Despite what the Aggies are saying this is far from a done deal and may be a lot of hubbub over nothing.
- The NCAA ruled against having high school games on networks affiliated with conferences or schools which was one of A&M's main beefs (I wonder if Sun Sports can carry high school games? If so, Florida found a nifty way to skirt that issue).
- ESPN and FOX will be completely against this move. They may not be able to stop it, but they, along with some huge power brokers for the "forgotten 5" (like Drayton McClane on behalf of Baylor) combined with a gunshy Texas A&M Board of Regents kept the Big XII together. A&M's leaders appear to raring to go now, but will the SEC schools take less of the pie to bring them (and perhaps another school in)? Would ESPN be willing to "look in" on their SEC contract and perhaps pay more when the value of their Big XII contract (and perhaps their Longhorn Network contract - which was just devalued by the NCAA's ruling mentioned above already) is diminished by the departure of ESPN? I am not saying the WWL can
stop this from happening, but they can certainly influence the outcome.
- And lest we forget, state legislatures will always have a say. After a brutal session this year, the Texas legislature is finally out of session, but
low and behold
Should be an interesting couple of weeks. It could trigger armageddon, or nothing could happen at all. Is there any more smoke on FSU other than Gottfried's tweet? Nothing like that has been mentioned on this side of the Mississippi.