This is the Big 10’s fault

This past spring, no one could stop talking about college football realignment. Could it be that long-time powerhouse was leaving the Big 12 for greener pastures in the Big 10 (which has had 11 schools since Penn State joined in 1990). The dominos began to fall. The Pac-10 was aggressive and went after the Red River schools: University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma, as well as their little brothers OK State and A&M. That didn’t work so they settled for Utah and Colorado. The Mountain West got Boise State, but then lost BYU and TCU. And I could go on, but needless to say the landscape of college football was on its way to “Super Conferences.” But why all this shaking and moving?

College football teams want weapons: quarterbacks with cannons, safeties that can blow up receivers, and half backs that can tank over any linebacker. This arms race has created an incentive to win the recruiting battles for the top talent throughout the nation. One battlefield that this arms race has occurred is the race to be on TV.

In 2006, the Big Ten partnered with FOX to create the Big Ten Network. As a result the Big Ten was able to broadcast more of their games than any other conference. 87 of the 88 football games the following season were nationally televised, not other conference had 70% of their games nationally televised. Only 8 of the 262 basketball games were not televised (97%), every other major conference had at least 48 games that were not televised. As a result, the Big Ten Network made millions of dollars for the conference; $242 million to be exact in 2009. That is three times more money than the Big 12 made with their media deal. The Big Ten attacked first in the arms race, but then came the retaliation.

The SEC signed a deal with ESPN in 2009 which would give the conference $2.25 billion dollars over a 15 year period. CBS came aboard and paid $825 million over 15 years just to broadcast the SEC Championship game. The newly formed PAC-12 was able to sign a deal for $2.7 billion over a 15 year period, or about $225 million per year. The Big 12 got involved and signed a deal that would bring Texas and Oklahoma $20 million per year (as well as Texas’ kid brother A&M) and all other schools $14 million per year. Conferences were getting rich, and things were settling down, that is until Texas pulled out their guns.

Texas joined with ESPN to create the Longhorn Network. This network would bring you the burnt orange 24 hours a day. So instead of dealing with insomnia, just turn it on and count the cows ‘til you fall asleep. This deal would bring Texas $11 million each year, money that they would not have to share with anyone else, most notably A&M. But what could A&M do, exactly what they are doing now.

A&M now wants to leave the Big 12, cut ties with its big brother UT, and venture to the real world know as the SEC. If they do, this may very well lead to a “Super Conference” world, which has its pros and cons (can you say playoff?). But one thing is for certain, money is the driving factor.