Univ. of Oklahoma President David Boren said that he "didn't expect any major votes next week" on expansion or a football championship game when Big 12 execs gather in Dallas for conference meetings, according to Jason Kersey of the OKLAHOMAN. Boren said, "I sure don’t think the headline ought to be 'Big 12 in trouble' or 'Big 12 might collapse.' Or next Wednesday when we meet: 'Likely vote' or 'Showdown at the OK Corral.' No. I don’t think there’s gonna be a showdown at the OK Corral. I wouldn’t want anyone to think I’ve got my six-gun on and we’re all gonna shoot it out at the meeting, because we’re all still gathering data." Boren said of possible expansion, "The idea is at some point we’ll give an official report to the board and probably recommendations." He declined to say which schools the Big 12 is considering, but said, "You’re probably all thinking about the right six or seven schools." Boren believes another key for "enhancing the Big 12 is a conference television network." He said, "We’re probably losing $4 or $5 million, $6 million -- there are various estimates a year -- by not having a Big 12 network. Per school." Kersey notes the "big obstacle" to that is the Longhorn Network, as any conference network "would probably have to include Texas." Boren said that to "help UT offset the money it would lose without the Longhorn Network, other schools could agree to work that into the Big 12 network distribution for a few years." Boren: "I’m not out to embarrass Texas. I’m not out to make them financially worse off. I’m not out to do any of those things. This isn’t any kind of motivation to do anything to Texas that makes them worse off" (OKLAHOMAN, 1/29).
CUTTING THE CORD: In Tulsa, John Hoover writes under the header, "Time To Pull The Plug On Longhorn Network." If Texas "gets on board with the idea of elevating the rest of the Big 12, and if the rest of the Big 12 agrees to let Texas retain revenue from its 20-year venture with ESPN, then everybody wins and the Big 12 Network will be born." Hoover: "If Texas stays greedy at the expense [of] its conference brethren or if other Big 12 members jam their hands too deep into Bevo’s pockets, then discord and friction will rule the day and the Big 12 will die a slow, ugly death." The conference "missed the boat" when former Commissioner Kevin Weiberg "long ago proposed a conference network and presidents essentially told him to pipe down and quit dreaming." Weiberg then "took his vision to the Big Ten and helped create the massively successful Big Ten Network, then did the same to help launch the Pac-12 Network" (TULSA WORLD, 1/29).
