I think they are in it for the long haul because they like being the alpha dogs of the group. As long as the population of Texas keeps growing we will have a good contract when the current one is up and the Big 12 provides both schools a clearer path to a championship than slugging it out with the SEC. Neither want to play games north of Oklahoma they don't have an expectation of winning so the BIG is out. Playing Iowa State is better for them than playing BC or Syracuse or Oregon State or Washington State, so the ACC and PAC 12 will not work.
I think everyone is wrong about the lack of a Big 12 Network hurting us. Between Netflix, Google, or any number of content driven digital companies it will be interesting to see what develops in the next few years. The digital revenue for Iowa State is growing every year. I read an article not too long ago that talked about Oklahoma generating over $6 million a year on their equivalent of CycloneTV.
Relax, quit worrying about it, and hopefully we have a more competitive football product in 5-7 years when all the negotiations start.
One last point, how can people call the Big 12 administration dumb when the revenue is payout is over $32.5 million per school last year and with escalators and a Championship game we will probably see over $40 million in the next few years. That does not even count the tier 3 revenue each school already earns and is probably growing each year. If you end up comparing apples to apples, the Big 12 is close to the BIG and SEC now, and with any kind of combined digital network we should increase our tier 3 revenue in the future and compete with them.
I am going enjoy the expected improvement in football over the next few years, the continued quality basketball programs and revisit the conference future in about 6 years.
