It’s sweet to see the Big 12 leftovers from Texas sweat about their future. No matter what happens, their future conference affiliations will probably never be the same.
Thank you UT & OU for the chaos you created.
1 Like
Not bad. But Tech and Kansas State have a good following. Following equals money. Kansas and Iowa State raise academics (AAU) although I think those 2 are headed up north to the B10. Because those 2 are headed north my five were
Tech
TCU
WVU for Cinci (BE rivalry)
KSU
OK St.
1 Like
Show me where these damages are trebled. This is not an anti-trust argument. The USFL sued the NFL for anti-trust and won. Their payout? $1 As decided by a jury. Trebled to $3. Don’t spend it all in one place.
The Getty/Pennzoil lawsuit damages were decided by a jury and the damages were not trebled
If the remaining 8 Big12 teams would bind themselves together with a GOR then ESPN/FOX would have no choice but to payout their tv deal to 2025 and OU/UT pay exit fees if they left early. Their payout would drop drastically in a few years but they would have some short term cash and the choice of who and how many teams they added to the Big 12.
The problem for these schools is that none of the teams trust each other to not look out for their own best interest above all. Complicating the situation is that there are not enough Big12 teams left that are acceptable to BIG, SEC, ACC, and PAC to kill of the Big12 hence why the ESPN/AAC plan was hatched to kill off the Big 12. The AAC payout (or maybe slightly higher) is closer to the real value of these schools when decoupled from their daddys (OU/UT). ESPN and OU/UT will save MILLIONS if they can kill off the Big 12.
Remaining 8’s only hope is to immediately sign GOR but each school is in LaLa land that another power conference will save them. Frankly I don’t see any school left being desirable/profitable enough except maybe KU BB but their FB is terrible and they have no market so there is that to consider.
Meanwhile Sic ‘em 365 is worried about possible invitees hurting Baylor’s recruiting.
I would be much more concerned with Bowlsby hurting your recruiting, you insufferable posers!
3 Likes
Texas Tech most likely makes it. The parentheses is just because I could be talked into TCU instead. Just not both if we’re picking five of eight. I feel bad for K-State but doubling up on Kansas seems unlikely to make sense. But if KU is not in the picture, they move up the list considerably.
AAC has 11 football teams. Doesn’t look like the PAC is adding Big 12 leftovers and some PAC schools in cali may in fact be considering a BIG pod. With that said, KU (blue blood in BB) is the only truly desirable property left in Big 12 so there are high level decisions being made about if BIG or another P5 takes them, etc… or if they get placed in AAC.
Follow the money, ESPN/OU/UT stand to save A TON of money and SEC make more money quicker by killing the Big 12. I think the betting favorite would be AAC going to 16 by absorbing 5 Big 12 teams. Questions: will KU get into another power conference, will AAC somehow kickout the weaker members and fully absorb remaining Big 12 and if not which Big 12 teams make the cut?
Tier 1 teams - KU, TT, OSU, WVU
Tier 2 teams - Baylor, TCU
Tier 3 teams - ISU, KSU (kind feel bad for these guys. Their future appears to be MWC unless AAC kicks out some members and fully absorbs Big12. These schools need to push for a Big12 GOR immediately)
Addition of Tier 1 teams and one of tier 2 teams would make for a stout AAC.
1 Like
Given the presence the AAC already has in Texas, I would swap Tiers 2 and 3. Or at least move Iowa State above TCU and Baylor. They are sort of a midwestern ECU. Great support, no market.
1 Like
As of now we do know that the Big 12 conference, the 8 remaining members, their legal team, and the legal teams of their 8 remaining members believe they have firm evidence of ESPN interfering along with the AAC to have the Big 12 break apart to the financial gain of ESPN and the AAC
So no matter what anyone on a message forum thinks it is clear now that the 8 remaining members of the Big 12 believe that ESPN (and the AAC) are attempting to tortuously interfere with the Big 12 and their contracts with ESPN to the benefit of ESPN and the AAC and the detriment of the Big 12
and as to other comments this has nothing to do with “Baylor” this has to do with all of the 8 remaining members of the Big 12
and Pennzoil vs Getty was used as an example of “huge powerful companies losing lawsuits” it was not an example of 3X damages
and with the XFL vs NFL the XFL did not have contracts in place like the Big 12 has with ESPN that if broken would have specific dollar amounts of damages associated with them
and CBS has reported that as long as the Big 12 is viable their contracts with Fox and ESPN are viable for the life of those contracts
so the Big 12 can show specific dollar amounts of damages related to existing contracts the XFL could not show that
Reading their message boards with the latest info that got out is really hilarious. The realization that the AAC is backed by ESPN as a legitimate landing spot has people in need of truckloads of Xanax.
They are talking about how little money they would have, how would they get and keep coaches, new facilities, who would want to see ECU and Temple and Tulsa… they are suggesting to shutter the programs. 
Tech fans are in full denial and believe the PAC wants them.
Welcome to our hell you spoiled a**wipes.
16 Likes
I just think everything else being relatively equal that the Texas schools are more desirable to ESPN. Fox would own exactly 0% of the Texas market and ESPN 100% (with about 75-80% UT/ATM in SEC and 20-25% all the other Texas schools in AAC).
Here’s a tip - You can tell the Florida CUSA schools apart by the second letter in their acronym, which matches the second letter of their town’s name.
FAU is in Boca Raton. FIU is in Miami.
3 Likes
I was looking forward to Baylor returning to their form from when I was in college. But they will probably always be able to beat Oral Roberts and Liberty
All the non insiders (translation: you me and the rest of the message board world) see is what is being put out on social media. The Big 12 schools are freaked out and attempting to signal strength by stating they have evidence and a case. Very likely nothing more than legal bluster which is not uncommon. I am pessimistic they have a good enough case to see it to the end and get serious $.
We’ve had realignment numerous times over the last 30 years with network influence, tough negotiations with bad outcomes for some conferences. There weren’t (that I remember) all these legal threats and gnashing of teeth in previous instances. Perhaps the stakes are much higher this time.
You never did answer my question about why damages will be trebled in Big XII and ESPN. Also, I wasn’t talking about the XFL, I was talking about the USFL in the 1980’s which was ant-trust. The basis for the USFL argument is that they had no access to the facilities because the NFL had them.
You’re never going to have an apples vs. apples argument. You may be able to show bad faith or tortious interference by ESPN, but that won’t get damages trebled. And, if OU/UT stick around until 2025, highly unlikely, there are no financial damages under the current contract. You’d have a real hard time proving defamation too.
Next contract, look for the BIG XII on the Ocho. This season may have a lot of Big XII games on ESPNNEWS.
I think it depends on the context. TCU’s value may ordinarily be greater than that of Iowa State, but the existing presence of SMU decreases the incremental value of that program (and vice-versa if we’re talking about programs going to the Big 12… SMU may be more valuable than USF but is probably lower in the pecking order).
Baylor is a wildcard. I think we may be dramatically underestimating their value. But as of right now I still put them near the bottom in terms of who we would invite if given a chance.
Someone suggested a payout estimate for ESPN to merge portions of the two conferences to be around $10 mil.
I think is will be marginally more on the backside if that’s seriously the angle. I think they might be angling for a carrot of around 12 mil with playoff incentives.
That, in my opinion, would be the bare minimum to pry the leftovers away from their inflated opinions of themselves. That and they keep a portion of the UT/OU payout.
If they could do that on a relatively short contract it might be palatable.
1 Like
A great closing statement!
8 Likes