I have seen nothing for a court case at this point. AAC didn’t actually take teams away. Conference is still together and contract remains in place. This will end with a settlement with OU and Texas paying to get out of the league.
Big 12 Send Cease and Desist to ESPN
- Thread starter Urbandale2013
- Start date
The court case will happen if/when ESPN tries to reduce the payouts to the eight remaining Big 12 teams if the Out teams get out early. Otherwise, nope. An interesting point here that I've heard some quiet chatter on..Can ESPN make it to 2025 if it doesn't get the immediate cost savings it anticipated by the Big 12 breaking up? They already have slashed in-studio employees, and with the increases to the SEC and others, ESPN is going to be in a shaky position. Obviously, Disney can subsidize, but to what level.
And does Disney want to subsidize? ESPN is seen by many as weighing down Disney's potential due to their huge contracts.
What FOX might do to not lose their own footing in all this is something else that could play an enormous role for us. Do they see the bad rap ESPN is getting? Do they want to exploit the weakness?
The student that may skip his senior year in high school will have all the credits needed to graduate and enter college. It's no different than students before him that early enrolled at semester (Iowa State has had their share of these); this is just at the start of the school year. I applaud the kid for having his schooling in order. A lot of high schoolers don't get that far ahead.
I could see where they might think reasonably priced enhancements to the PAC 12 and Big Ten relationships might offset ESPN's play somewhat, and allow them to be competitive (without matching the strength) while waiting for ESPN's boat to sink under the weight of its contracts.
Agreed. And hoping those enhancements include ISU somehow would be great obviously. It’s an arms race of epic proportions and what decisions are made now will have big consequences down the road, for better or for worse.
I think some on here were saying it was around $20 million for the Big 12 left overs. Supposedly it was an unequal revenue distribution deal where the Big 12 schools would get more, while the current AAC would get a smaller share (but still more overall).
It could be, but it's entirely possible that Fox is more interested in their long term profitability and stability than in one-upping ESPN, which is why I included "reasonably priced". They could probably add 2 former Big 12 members to the Big 10 and 4 to the PAC 12 while sweetening the pot enough to not cut into the share of other members. That could provide stability at a reasonable price, and allow them to wait to see if ESPN can handle their splashy contracts.
I don’t think there’s any knowledge of the $20 million. I think people (myself included because I said it too) were using that because it espn doubled current AAC payment ($9million per school) up to $20million, they’d still save money by having the Big12 dissolve because it would be half of what they pay ($37-40million per school).
I saw an article that mentioned $20 million (though that could be conjecture too, or simply repeating someone else's speculation).
Edit- what I saw was this: https://cyclonefanatic.com/2021/07/...inner-workings-of-television-and-realignment/
And that $20 million was thrown out as hypothetical.
If the Big and Pac actually cared about the well being of all of its members (spoiler, they don’t) then they would expand even if it meant each school takes a couple of million dollar hit. They’re the only things that can stop ESPN and the SEC from forming a super conference or mini-NFL, because if that happens, most of their teams are going to get thrown to the curb as well. The OSUs, Michigan’s, Penn States, USCs and Oregon’s are going to be the only handful that survive that future.
Very true, I probably shouldn't have thrown out a number. But in any case, ESPN is trying to play with the Big 12 contract money by allocating that liability to the SEC to make them richer, while giving a smaller portion to the AAC, and ESPN keeping what ever balance they want for themselves.
I think a super conference would fail miserably as it destroys the nationwide shared experience that is the root of the passion for college football. But yeah, creating a separate tier would be financially painful for the lower tier, especially in the near term.
From Fox's standpoint, if the Big 12 allegations are true (as in ESPN is found guilty) I would think that could put Fox in a better negotiating standpoint. Will the Big 10, Pac 12, or any non-ESPN owned conference going to want to sign up with ESPN who actively destroyed one of their contractual partners? That is not good business. Conferences may shy away from ESPN and move to a Fox, CBS, or other network because of what ESPN is doing.
Even if OU and Texas get out early. The cease and desist letter has to do with AAC and ESPN.
We have no evidence of ESPN and SEC inducing OU and Texas to leave. Further, there is evidence that Texas and OU initiated this because they apparently were conference shopping by talking not only to the SEC but also Big Ten and ACC. There will be some kind of settlement though with Texas and OU if they do leave before 2025 and it won’t ever go to court. In addition,
You have schools actively looking for a home outside of the Big 12 right while the supposed inducement to join AAC was happening.
I think Bob’s initial letter started with “Dear Burke,”….so Bob kinda started it
