Stop us if you've heard this one before: the make-up of the Big 12 hinges on a school with a unique television deal, their own network, and they expect a set of demands to be met and concessions to be made before they'll agree to conference membership.
It's not the Longhorns: it was BYU, and The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram is citing a Salt Lake Tribune report that a combination of BYU's religious mandate not to play games on Sundays (the Big 12's primary concern was basketball season) and their existing BYUtv contract as the reason TCU was chosen over the Cougars:
Big 12 television partners ESPN/ABC and Fox Sports had concerns about working with Brigham Young as a conference member, a factor that contributed to TCU being approached ahead of BYU as the Big 12's newest addition, according to a Friday report in the Salt Lake Tribune.
The newspaper reported that Big 12 TV partners had concerns with BYU's policy of not playing games on Sunday and how it might impact future basketball telecasts.
BYU also sought assurances in regard to a minimum number of nationally televised football games each season, as well as permission to show football games that were not picked up under the league's TV package on the school's TV network, BYUtv.