Could cripple conference
Matt Murschel
Orlando Sentinel
The once powerful football conference is beginning to show the wear and tear of the changing face of college football.
Conference expansion has taken its toll on the league, taking Colorado and Nebraska along with the Big 12 championship game and millions of dollars. Only Texas' choice to stay in the Big 12 saved it from extinction. However, the school's new 20-year, $300 million deal with ESPN to create its own 24-hour cable network could destroy it.
With expanded control over their marketing rights and their own television deal, Texas is set to make more than $30 million a year. The deal hasn't set well with some in the league and has started speculation that the Longhorns could strike out on their own — a move that would leave the league's other schools in limbo and the Big 12 on its last legs.
mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com
Expect a civil war
David Teel
Daily Press
Your richer, older, more accomplished sibling just inherited the family fortune, more than a quarter-billion worth. You got squat, not even Dad's baseball-card collection. Moreover, said sibling dusts you on the golf course each week.
Are you bitter? Jealous? Blocking him on Facebook? You bet your backside you are! So it goes with Texas and its Big 12 mates. Already the conference's power broker, the Longhorns have teamed with ESPN to form their own television network, worth a reported $300 million over 20 years. Think that's a competitive and recruiting advantage? Think Texas will share the windfall with Texas A&M and Oklahoma? Yes, and not in this lifetime. Bet the next Big 12 family reunion is mighty tense.
dteel@tribune.com
Recipe for disaster
Teddy Greenstein
Chicago Tribune
The Big 12 is now like a commercial airline. Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Missouri and Kansas (we're talking football) are sitting in coach. Texas Tech, protected by the governor, has the bulkhead. Oklahoma and Texas A&M are in first class. Texas is in the cockpit wearing a burnt orange pilot's cap. This will one day be a recipe for disaster.
All things are not created equal in the SEC, but when you win the Big Chalupa every year, it doesn't matter. The Big Ten has thrived on equity. Purdue and Indiana receive more annual football TV revenue than Notre Dame, and Ohio State doesn't gripe about it.
But the Texas TV deal is bound to produce resentment and jealousy. The remaining schools will always be wondering about their slice of the pie.
tgreenstein@tribune.com
No, other deals coming
Ben Bolch
Los Angeles Times
No, because the Longhorns' chief rivals in the major sports will soon join them in securing lucrative deals of their own. The bigger, more established Big 12 schools — Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri — are also attractive to TV executives looking to expand their sports programming.
Conference small fry such as Baylor, Iowa State and Kansas State will hurt the most because of the increasing discrepancy in revenue and exposure, but they were already relegated to have-not status before the Texas TV deal went through.
Overall, the Texas TV deal is a good thing for a conference whose revenue has been laughably low for a Bowl Championship Series conference, putting it on more equal footing with the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten.
bbolch@tribune.com