Big Ten officials met today to discuss how the conference could and should accommodate both Texas and ND. In short, the conference believes that the membership of each school can be accomplished largely within the context of the terms presented. Some other interesting developments have taken place in the last few days.
Over the weekend, a new group of Texas stakeholders made a very aggressive push to the Big Ten conference to invite UT to the conference in the short term. The scenario proposed would involve the start of athletic competition in the conference by UT as early as 2012. This group did include official representatives of the university, along with other influential boosters. In response, the conference expressed the need to speak with only one consistent, designated group of UT representatives.
Separately, the more familiar UT representatives, who have conducted conversations with the Big Ten in the past, reaffirmed the approach that Texas should not initiate the breakup of the Big 12 conference in order to join the Big Ten for political considerations. These representatives once again stated to conference officials that membership in the Big Ten conference (in accord with the terms presented last week) remains Texas' preferred conference affiliation option. The Big Ten also strongly impressed upon this group of UT representatives the need for university representatives to conduct conversations with the conference in one unified voice.
However, in discussions related to the terms presented, the Big Ten responded favorably. The Big Ten is preliminarily in agreement, particularly with the scheduling considerations and the "approximate" target date of 2014 for affiliation. The conference also strongly affirmed that it will not allow third parties, especially third party television networks not controlled by the conference or the universities, to dictate or strongly influence the terms of membership in the conference for either school. The conference expressed its displeasure with the manipulative reporting disseminated by certain television networks.
Conference officials believe that significant potential synergies exist between the Longhorn Network and the Big Ten Network. The officials expressed the belief that all of the expanded conference's stakeholders can achieve this potential with greatly reduced third party network involvement. Each network would gain significant opportunities to independently grow and expand together, under the control of the Big Ten Conference and its expanded institutional membership (and specifically NOT through control delegated to third party television networks). The super network that would result from this affiliation could dictate the terms of viewership in a way that ultimately benefits the mission of the expanded conference and its schools, along with their supporters. The Big Ten will remain open to any arrangement, including the formation of regionalized "Big Ten Networks", that ultimately achieve this goal.
Big Ten officials initiated conversations with Notre Dame stakeholders to keep them appraised of the discussions with both groups of Texas representatives.
Also over the weekend, a group of representatives from the University of Oklahoma again contacted the Big Ten regarding the potential for their own membership in the conference, in what was characterized as a "last ditch effort". The Big Ten once again respectfully informed the group that the Council of Presidents and Chancellors has already ruled out the addition of either Oklahoma school, primarily over concerns related to academic fit within the conference.
