The Big 12 dumped its embattled commissioner Thursday and said nine schools had pledged to give their TV rights to the conference for the next six years, a step intended to preserve a fractured league that has lost two members in the past year and is expected to lose another by next summer.
“The bottom line is we achieved substantial reforms,” Oklahoma president David Boren said after school presidents met by telephone for more than an hour. “We feel extremely good.”
No contracts had been signed, in part because some schools must get the approval of their governing boards, league spokesman Bob Burda said.
Commissioner Dan Beebe is gone after five up-and-down years that included securing a 13-year, $1.2 billion contract with Fox Sports but sharp criticism for failing to keep Nebraska (Big Ten) and Colorado (Pac-12) from leaving over the summer. Texas A&M plans to leave by July for the Southeastern Conference.
“I put all my effort into doing what was best for the Big 12. With great fondness, I wish the Big 12 Conference a long and prosperous future,” Beebe said in a statement.
Former Big Eight commissioner Chuck Neinas will serve as interim commissioner. Boren said Neinas will not be a candidate to take the job permanently.
Revenue sharing and a change of leadership were considered by some schools, notably Oklahoma, as the top issues to address to save the league in the latest round of conference realignment.
The Big 12 splits revenue from its Fox Sports contract evenly, but only half of the money from its top-tier deal with ABC goes into equal shares. The rest is weighted toward the programs that play on the network more frequently.
Boren said all nine remaining schools — all those except for Texas A&M — “agreed” to give a six-year grant of their first- and second-tier television rights to the Big 12. That means that all revenue from the top television games — shown currently on networks owned by ABC/ESPN and Fox — would continue to go to the Big 12 even if a school bolts to another league.
The six-year term runs past the next negotiating period for the top-tier contract, currently with ABC/ESPN, in a bid to keep the nine schools together for the next contract.
Not addressed, however, were issues surrounding Texas. The Longhorns had already proposed equal revenue sharing but also said they won’t make changes to their controversial 20-year, $300 million contract with ESPN for the Longhorn Network. Boren said any changes to the Longhorn Network would have to be considered by a special panel to be appointed by Big 12 board chairman Brady Deaton, Missouri’s chancellor.
Footnotes.
Former Tulsa linebacker George Clinkscale died Wednesday after taking part in an nonsanctioned boxing match at a Tulsa-area church. He was 24.
• Arkansas senior linebacker Jake Bequette (hamstring) is out for Saturday’s game against Alabama.
