Giving Away TV Rights Won’t Save The Big 12

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A number of presidents within the Big 12 believe that each school should turn over their TV rights to the conference to prevent future defections.

Spurred on by University of Oklahoma president David Boren, the nine remaining schools “agreed” to give their first- and second-tier television rights to the Big 12 for the next six years.

Boren promoted the idea after a proposed deal that reportedly included the Sooners, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas Tech leaving the Big 12 to join the Pac-12.

But the deal fell apart when Texas refused to alter their position on revenue sharing as it related to the Longhorn Network.

In an effort to keep the Big 12 intact, Boren is basically asking all of the schools in the conference to punish themselves.

In giving away those TV rights, the Big 12′s members would forfeit any revenue generated from the conference’s deals with their network partners, even if they left to join another conference.

While the presidents argue that doing so shows a commitment to the long term stability of the Big 12, I can’t believe supposedly well educated people would ever consider such a move.

But then again, this is the Big 12. It’s clearly an act of desperation to save a conference that will never have a level foundation while Texas refuses to share revenue equally.

Giving away your rights to your primary source of revenue simply isn’t smart business, especially given the changing landscape of college athletics.

Essentially each school will be handcuffed for at least six years for no other reason than to maintain a conference that will still have an uneven revenue sharing plan.

When all the conference realignments finally shake out, the Big 12 schools that gave away their TV rights are going to be on the short end of the financial stick.

The Pac-12, SEC, Big Ten and ACC already have superior television deals with their network partners, and they’ll continue to improve after the current round of realignments comes to a close.

If the Big East collapses once Pittsburgh, Syracuse and possibly Connecticut leave to join the ACC, the Big 12 will be the weak sister of the automatic qualifying BCS conferences.

The smart move, in fact the only move, is for each of the current Big 12 members to keep their options open – wide open.

According to sources, Missouri isn’t on board with the other members of the Big 12 who want to sell their souls for the sake of conference solidarity.

Apparently there are a number of new members on Mizzou’s board of regents that don’t think giving away their TV rights is a good idea, and they’re right for taking that position.

And Missouri’s potential reluctance can be tied to unconfirmed reports that the school is talking to the SEC about becoming that league’s 14th member.

However, according to SEC commissioner Mike Slive, the league isn’t actively seeking to add another school following the acceptance of Texas A&M.

That’s exactly what the SEC said last month in regard to the Aggies request to join the conference, so you can take Slive’s comments with a grain of salt.

But whether Missouri ends up in the SEC is irrelevant to the primary issue facing the Big 12.

Contrary to what Boren or anyone else believes, giving away television rights isn’t the answer.

Since Texas is unwilling to discuss a revised revenue sharing plan that includes monies generated from their deal with ESPN for the Longhorn Network, nothing is going to change in the Big 12.

As the Big 12 tries to get their affairs in order, the other major BCS conferences are positioning themselves for the future, and it’s a future that doesn’t look too bright for the Big 12.