Conference Expansion: Remaining Members of the Big 12 Owe A&M a Thank You

The remaining members of the Big 12 Conference, particularly those not named Texas or Oklahoma, owe Texas A&M a huge "thank you" for their improved lot in life in 2012 and going forward.

Many of the issues with the Big 12 Conference that caused A&M to leave were corrected in an attempt to keep A&M in the fold. The Big 12 is now a more stable conference because of it.

The Big 12 was "saved" during the summer of 2010 when the remaining 10 teams in the conference agreed to an unequal revenue disbursement that would have favored Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Texas. Each of those three schools would have received $21 million per year from television revenue, while the other seven teams in the conference would receive between $14 million and $17 million per year.

Texas A&M quickly decided that unequal revenue distribution would continue to cause instability in the conference. They decided to seek out a more stable conference and eventually joined the Southeastern Conference where the television revenue is split up equally among the member schools. 

Currently the member schools of the SEC retain their third-tier television rights, but that will probably change in the near future as an SEC Network is developed.

Once A&M left for the SEC and Oklahoma attempted to join the Pac-12, Texas and the remaining Big 12 schools came to an agreement for equal distribution of television revenue.

The Aggies' other big issue with the Big 12 was the dearth of leadership that emanated out of the Big 12 commissioner's office. The prevailing wisdom was that Texas could do whatever it wanted while commissioner Dan Beebe would stand around on the sidelines and remain silent.

The best example of this was when Texas ignored the Big 12 conference's moratorium on airing high school games. Dan Beebe and the Big 12 ruled that there would be a one-year moratorium on airing high school athletic events while the NCAA investigated the practice.

Texas ignored the directive and scheduled a high school game featuring several of the top recruits in the state anyway. Meanwhile, Beebe stood by and did nothing.

After A&M decided to leave the conference and with the threat of Oklahoma leaving, the remaining members of the Big 12 decided to fire Beebe. He was replaced with Chuck Neinas who is viewed as a much stronger leader than his predecessor.

With three teams having left the conference and the threat of two more leaving and an inevitable collapse, the conference did what it should have done all along and created equality among members and installed a better leader as the commissioner.

It remains to be seen whether the Big 12 will be a viable conference going forward. The prevailing wisdom is that Texas will go independent when Deloss Dodds retires or the moment the Longhorns view it as more advantageous to being in the Big 12.

If either Oklahoma or Texas leaves, then the Big 12 will collapse. Because of A&M's move and Oklahoma's threat to leave the conference, members took steps to ensure that the conference is on more solid ground today than it was this time last year.

For this, the current members of the Big 12 owe Texas A&M a big "thank you." If A&M had remained in the conference, then the Aggies would be receiving $21 million in television money per year while Iowa State and Kansas State received $14 million to $17 million. The fact that the Aggies took action resulted in a better financial situation for the Cyclones, Bears, Jayhawks, Cowboys, Red Raiders and Wildcats.

The next time the athletic directors from those schools head to the bank, they should send a thank you note to A&M president Bowen Loftin and AD Bill Byrne.