Conference Realignment

Besides the USC sanctions, all the talk about the NCAA has been about the conference realignment that is going to shake up the college landscape. The more I read about it, the more I get confused. Everything seems to always come down to one hing tho: WWTD (What will Texas do?).

Now as many of the readers of this blog know, I am a graduate of the University of Missouri, which is one of those realignment schools but has gone from 'as good as gone' to a level of uncertainty that scares us all. There is now talk that the Big Ten does not have any interest in adding Missouri, which has been very outspoken about its desire to leave the Big 12.

That outspokenness has been something that might have hurt the Tigers because it could be coming off as desperation or whining. As an alum, I may be a bit biased here, but if you lok at it, Missouri does actually have reasons to want to leave. There are millions of reasons and by that I'm sure we all know I mean millions and millions of dollars. Missouri made $8.4 million, which was $1.8 million less than the top Big 12 school Texas.

The Big 12 schools divvy up all money equally except that which is generated from television.

Half of the TV money is divided evenly. The other half goes into an appearance pool. The schools that earn the most money are the ones who appear for football TV games and basketball non-conference games. Credits also are issued for NCAA tournament appearances.

The Big Ten on the other hand divides its revenue equally amongst the 11 schools in the conference. The last fiscal year, each school made $22 million. That $22 is $10 million more than what Texas made as the leading school in the Big 12.

Back before there was a Big 12, there was a Big Eight and before that a Big Six. All of the Texas schools joined the conference to make it the Big 12 in 1994. Soon after that, it seems as if all of the sudden there was a time where the University of Texas just took over. They became very good at pretty much all sports and replaced Nebraska as the flagship school for the conference.

One of the reasons some of the schools, like Missouri and Nebraska, have been envious or perturbed with the amount of money that the University of Texas brings in is the fact that the Longhorns are on TV so much. Unlike conferences like the Big Ten, as I said before, half of the TV money is divided evenly. The other half goes into an appearance pool. The schools that earn the most money are the ones who appear for football TV games and basketball non-conference games. Since 1994, the first year of the Big 12, the Longhorns have been on National TV 102 times. Nebraska has 83 National TV appearances.

There are so many more reasons but you have read them all already from every news outlet and columnist out there. This was more of just a rant then I guess. But it is still leaving everyone's head spinning. A reaction to Friday's developments will be up later.