run the league? Well, yes and no.
No, in the sense that Dodds does not run the Big 12 meetings or call up Commissioner Dan Beebe and tell him what to do (Beebe can't make policy, anyway; the presidents do that). In fact, a Big 12 source says that Dodds will actually leave the room when there is a vote, as if to show he has no influence on the vote.
Also, the other former Southwest Conference schools aren't Longhorn fans, but they think like Texas on most matters. So do Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, who also benefit from having the league headquartered in Dallas. Who knows why Missouri, KU, KSU, Iowa State and CU vote with Texas? Maybe they see Texas as the TV cash cow they don't want to chase from the league. Maybe they like the money. Maybe some of those votes are anti-Nebraska votes; revenge from all those years NU dominated the Big Eight.
In any case, if Texas runs the Big 12, it has some help. Will the Big Ten necessarily be different?
“Texas just has one vote,'' Osborne said. “I don't have any animosity towards Texas. I admire what they've done down there. I consider DeLoss Dodds a good friend. He is a real gentleman, and he doesn't try to throw his weight around. We don't feel there's anything real negative or sinister going on down there.''
Mostly, NU should be thankful for the Big 12 because the Big Eight would have gone away. Anyone who thinks that the Big Eight would have survived on its own is myopic. In the mid-'90s, the Big Eight had 7 percent of the nation's TV sets; Texas alone had 7 percent. The two sides helped each other. The Big Eight would not have earned a major network deal. Chances are, Oklahoma would have bolted for the SEC by now; CU might have gone to the Pac-10. Then what would you have? The Mountain East Conference.
The Big Eight is gone. And its spirit is dying, too. When Missouri would willingly leave the same conference as Kansas and former Big Eighters side with the south over Nebraska, it's clear the old ties are unraveling. The idea that the other Big 12 schools, including the old Big Eight, would stand around and let Texas start its own network over a conference-wide network is particularly appalling.
And the more you look at it, you realize that maybe NU doesn't have much in common with these old foes anymore.
“We don't have any animosity toward the Big 12,'' Osborne said.
Whether that's true or simple diplomacy, it's good to hear. It's also good to see NU taking the high road with all of this rhetoric flying around. Nebraska's not openly banging the drum for the Big Ten, like Missouri is. Better to pledge support for the Big 12 and wait and see what the Big Ten will do — if it does anything.
NU owes the Big 12 that much. The Big 12 has been a good place for Nebraska. If in these turbulent times another horizon offers a better deal and more stability for the future, then go.
Contact the writer:
444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com
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