![]() ![]() The conference bylaws state that schools departing before the grant of rights runs out are on the hook for penalties worth the equivalent of a year’s conference distribution for every year it breaks the agreement. “Despite our concerns for the process and for the overall health of college athletics, we will do everything possible to make sure that the student-athletes at both universities enjoy an excellent experience throughout the remaining four years of their participation and competition in the Big 12 Conference,” Bowlsby said in his statement.Īn early exit could cost Texas and Oklahoma a buyout worth tens of millions of dollars - if the Big 12′s other eight schools keep the conference going. He told AP the schools’ actions were “intentional deception.”ĮSPN holds a rights agreement with the Big 12, sharing the conference’s football games with Fox, through the 2024-25 school year. “To be clear, ESPN has engaged in no wrongful conduct and, thus, there is nothing to ‘cease and desist,’” Magnus wrote, adding: “We trust this will put this matter to rest.”īowlsby sent a cease-and-desist letter to Magnus a day earlier, alleging ESPN was incentivizing at least one other conference to raid the league in an effort to hasten the departure of Texas and Oklahoma to the Southeastern Conference.īowlsby told AP on Wednesday he had “absolute certainty” ESPN was acting inappropriately behind the scenes and that he suspected ESPN was involved in Texas and Oklahoma’s months-long planning to exit the conference. “The accusations you made are entirely without merit,” ESPN executive Burke Magnus, president of programming and content, said in a letter to Bowlsby that was released by the network. “We are disappointed these discussions went as far as they did without notice to, or inclusion of, other Big 12 members.”Įarlier Thursday, ESPN responded to Bowlsby’s accusations of attempting to destabilize his beleaguered conference by saying it has done nothing wrong. “Today’s SEC announcement reaffirms that these plans have been in the works with ongoing discussions between the parties and television partner for some time,” Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said in a statement. ![]() Then the question becomes: Can Texas and Oklahoma find a way to join their new conference sooner than 2025? It has the makings of being a messy divorce with the Big 12 that could include ESPN. ![]()
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