The Big 12, months removed from speculation about the strength of its future as a conference, is bringing together the final details on large television deals, according to the Associated Press.
Conference commissioner Jeff Bowlsby reports that the deals with ESPN/ABC and Fox cover 13 years and could be worth as much as $2.6 billion.
''There are some elements that need to be worked out, some of it by the end of today, but we’re not working under any sort of deadline,’' Bowlsby said in the report. ''We’re moving forward as if we have an agreement, and we do have an agreement on almost all elements of it.’'
The Big 12’s deal comes after other major conferences signed television deals, including the ACC, which was worth a reported $3.6 billion.
''The exposure for our football programs, for men’s and women’s basketball and our Olympic sports, will be unprecedented,’' Bowlsby told the AP. ''We’ll be much more widely distributed.’'
Expansion continues to be a topic in reference to the Big 12, having lost Colorado to the Pac-12, Nebraska to the Big 10, and Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC. The conference has, though, added TCU and West Virginia.
''Some very bad decisions have been made in conjunction with the conference moves, and I think history will bear that out,’' Bowlsby said. ''We would all be well served by a period of calm and a period of relatively little movement, and I think we have a good chance of that.’'
To read the AP’s full report, click here.
Daniel Martin is a writer and editor at JohnnyJungle.com, covering St. John’s. You can find him on Twitter:@DanielJMartin_