Is ISU safe? Could the Big 12 still implode?

[basketball13]

I would guarantee that SEC would gladly take A&M independent of OU and Texas. By just adding A&M, the SEC would gain the Dallas-Fort Worth (#5 TV market in US), Houston (#10), and San Antonio (#37) tv markets. It would be easy for them to find another school from the east to match A&M. The SEC's total population of states they have schools in is just over 57,000,000. There are over 24,000,000 people in Texas alone, and the SEC would love to branch into Texas.

[jbhtexas]

5. Just because you want the Big 12 (Temp 10) to stay together, doesn't mean it will. The Big 12 (Temp 10) will break up--it's simply a matter of time. It may be 10 years down the road, but this conference just screams "One Night Stand".

If the conference makes it two years, it will be around a long, long time. If recent TV deals are any indications, the Big 12 will be signing 25-year deals and the buyout clauses will be heavy.

[huKSer]

Anybody notice ATM = automatic teller machine $$$$$$$

[cyowa]

tell the aggies to go **** themselves and get houston, memphis, and either bring in nevada,and one of the new mexico schools.

a and m has always been a pain the arse.they they stole the biotech research firms from iowa state that iowa state should have had.. i worked for an aggie once.he was one of the most pompus(sp) b******ds i ever worked for.they aggies think they are something if they have been in the corp.i know i once worked for one and he always strutted like an ostrich.i put him in his place because i got promoted to his same level
as a vice president and i did not work for him.that was sure a nice promotion.

Do Vice Presidents ever use capitals?

[Matador96]

Regarding #3, it was foolish/stupid for A&M to make a needless publicity stunt out of the penalty money until there was actually a meeting to iron out the details. That meeting had yet to take place.

Regarding #4, you are insulting the intelligence of B12 ADs and Presidents by calling Beebe a snake oil salesman. Those ADs and Presidents were not going to buy into any type of flimsy numbers coming from Beebe as well as the TV networks.

Regarding #6. no news there. The TX legislature had scheduled hearings before UT made their decision to stay with the B12. As Pac-10 Commish Larry Scott admitted, the political pressure in his opinion was the primary reason why UT stayed. I tend to disagree with that, UT was not sold on the Pac-10's TV numbers and UT wanted their own branded TV network while retaining their own video/media rights.

You've missed your guess on a few things.

3. A&M made the release at the time it did to show that they are not a puppet to UT, which is what their fanbase not only wants, but demands. They could have done this privately, and it would have been given a private response. However, by going public, you are making Beebe go public as well. A&M, like many in the Temp 10 view Beebe as a whipping boy for DeLoss Dodds. And, as I pointed out, A&M is broke, and needs to show its fanbase it is trying to correct their financial issues.

4. No, Beebe is HORRIBLE. But to your point. 5 of the ADs/Presidents would do anything, and apparently give up money, just so they would have a conference to play in. 3 of the ADs/Presidents were about to get a hell of a payday. 2 were ******. Look, as a Tech fan, I get it. We didn't have a "stand alone" offer from the PAC 10. Fine. But that does not mitigate that Beebe sold the remaining 8 schools a bill of goods. All he did was take the already crappy TV deal, and let the remaining schools have more of it. He had "consultants" give "projections" on future TV revenues. No TV deal has been signed or has taken place, and yet he "guarantees" certain schools a minimum revenue stream if they would stay. He is promising future money on a deal that hasn't been negotiated. ENRON just called, they love that idea. And another sign of his weakness. When Tubs was critical of his "leadership" on a Tuesday morning, Beebe didn't issue a reprimand until literally 4:50 on a Friday before a 3 Day Holiday Weekend. That, if nothing else, says "I am really, really weak." It certainly not leadership.


#6. Welcome to Election Season in Texas, of which I have managed more than my fair share of campaigns. The "hearing" you speak of was a regularly scheduled Higher Education Committee Hearing, and the agenda can be changed up to 24 hours before the hearing begins. The Hearing was political posturing, plain and simple, and it worked. UT and A&M cannot do anything to upset the Lege. With a mandatory 10% budget cut for FY '12 and '13, they simply cannot risk damaging any relationships with the Lege. Tech is in line to recieve Tier 1 status, and join A&M and UT as the only schools in Texas to earn that honor. It has already been suggested that the reason Tech didn't blow the whole thing up was that it has been promised Tier 1 status as a delayed quid pro quo--but I doubt that.


IMO, UT views itself as equal to or greater than Notre Dame. It really does want to be an independent, but realizes that in a changing college athletic landscape, it cannot. So, it is in the next best position. It traded independent status for it's own conference. This will only hold water for so long.

Hitching your wagon to Dan Beebe will not take you where you want to go. As some on this board has suggested, I would begin being proactive in making myself more attractive to other conferences. I'm not saying you are not, but like Tech, OSU, and the reamining North schools, sticking your head in the sand and hoping things work out is not the best strategy. And, as most of you know, everytime you hear someone say they are committed to the Big 12, or whatever it is going to be called, just think of this phrase: "I did not have sexual realations with that woman." It's the same line, just in different context.

[drednot57]

It bought ISU time, and hopefully it brought them closer with MU, KU, KSU, etc, to realize that they are in the same boat. If those schools stick together, they will have solid options in the future. Maybe not as much money as they would being in a league with Texas, but they will have time to plan for it.

I think that ISU, Mizzou, KU, Baylor, and KSU realize from the last realignment fiasco, that as a package, they hold more value than as individual institutions. Conference realignment is all about football TV revenue, so KU's dominant MBB team doesn't add up to a hill of beans in this discussion. If the Big 12 blows up, I hope the "forgotten five" stay together and keep the Big 12 alive long enough to collect all the fees due from the schools leaving; which would add up to way more than $100 million in today's TV market. Enough money, I would say, to reform the Big 12. If super conferences start forming, I hope the penalty money would be enough to entice a school like Notre Dame to join a reformed Big 12. Just my opinion.