WinOne...The bottom line is Scott tossed us one, and we shook our heads. What I hate out of all of this is the general perception now about Oklahoma. If you listen to some of the non-espn media outlets like XM/Serious, Rivals, Sporting News, The Fan from New York, they are all saying the same things. They refer to us as Texas puppets. I hate having the rest of the country making that perception about us. Everybody thinks we are staying to be Texas bitch. And with Boren/Catiglione staying quiet about, we can't really deny it.
Why? Because he can. Remember, Scott was the guy who had invited six Big 12 teams, including Texas, last year. Consider it a still-open invitation. One that Texas would have to seriously consider.
One source painted it this way: The new Pac-12 Network is made up of six regional networks. Why couldn't the Longhorn Network be folded into the Pac-12 as a seventh regional network?
I cut a couple snipits from your post GS.
Note that the column references it as an Open Invitation. I mentioned that a week or so ago that what I was told was by a person that I trust that a message was relayed to the OK Schools (and I believe A&M) that they had an open invitation should they want to leave the Big12. The committee that Scott put together consists of Univ Presidents. It's pretty easy for school presidents to get together and no one think athletic depts are being discussed. Cox is pretty prevalent in this. Its why I said the ball was in the hands of the OK schools. Privately, I think what they'd like to do is see them decide, "hey we want to explore options with the PAC12". It would force UTs hand as the Big12 WILL NOT exist with the OK Schools gone. Plain and simple. I can tell you, the PAC12 presidents have a woody for UT. It's truly the one thing that THEY want. UT already partners with UCLA, CAL and Stanford on several key projects. Not to mention that our AD is a Tech Alum!!
What's interesting in this all is the ESPN aspect. I have stated before that if the Big12-3 drops below 10 team, ESPN can lower the amounts paid for the TV contract or tear it up completely (I believe). ESPN has vested tons with PAC12, ACC, and TLN. If A&M ends up in the SEC, the SEC will renegotiate to get more money for their deal and there is no way ESPN says no to them because it would give the SEC an early out, which means ESPN would be bidding against everyone for the SEC. They are going to have to take money from somewhere, my guess would be Big12-3 because of their investment in TLN and they did not drop the payments when Nebraska and CU left last summer.
And for those who believe the SEC would pass on A&M...PLEASE!!! A couple of their presidents came out a week or two ago and said there is no way they would pass on A&M because they did not want the PAC12 and Larry Scott to get them. Yes, they came out and said PAC12 and Larry Scott. The PAC12 is in the catbird seat in this whole thing (for a change). We've already got distriubtion for our TV network and our regional network. I am not sure if DirecTV or Dish will pick up TLN if only 1 or 2 football games a year will be carried. There is just not that much interest in the olympic sports for them to make a play for them at this time. The PAC12 could make TLN a regional network and it would be helping out ESPN by doing so. Imagine that, the PAC12 helping ESPN and UT get distribution points for their network. It could happen.
C'mon OU, we're rooting for you!!