AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Staring at extinction, the Big 12 is once again in play.
The beleaguered conference made a rousing comeback Monday, when Texas declined an invitation to join the Pac-10 and decided to stay in the Big 12.
Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M quickly followed the Longhorns by recommitting to the conference after commissioner Dan Beebe convinced his members they would make more money in television and media deals in a 10-team Big 12 then in a 16-team Pac-10.
A person with direct knowledge of discussions among the Big 12's remaining members said Texas is clear to set up its own TV network and keep all proceeds in exchange for remaining in the Big 12. The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because final details had not been worked out.
“Everybody is feeling much more confident the Big 12 is going to survive,” the person said. “Everybody's going to be making more money.”
The announcement staves off attempts by the Pacific-10 and the Southeast Conferences to lure Big 12 teams.
The decision brings some stability to the volatile landscape of college sports and, at least temporarily, halts the creep toward the evolution of 16-team super conferences.
“University of Texas president Bill Powers has informed us that the 10 remaining schools in the Big 12 Conference intend to stay together,” Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement. “We are excited about the future of the Pac-10 Conference and we will continue to evaluate future expansion opportunities under the guidelines previously set forth by our presidents and chancellors.”
Powers declined comment when asked by the AP about details of the deal that kept Big 12 together.
Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne called the Big 12's survival “a great thing.”
“I didn't want to see the league go away,” he said. “I guess all the talk about if Nebraska left that six others would leave wasn't what happened.
“I understand there were some concessions made for that to happen. But I certainly didn't want to see some schools hanging out to dry.''
The conference, born in 1996 when the Big 8 merged with members of the Southwestern Conference, seemed to be falling apart last week when Nebraska (Big Ten) and Colorado (Pac-10) decided to leave over the next two years. Now the Big 12 its back.
Beebe did not return phone messages Monday but plans to hold a conference call with reporters Tuesday.
Nebraska could stand to lose up to 80 percent of its revenue from the Big 12 conference for 2010-11 for leaving the league with only one year's notice.
UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman's response, through a university spokesperson, repeated the assertion he made Friday on any penalty possible due to the Big 12.
“Within the context of the current situation, any penalty would seem to be inappropriate,'' he said.
The news about the Longhorns, Sooners and the rest of the Big 12 South powers staying put was especially good for Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Iowa State and Missouri — the five schools in danger of being left homeless if the conference dissolved.
Baylor football coach Art Briles, a Texas native who has spent his entire career in the Long Star state, put it this way: “I got resuscitated. You can take your hands off my chest. . . . I'm extremely excited, it's like being given new life.”
As for the Pac-10 and Scott, who was trying pull off a bold move that would have dramatically changed the landscape of college sports, they are left looking for at least one more member to get to 12 by 2012 when Colorado is set to join.
Scott's next target? Utah from the Mountain West Conference would seem a likely candidate.
Scott's plan was to add Texas (with Notre Dame the big prize in the conference expansion game) along with its main Big 12 South rivals — Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.
Because Texas is the richest and most powerful of the Big 12 schools, the Longhorns were seen as the lynchpin to the deal. Wherever Texas decided to place its cash cow football program, the rest of the schools would seemingly fall in line.
But Texas A&M had represented a wild card, with school officials meeting with Pac-10 and SEC officials in recent days. If the Aggies were serious about leaving for the Southeastern Conference, no matter what Texas did, it was unclear whether that would have prompted the Longhorns, Sooners and the rest to decide the Big 12 was not worth saving with only nine members.
But that SEC flirtation turned out to be nothing more.
“Texas A&M is a proud member of the Big 12 Conference and will continue to be affiliated with the conference in the future,” school president R. Bowen Loftin said in a statement.
Officials at Oklahoma State and Oklahoma issued similar statements, with OSU president Burns Hargis singling out Beebe for his “bold moves and intense efforts.”
The news that the Big 12 survived spread quickly.
“That's great news,” said Scott Drew, whose Baylor men's basketball team advanced to the South regional final in the NCAA tournament a few months ago. “Obviously, we're very excited and pleased about the 10 schools staying together. It will be great to continue the rivalries and traditions.”
As part of the Monday's talks, sources said Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe was seeking a long-term commitment—believed to be 10 years—from member schools who want to be part of a Fox television package that could boost annual disbursements to an average of $17 million per school by 2012 for the 10 remaining teams.
That figure is well above last year's $11.6 million average for league teams.
Sources said the proposed Big 12 deal with Fox, which would take effect in the 2012-13 school year, would last for 18 years — well beyond the typical stretch for a TV rights deal. As part of the deal, league teams would be allowed to create their own television networks to boost revenues, which is a wrinkle that intrigues Texas officials.
For a school like Texas, industry analysts project that could add an additional $3 million to $5 million per year once the network is in place. In effect, the proposal on the table could boost Texas' take of league revenues — under existing Big 12 revenue-sharing policies — past the $20 million mark projected by Pac-10 officials as part on an expanded, 16-team conference.
This report includes material from the World-Herald News Service and from the New York Times and McClatchey Newspapers.
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