The consensus thinking around college football these days is that the Big 12 conference might as well be dead. The conference has already lost two schools in the last week to expansion by other conferences (Colorado joined the PAC 10 while Nebraska joined the Big 10). Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe is not giving up on his conference just yet though and insists that the league can still work just fine without Nebraska and Colorado in the fold.

Beebe is pitching the idea to the remaining schools that a ten team conference would still provide strong television revenue. He is also trying to sell the remaining Big 12 members on the idea that the departures of Nebraska and Colorado will mean less revenue sharing for the other schools. Finally, Dan Beebe said that the loss of the two schools will only diminish the value of the Big 12 by eight to ten percent.

Obviously, it would be great if Beebe could convince Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma State to make a commitment to the Big 12. The commissioner will have to sell Texas on the idea of the Big 12 working with ten teams if he wants to keep the conference together. Beebe knows that which is why under his plan Texas could conceivably pursue their own television deal.

Kansas, Missouri, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Baylor agreed via a conference call on Wednesday that they would like to remain members of the Big 12.

This looks to be Commissioner Beebe’s final pitch to his remaining schools as to why the conference should stay intact. He makes good points, but the odds are still heavily stacked against the Big 12. The SEC now appears to have strong interest in Texas A&M joining their conference, the PAC 10 is not content at only taking Colorado and is looking to add more Big 12 schools, and the Big Ten could make another move as well. As I said earlier Texas has to be fully committed to the idea of keeping the conference intact and even then it is uncertain whether the Big 12 will remain together. Either way the conference cannot afford to lose any more schools.

Now we will wait and see what dominoes fall next and whether Commissioner Dan Beebe’s efforts will be in vain.

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