clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Big 12 Board Votes To Equally Share Television Revenues

The Big 12 board today agreed to a plan that would evenly share television revenues between each of its member schools. If the deal is adopted individually by each member of the conference, it will effectively end all of the talk of Missouri joining the SEC and save the conference from extinction.

Just when it appeared that the Big 12 conference was on the brink of extinction, it took a major step towards staying together a the Big 12 board agreed to equally share its television revenues. The deal will be complete once it receives individual confirmations from each of the nine members. 

The deal separates broadcasts into different tiers and will not have an effect on the Longhorn Network. Tier I revenues will come from nationally televised games on networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS or FOX. Tier II revenues include cable football and basketball games that are produced by ESPN. 

The Longhorn Network would fall under Tier III and the agreement doesn't prohibit any school from keeping its own network rights therefore it would be unaffected by this agreement. The deal doesn't prohibit any school from keeping the money gained from a local deal. Under the previous deal, the money was distributed based on the amount of television appearances made by a school. The new deal spreads the money out evenly. 

Once the deal is completed, the Big 12 will then turn its attention towards expansion and already has a committee in place to do so. How many teams it will pursue has yet to be determined. 

Photographs by jamesbrandon, jdtornow, phlezk, flygraphix, mcdlttx, tomasland, and literalbarrage used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.