Bob Bowlsby said the conference decided against borrowing money from outside sourcesGETTY IMAGES
Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said the conference "looked at private equity firms, we looked at investment banks, we looked at some other models" as a way to offset financial losses due to the pandemic, according to Travis Hines of the DES MOINES REGISTER. The conference eventually "elected not to pursue outside funds as a collective, but the exercise underscored the seriousness of the economic forecast within the Big 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic." The Big 12 has not encountered what Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard "described as the 'Ice Age' scenario of no fall football, but the Cyclones, along with the athletic departments across the country, are still experiencing an arctic blast." In regard to borrowing options, the Big 12 "wasn't alone in such thinking as the Pac-12 reportedly was investigating a loan package that would approach" $1B. Bowlsby said, "We took several models to our board of directors, and ultimately they decided that they would like to try and do that mitigation on their own campus rather than take it on as a central obligation with the league" (DES MOINES REGISTER, 9/8).
BATED BREATH: As the Big 12 is preparing for the start of the football season Saturday, Bowlsby noted that circumstances "could still change awfully quickly." Bowlsby: "I'm not prepared to have any bravado about it whatsoever. We're just doing what we're told and we're taking it slow and we're making small adjustments." In Dallas, Chuck Carlton notes the Big 12 already has seen COVID-19 "claim two games so far" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 9/8).
