The questions have been non-stop over the last week as it became abundantly clear Texas and Oklahoma were bolting the Big 12 for the greener payments, er, pastures of the $EC.
Here in Central Florida, Knight Nation wanted to know what this meant for Orlando’s hometown team:
“Does this mean UCF is going to go to the Big 12?”
Actually, it’s looking more and more like the opposite may be true.
It’s looking like the Big 12 might be coming to UCF.
More specifically, there are rumblings that the American Athletic Conference, of which UCF is a member, is being incentivized by ESPN to help ruin the Big 12 and enhance the American’s own status as a “Power 5” league.
If this indeed is the case, then all Central Floridians should applaud AAC commissioner Mike Aresco, who has long been unpopular among many UCF fans. Aresco has been in UCF’s doghouse since 2017 when former UCF athletics director Danny White railed against the inequity of the four-team College Football Playoff and self-proclaimed the undefeated Scott Frost-coached Knights as the “national champions.”
Aresco, obviously trying to be diplomatic and work within the confines of college football’s power structure, seemed reticent to jump on White’s renegade bandwagon. This not only irked White; it irked UCF fans who felt their league’s own commissioner didn’t have their back.
Well, Knight Nation, it may be time to not only forgive Aresco but to champion him as the man responsible for possibly helping you fulfill your long-time dream of becoming a member of the Power 5. If you believe the whining of Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby — which I do, by the way — Aresco has been working with ESPN to help destabilize the Big 12 in the wake of the devastating departures of Texas and Oklahoma.
In short, Bowlsby is charging that ESPN essentially orchestrated the exodus of Texas and Oklahoma in an attempt to strengthen the SEC — the preferred conference in which ESPN has invested countless billions past, present and future.
In the aftermath of Texas and Oklahoma leaving his conference, Bowlsby is also saying ESPN is trying to break up the remaining members of the Big 12, ostensibly so ESPN can get out of its future contract obligations with the Big 12 and help the Sooners and the Longhorns avoid the expensive Big 12 exit fees. Bowlsby apparently believes the way in which ESPN is trying to break up his league is to bribe the American with future TV earnings so that it can pluck off as many remaining Big 12 members as possible and make the league self-implode.
Bowlsby sent ESPN a “cease and desist” letter a few days ago and then explained ESPN’s alleged sabotage of the Big 12 to various media outlets. ESPN, of course, has denied any such clandestine undermining of the Big 12.
“I have every expectation that Oklahoma and Texas will do whatever they can to not meet their [contractual] obligations,” Bowlsby said to CBSSports.com. “One of the ways the two schools and ESPN will seek to absolve themselves of the obligation is to destabilize the league and cause an implosion of the other eight members.
“I am absolutely certain ESPN employees have discussed and provided incentives for at least one conference to raid 3-5 members from the Big 12. In doing so, they are prepared to reward them with future television proceeds. If our conference goes away as an entity, Oklahoma and Texas could be relieved from their exit obligations [about $80 million each].”
Although Bowlsby didn’t specifically name which conference has been working with ESPN to help “destabilize” the Big 12, it’s been widely reported it’s the American that Bowlsby claims is trying to “poach” his remaining members.
My response:
Way to go, Aresco!
Poach away, baby!
Poach as many members as you can from the hypocritical Big 12, which itself has pilfered members from other leagues in the past and even helped dissolve one of those leagues.
Remember when the Big 12 lured West Virginia away from the Big East in 2011 and even helped the Mountaineers pay their exit fee so they could bolt the Big East early? The departure of West Virginia (as well Syracuse and Pitt to the ACC) hobbled the Big East to a point in which it ceased to exist as a football conference. Consequently, the remaining football-playing members such as UCF and USF became part of the league’s next iteration — the newly named American Athletic Conference.
Memo to Bowlsby: Just as the Big 12 contributed to helping “destabilize” the old Big East, the new Big East (the American) is helping “destabilize” the Big 12.
Paybacks are hell!
Certainly, an argument could be made that ESPN should not be colluding to strengthen one conference TV partner at the expense of another. After all, networks should be in the business of televising conferences, not dissolving them.
However, Aresco should be commended for whatever role he has played in this purported plan to take down the Big 12. His job is to make the American as strong a conference as it can possibly be. And guess what? If the Big 12 disappears because a bunch of its teams join the ESPN-subsidized American, then the American suddenly moves up the pecking order and becomes a “Power 5” league.
If and when this happens, UCF fans should reverently genuflect at Mike Aresco’s feet.
Let Bob Bowlsby complain all he wants about sabotage, bribery, conniving deceit, nefarious manipulation and the backroom conspiring of a devious plot.
All is fair in love, war and college football TV contracts.
