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Get ready for the newer, slimmer Big 12 to make its official debut next season.The Big 12 announced on Tuesday evening that it had agreed to terms with Colorado for an exit after the 2010-11 academic year, and planned to withhold* $6.863 million of Colorado's conference revenue.
"We are pleased that, with this issue behind us, the Big 12 is poised to begin the transition to its exciting future as a 10-member Conference beginning in July," Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe said in a statement.
Colorado initially planned to leave for the Pac-10 after the 2011 season, but Nebraska's announced plans to move to the Big Ten after the 2010 season meant Colorado would have to do the same or force the Big 12 to play a season with 11 teams, along with the Pac-10, who will also add Utah after the 2010-11 academic year.
Both officials from Colorado and Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott sounded pessimistic after Colorado's recent game at Cal-Berkeley that a deal to leave the Big 12 by 2011 instead of 2012 would come together.
Tuesday, it did.
Nebraska and the Big 12 announced earlier Tuesday that it would agree to have $9.255 million of its conference revenue withheld, but that number would fall to $8.755 million if Nebraska was one of two teams in the Big 12 to qualify for a BCS bowl game.
The obvious question is, why does Nebraska have to pay more? Commissioner Dan Beebe will probably be asked that question in his soon-to-begin teleconference later tonight.Colorado initially planned to leave for the Pac-10 after the 2011 season, but Nebraska's announced plans to move to the Big Ten after the 2010 season meant Colorado would have to do the same or force the Big 12 to play a season with 11 teams, along with the Pac-10, who will also add Utah after the 2010-11 academic year.
Both officials from Colorado and Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott sounded pessimistic after Colorado's recent game at Cal-Berkeley that a deal to leave the Big 12 by 2011 instead of 2012 would come together.
Tuesday, it did.
Nebraska and the Big 12 announced earlier Tuesday that it would agree to have $9.255 million of its conference revenue withheld, but that number would fall to $8.755 million if Nebraska was one of two teams in the Big 12 to qualify for a BCS bowl game.
Colorado spokesman David Plati told ESPN.com that his understanding for the discrepancy was that Colorado originally announced it would leave in two years and Nebraska planned on one, but deferred further questioning to Beebe. The Big 12 may have waived further penalties to avoid the prospect of having to conduct a season of competition with 11 members, which would have produced any number of scheduling problems.
My guess is those numbers were devised as roughly half of what the two parties were projected to earn in revenue over the next two seasons. As we all know, the Big 12 does not distribute revenue equally, a policy that got a little too much traction and blame during all the realignment talk over the summer. The Pac-10 also does not distribute conference revenue equally. The Big Ten does.
I'm glad to have most of this behind us, as I'm sure Nebraska, Colorado and the Big 12 are, too. We'll know more tonight after Beebe's teleconference.
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