Showing posts with label Big 12 Football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Big 12 Football. Show all posts

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Big 12 Signs Long Term Deal With Fox Sports


On Wednesday, Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe announced a new TV Deal with Fox Sports for Big 12 Football. The Deal starts next year (the 2012 season) and runs for 13 years. Financial terms weren't disclosed by Beebe, but insiders say the deal is worth $1.17 billion ($90 million/yr). Other experts also said the deal could have been worth more, but the Conference insisted that Fox televise KU games as well. Add that to the $65 million annually that the Big 12 already gets from ESPN/ABC and that's a whole pile of money. Each school stands to get around $20 million after you add in other revenue from sources like the NCAA Tournament and Merchandise.

Just 10 months ago the Big 12 looked as if it might disband all together as two members fled to other Conferences and perceived greener pastures. Commissioner Beebe kept the remaining ten members together with the promise of a new TV deal that would keep the institutions flush with cash. More than that, it seems assured now that the Big 12 with 10 teams is a viable league for the long term.

All of this is good news for Kansas City, whether you are a college sports fan or not. Revenue is generated by the Big 12 coming here for their Conference Tournaments and Football games played at Arrowhead Stadium. The basketball tournament alone is said to have a $14 million impact on our local economy.

Friday, June 18, 2010

New Big 12 Will Be More Competitive


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The Big 12 has officially been saved as a conference, and the new make-up of the league should make for increased competition and a tougher road to a conference championship. Should the league continue as a ten team league, which seems to be the most likely outcome after the upcoming departures of Nebraska and Colorado, the new ten team league will be more difficult for both football and basketball, and could make a stronger conference overall.

The New Big 12’s football scheduling will likely be similar to the Pac 10’s conference scheduling: each team will play three non-conference games and then nine conference games. With the elimination of a north and south division, this will assure a much harder schedule, especially for the north teams. Kansas State coach Bill Snyder, well-known for his preference for scheduling cup-cakes before getting into the tough conference games, warns that while the conference will be stronger overall, the schedule may be too much for some teams to overcome (see all of Snyder’s comments here: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/17/2026094/k-states-snyder-likes-the-new.html) North teams like Kansas State, Kansas and Iowa State will now face Texas, OU and Texas Tech every season, which makes the odds for a BCS game run (like Kansas achieved in the 2007 season) difficult.

Big 12 basketball will also be much tougher in conference play, as the schedule will likely now feature an 18 game schedule in which every team plays every other team once at home and once on the road. Increased road games could provide problems for perennial favorite Kansas, who despite winning the league six strait years, has struggled mightily in Austin and Stillwater since the league’s inception. The increased road games and revenge opportunities teams will face should help the league’s schools once the NCAA tournament starts.

The new Big 12 schedules will increase the difficulty to win the league in both football and basketball. While ten teams should make for a more competitive conference, the lack of parity could be problematic, especially for the former north schools.

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