Comments on: Big 12 football: More from Bob Bowlsby

By: Jerry

Jerry — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 14:24:27 +0000

Stanford has a reasonable fan base in the San Francisco metro area. The main thing with the PAC 12 is they have a huge market in California and Washington. I agree with Chris that the long term future of the Big XII is down compared to the top market conferences of SEC, Big 10 and Pac 12. There just aren’t the numbers of tv sets to draw the same TV revenue as those conferences. When that happens, maybe it will take 5-6 years, but when it does begin to show up I don’t see Texas continuing to fund the rest of the Big XII. They will take the Texas TV market and go independent. Look at what would be left of the Big XII TV market then. OU would have to hope the SEC would be willing to take them as an act of charity.

By: Galileo, Houston

Galileo, Houston — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 20:14:24 +0000

this guy Chris sounds like a blowhard, but there is a kernel of truth to what he says about the TV markets. Except Texas and OU, all the other B12 programs have small numbers of TV followers. I think he’s overestimating some of the programs he mentioned, for example Michigan State and Stanford really don’t have large fan bases. Auburn is a relatively small school but I assume they have a healthy-sized fan base. He should probably add Tennessee to that SEC list.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:15:18 +0000

A good PR trip but not accurate. The center of power in the conference is Austin. The Big XII commissioner has no power at all. If he steps out of line DeLoss Dodds will squash him like a bug. Also, he is wrong. When it comes to TV revenue the top conferences are going to be SEC, Big 10 and Pac 12. Then will come the Big XII and the ACC. Other than Texas and OU there are no other schools that put eyes on screens no matter how good they are. Compare that to SEC where you have Alabama, LSU, Florida, Auburn and Georgia that people turn on the TV to see. The Big 10 has Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Wisconsin and Nebraska that pulls in viewers. The Pac 10 has USC, Oregon and Stanford, but also huge markets in California. When it comes time to sign the TV deals I think the Big XII will find out they aren’t are as big as they thought and Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri and Texas A&M will be laughing all the way to the bank.