Texas Big 12 Conference: Texas Keeps Big 12 Together By Taking All the Money

New Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott thought he had a great idea.

With the Pac-10 and Big 12 losing out to the Big Ten in the revenue battle, why not pick off the Big 12's most valuable assets and create a 16-team super conference that nobody could ignore?

For a brief time, it looked likely to happen.  But alas, like all the best laid plans of mice and men, it went awry.

The single reason the plan failed: Texas president William Powers Jr. does not want to share.

Under the new Big 12 agreement, Texas has the ability to start their own channel rather than be part of a conference-wide channel.  Texas also gets more money than most of the other schools in their conference. 

In a related matter, who would watch a Longhorns Network after football season?  That idea just shows that Powers lives in a bubble made of his own hubris.

To put it simply, Texas owns their conference and gets all of the money that they can possibly generate.

Perhaps the Big 12 league office can allow Texas to determine the score of each game they play as well.

Powers presented the possible move to the Pac-10 as a way to gain prestige for the academic side of his school.  They could share research with top schools like Cal and Stanford.

I hope nobody believed that, because the only thing Powers wants is printed at the local mint.

Now, I would never say that Larry Scott wanted Texas Tech to enhance the academic reputation of his conference, either.  But Scott did not lie to us about his motives, he wanted to find a way for his conference to compete with the SEC and Big 12.  He would have enriched all of the schools in his conference by getting Texas.

I'm surprised Powers did not call that idea downright communist.

The greed of Texas will lead to their demise, one would think, when they drain the resources of all the smaller schools in their conference before forming their own league, with one member.

But greed always seems rewarded in America.  Look at the bonuses CEOs still receive upon termination or corporate malfeasance. 

In all likelihood, Texas will just get richer and the rest of the Big 12 will not be able to keep up.  Therefore, Texas will have an easier time dominating those that they have just convinced to stick together.

If I were an Oklahoma State, or Missouri, or Kansas, or Baylor fan, I would hope that my school's president would be a little greedier and not so eager to give their money to Texas.