Big 12 remains intact at 10 members

CEDAR RAPIDS - The University of Texas' decision Monday to remain a member of the Big 12 Conference coupled with statements from other league schools reaffirming the same has ended an uncertain future facing the 14-year-old league and Iowa State's athletics department.

Texas' announcement ends two weeks of speculation that the school would leave the Big 12 for the Pac-10 Conference and take five other Big 12 schools with it. Texas school officials have scheduled a 10 a.m. news conference to discuss its decision.

“The decision to stay in the Big 12 represents a consensus position which resulted from a collaborative effort with our colleagues in the conference,” Oklahoma President David Boren and Athletics Director Joe Castiglione wrote in a statement. “We value the strong working relationship that has been reaffirmed during this process among the conference members. We intend to work very hard to make the conference as lasting and dynamic as possible. We appreciate the respect and interest that has been shown to OU during this process.”

The league's next step remains fluid, such as potential expansion to replace departing members Nebraska and Colorado. But the league remains intact, something that looked almost impossible last week when Colorado joined the Pac-10 and Nebraska left for the Big Ten. The Pac-10 invited Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State last week to join the league.

Had the league disintegrated, Iowa State's financial outlook was stark. The Cyclones earned $45.8 million in revenue during fiscal year 2009, according to figures reported to the U.S. Department of Education. Iowa State showed a profit of $45,140 that year, and it received about $3.6 million in university support.

Iowa State's athletics department earned more than $8.9 million from the Big 12 Conference in 2009 as part of its revenue-sharing package. It was second-lowest among all league schools, but far more than what Iowa State would have received had the league discontinued.

Conference USA, for example, earned just $12.76 million in television revenue during fiscal year 2009, nearly as much as Oklahoma earned from Big 12 revenue-sharing coffers. Conference USA reported revenues of $41.73 million to the Internal Revenue Service that year. The Big 12 reported nearly $70 million in television revenue that year, which is considered low by major conference standards.

The Big 12 earned nearly $31.75 million in bowl revenue that year, compared to about $7 million for Conference USA.

The league's current revenue-sharing formula splits half the revenue evenly, while the other half is dispersed based on television appearances. Monday, multiple outlets reported Big 12 Conference Commissioner Dan Beebe kept the 10-school league intact with assurances of $20 million in annual television revenue to Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma. Other schools, like Iowa State, would make between $14 million and $17 million annually from a new deal.

The Big 12's current contract with Fox Sports Net expires in 2012, while its contract with ABC remains through 2016.

At the Big 12 meetings 10 days ago, Beebe told reporters he believed the league could improve its television contract. His belief centered on the Atlantic Coast Conference's reported $155 million per year deal with ABC/ESPN completed in May. Big 12 football teams have competed in the national title game seven of the last 10 years.

“We have had analysis and projections that look like we're going to be every bit as well compensated in the future,” Beebe said. “But there are all sorts of other aspects to money that comes into a program, including donations, contributions to try to compete or be in the conference. Sometimes those can dwarf - at an institutional level - the conference distribution level.”