Where Oklahoma sits in the Big 12 expansion debate

NORMAN, Okla. — Not quite a year after saying the Big 12 was “psychologically disadvantaged” and needed to expand, Oklahoma president David Boren appeared to retreat during an interview Thursday afternoon.

He said the Big 12 remained in a “fact-finding stage,” and suggested decisions on three important issues facing the Big 12 — a conference television network, expansion and a conference championship game — are not imminent. A realistic timeline, he said, might be “by the end of the year.” Which means it’s probably best to dial back the expansion speculation, at least for a while.

“Do we have any kind of a list?” Boren asked. “Are we likely to vote in the very near future on ‘University of X’ or ‘University of Y’? No.”

Speaking with reporters after a meeting of the school’s board of regents, Boren called the Big 12 “a strong conference” and said the decisions on expansion and a conference championship game hinge on whether developing a conference network would be lucrative enough to convince member schools to give up and pool their third-tier media rights — individual school-negotiated deals that can mean millions of dollars for certain Big 12 schools. Expansion would be considered then, he said, in part for the purposes of having enough inventory for a network.

“Where do we stand on expansion?” Boren said. “It kind of depends on the answer to the first question: Do we want a conference-wide network? Is it advantageous to us?”

That’s a question he hopes is answered in the near future. Like Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, Boren said he is concerned about the revenue gap between the Big 12 and its Power Five peers. Buoyed by its network, the SEC distributed more than $31 million to each member last season, approximately $9 million more than the Big 12’s individual payouts. The Big Ten’s payout might soon shoot to $40 million per school per year.

“You’ve got to try to close that gap some,” Boren said. “You just have to figure out the best way to do it.”

During meetings in Irving, Texas, May 31-June 3, the Big 12’s presidents and chancellors will hear more presentations from the consulting firms Navigate Research and Bevilacqua Helfant Ventures (BHV) on everything from computer modeling designed to show the likelihood of making the College Football Playoff to financial projections on the viability of a conference network.

“There’s a possibility we could be leaving a substantial amount of money on the table if we’re not having a conference network,” Boren said.

Or not. By most indications, conditions are not ripe for launching a network.

The SEC Network, a not quite two-year-old venture with ESPN, has been a rousing success. The Big Ten Network, partnered with Fox, continues to be. But the Pac-12, which did not partner with ESPN or Fox when it launched several years ago, distributed only $1.4 million to each of its member schools through its network last year. And ESPN, which owns the rights to launch an ACC Network, has not shown much interest in the idea.

In order to launch a Big 12 network, Texas would have to give up its Longhorn Network, which pays an annual average of $15 million. Though Boren noted the school would have to “be made financially whole” — “You can’t expect them to give up $15 million,” he said — there’s been no indication that Texas is ready to consider dumping its network.

ESPN.com reported earlier this week the Big 12 would need at least $80 million annually from a conference network in order for Texas to recoup the Longhorn Network payout. And never mind Texas, Oklahoma receives approximately $6 million annually from a deal with Fox for its third-tier rights. Kansas (Time Warner Cable) and West Virginia (IMG) net similar amounts. The Big 12’s other schools have other arrangements, all of which would have to be unwound — and any conference network would have to distribute at least as much as the schools are already getting.

Boren was asked: What if the presentations from BHV and Navigate don’t show a significant windfall, or if prospective TV partners don’t seem enthused with the idea?

“I think we’d have to just say, ‘We can’t do it,’ ” he said. “I think the facts will speak for themselves.”

But calling himself an optimist, he said, “Once we get the data from our consultants, it will put everything on the table and there’ll be all sorts of discussion about what should be done.”

At least publicly, Boren has been the chief proponent of and the driving force behind the idea that the Big 12 should expand. He said he has received material from at least 25 different schools interested in joining the Big 12.

“Am I for expansion, just throw any old school on there, not have a network but just go out here and throw any old school on?” he asked. “No, I don’t want to do that. That’s not the way I’d lean. But if all these other pieces fall into place, yes: The right numbers on a network, what it could make for all of us and then if you could get what I would view as acceptable new members who were additive, not dilutive, to our reputation and strength of the conference.”

Significantly, Boren also noted the Big 12’s big decisions would need to be made on a basis of “consensus,” with a “very unified action by the conference.”

“In practicality, that means you need everybody (to agree),” he said, adding: “This is the kind of decision that has to be reached by consensus. It’s not the kind of decision where we can say, ‘it was 8-2’ or something. Consensus will be formed or it won’t.”

Boren also said regardless of what happens, Oklahoma remains committed to the Big 12.

“We’re a member of the Big 12,” he said. “We don’t plan on going anywhere. … We want to help strengthen this (conference) whatever way.”

Asked again later whether Oklahoma was committed to remaining in the Big 12, he said, “We haven’t discussed the possibility (of leaving). We’re optimistic about it. We like the Big 12. We just want it to be as strong as it can be. We haven’t even speculated about it.”

Boren said he updated the Board of Regents on the Big 12’s process. Earlier this week, Max Weitzenhoffer, chairman of the Board of Regents, told CBSSports.com he was opposed to Big 12 expansion, saying: “I don’t know what we have to gain.” Weitzenhoffer also said at least one other regents member, Oklahoma City Thunder co-owner Clay Bennett, shared his concerns. Weitzenhoffer later issued a statement saying he had “complete confidence” in Boren’s leadership. Boren said he has the regents’ support as the school participates in the Big 12’s exploration of the issues.

“I know of no distance between myself and the regents,” he said, adding the school is “totally unified with regard to this process.”