While things could fall apart again rather quickly, its appears as if the Big 12 has survived and will survive for another year, minimum. There are some great debates going on as to if this was good new or bad news. My thoughts can be summed up in this post by Tim McKernan. In short, would the SEC have been a difficult and possibly unsuccessful transition? Yes. Would it have brought more stability, academic credibility, and football excitement? Absolutely. I value the latter more than I worry about the former. It's risk/reward and I think the move was worth the risk.
OKTC says that the Big 12 makes Ron and Sammi look stable. He agrees with what others are saying: Texas A&M is gone to the SEC but Mizzou to the SEC is pretty much dead in the water. It looks like we'd rather see what happens in the Big 12 than fight our way into the SEC. Something, like I said in the previous post, that would involve us fighting to get out and serving as the President of the Big 12 Board of Directors.
As the Tulsa World reports, there is consensus that Beebe is out and perhaps the former Big East commish is in on an interim basis. While it wouldn't solve all of the problems, its at least a good first step. OU is the some that stepped up and called for his ouster. Of course, its easier to step up and make bold moves when you've got no other options left of the table.
The OU plan is just crazy enough to work, say the Oklahoman. What's in the plan? A few exerts:
(1) No Beebe
(2) No high school highlights on the Longhorn Network
(3) No Big 12 games on the Longhorn Network
(4) Restrictions on the Longhorn Network
(5) Revenue sharing of Tier 1 and 2 television rights to all Big 12 members
It's a start...a start that would have been great 24 months ago.
The Big 12 Board of Directors is getting together for one last go of things, says Andy Katz. Discussion points at the meeting: (1) The OU Plan, (2) Beebe, and (3) how to lock in 5-6 years of stability for the conference.
Part of that, eventually, will locking in new members. 1, 2, or 3 more members is still in the air as well as how new members could/would dilute the payouts to current member schools.
Summary
Much like the people of Libya, the Big 12 is all in this mess together and despite the happy statements coming from college presidents and ADs, no one outside of the Big 12 bottom feeders who were going to be left conference-less can be very excited about the future prospects. There is no way Beebe or any other leader can find schools that will be an even exchange or an upgrade from the schools we lost. In other words, the best victory possible at this point is a league that's worse than it once was. The degrees of worse and the fear of getting pounded in the SEC will determine if the fan base accepts our fate happily or with embarrassment and anger. The fear of regular SEC poundings was/is real, I'm not debating that point. But the fact that our league won't be as good as it once was is also very real and can't be debated. If we add Houston, SMU, and Air Force...that fear of SEC poundings will get less and less and the embarrassment and anger of staying in the Big 12 will grow more and more.
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