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IRVING, Texas -- Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe spent the final portion of his formal Q&A with the media dispelling misinformation. This came in response to a question about how much more money Texas would be receiving in comparison to the rest of the conference after the conference trims to 10 teams."I think there's such a leap to get to the airwaves or the Internet that it was, frankly, somewhat disappointing about how little attention was given to whether something was true or not," Beebe said. "We have not changed our revenue distribution formula whatsoever. Whatever institutions at any level in our conference were able to achieve before, they still have the same ability. There's no different -- nobody got more money."
The five teams looking like they may be left behind, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State and Baylor, did offer to sacrifice their portion of Nebraska and Colorado's withdrawal fees to Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma in order to keep money from being a factor in either's decision to leave. That offer was rejected.
"They all said 'Look, we think you're going to achieve $20 million a year in total revenue distribution.' Another big misnomer is all television. Total revenue distribution in 2012-13. 'So we're going to make a calculated judgment that we're not going to have to worry about it, but we will guarantee you that you won't be lower than that in '12-'13,'" Beebe said.
With the financial troubles that may come with a repopulated or disintegrated Big 12, the schools presumably decided that they would be better off sacrificing the withdrawal fees while maintaining the revenue distribution structure to keep the Big 12 as a viable option for teams looking to leave for a theoretical Pac-16.
"You've heard a couple of institutions say that's a kind, generous, thoughtful offer, but it's not something we're going to take advantage of," Beebe said. "The board hasn't treated that offer, hasn't been finalized. It's something that's been a good-faith offer that was in the course of a very heated, difficult and scary time for some of the institutions about what was going to remain for them if we didn't continue."
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