Column: Big 12 fumbled TV contract

By Jake Kreinberg

Published Sept. 14, 2010

I tried to watch the Missouri football team’s demolition of McNeese State Saturday night. I just couldn’t. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to. But needing to travel to St. Louis and miss the game, I was shut out of any Tiger football on television. I, along with some small bars and restaurants, wasn’t spending $40 to watch MU eat a Louisiana-flavored cupcake.

And therein lies the rub. By not being on television, MU is missing out on exposure in cities across the state. While MU will receive the brunt of criticism for being shown on pay-per-view, the university is hampered by the Big 12’s television contract. ESPN and Fox Sports Net have exclusive television rights to games hosted by a Big 12 team, and once they make their picks, other games may only be shown via PPV to avoid competition with those networks. Therefore, Missouri may not make deals with local stations around the state to carry its games.

Theoretically, this ensures a maximum audience for the games on ESPN and Fox. But what the Big 12 doesn’t seem to realize is that Missourians would rather watch MU take on McNeese State than see Texas play Wyoming, no matter how riveting that might be (it isn’t).

Not surprisingly, the television schedule favors Texas and Oklahoma and their established fan bases. Because the Big 12 doles out television revenues based partly on number of appearances, the Longhorns and Sooners receive more money from the conference than Missouri.

And as Gary Pinkel will attest, exposure is important. The more games MU has televised, the more people can see the team, university and surrounding community. Pinkel wanted to stay in the Big 12 so recruits in Texas could often see the Tigers play.

It’s ridiculous that Missourians can’t even see the Tigers play. This hurts Pinkel’s efforts in securing the border and recruiting in St. Louis and Kansas City.

The television contract is the main reason the Big 12 is losing two members. It is also the reason why the conference won’t be able to stay together much longer if it keeps the status quo. The Big 12 is stuck in an eight-year contract it signed with ESPN in 2007 for $480 million. By comparison, the Southeastern Conference signed a 15-year, $2.2 billion deal in 2008 with ESPN that obligates the network to show every SEC game.

ESPN agreed to the deal to ensure that the SEC would not purse its own network, a la the Big 10. The Big 12 misplayed its hand in negotiating and opened the door for potential turmoil that surfaced this past spring.

The conference is getting a second chance, though. The Big 12’s annual $19.5 million contract with Fox runs out after next season and the network is proposing to increase the annual amount to between $130 and 140 million, according to the Sports Business Journal. As part of the deal, Fox could create a quasi-Big 12 Network and be able to televise additional games.

The Big 12 needn’t match the SEC and Big 10 in dollars to achieve harmony; it needs to force its television partners into televising more games. Until it does, its universities will continue to look elsewhere.

The lack of assertiveness in the front office is why I have a hard time seeing the Big 12 staying around for the long-term.