Dan Beebe Received Nearly $5M From Big 12 Including Severance Package

Payments to former Big 12 Commissioner DAN BEEBE totaling nearly $5M "included both a bonus for negotiating a multiyear TV-rights deal and a severance package after he stepped down amid conference turmoil," according to Rachel Bachman of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Beebe said that the payments, which "appeared in conference tax documents recently made public, also included" part of his salary for FY '11-12 and retention bonuses. Tax filings show that the Big 12 paid Beebe $4.57M and "he also received $329,286 in other compensation from the conference and related organizations." Months before Beebe resigned in September '11, he negotiated a 13-year, $1.17B TV deal "for the Big 12 with Fox Sports." Beebe yesterday "declined to name the value of the bonus he received for those negotiations." He now is "working as a consultant with the new Big East Conference" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/15).