Aggies To Big 12: Straight Cash Homeys

Words can’t describe the awesomeness of this. Even just the A&M Chronicle article about it is too good to be true.

From the article’s comments:

First tu threatens to blackball A&M if they go to the SEC
Then Beebe offers $20 million a year for them to stay
A&M agrees to stay for $20 million even though the SEC is better long term
Now Beebe wants to renege on the $20 million number
Don’t be loser and renege on an agreement.
The Big 12 better pay up or shut up. If they renege on the deal, watch A&M jump to the SEC and let Texas carry the weakest conference in the country.

Please explain how we would “blackball” A&M if it went SEC. It boggles my mind how fixated Aggies are on the SEC, nevermind they never had a commitable offer, and were probably just a pawn the whole time a la Mizzou, not to mention all the other little details like SEC would only hasten the slow death that is their football program.

“Please explain how we would "blackball" A&M if it went SEC”

We would refuse to play them in any sport effectively killing all Aggie tradition at once. They act as if they have this big bargaining position to be demanding that kind of money. They suck. They are bankrupt. They have apathetic fans now. Their only choice is to cut of their nose to spite their face and they are demanding their 20 million?

I say go to the SEC when conference realignment starts up again and have fun with that.

Nothing would make me happier if we never played them again. With that said, I’m as suspicious as they are of Beebe and this pie in the sky.

Beebe is an irrelevancy. Dodds / Power are pulling the strings. We don’t give a shit about that pie in the sky. We essentially want time and that’s what we got.

Once the “conference” decided to stay together without any firm commitment on the cable side they lost a lot of leverage. How does mediocre A&M merit a hard $20 m guarantee?

“We would refuse to play them in any sport effectively killing all Aggie tradition at once.”

Powers has implied strongly that this would not happen.

Blueshorn: I am skeptical as well. When Beebe came out at the crisis point and said he had the money, it didn’t make sense. They did get ESPN to pay up, which I did not expect, but they also got a commitment from Fox, which has every reason to tell the B12 (and the Pac, as far as that goes) what it wants to hear.

If anything, the chances that the B12 can deliver what it promised are less now, because of the economy. But we will see.

And all I can tell you is, if Texas needed the money, I would expect them to demand it. The idea that this was all done without a single written word is, at the same time, brilliant and stupid. Brilliant, because oral contracts are harder to prove, and stupid, because if you really want the group together, you give people something to rely on.

They’re like a child – when they wish something is true they think it really is true – whether its how good their team is, how much weight they have to throw around, their beliefs about us, this SEC bs, you name it. And the delusion, brainwashing, and groupthink not only permeates every level of aggy but is comically divorced from reality.

“Powers has implied strongly that this would not happen.”

I am pretty sure if A&M left for the SEC we would give them the Arkansas treatment. If for no other reason we would be in the Pac 10 and it would not exactly fit in our schedule. Maybe basketball and some other sports but not football and not for a while at least.

“If anything, the chances that the B12 can deliver what it promised are less now, because of the economy.”

The economy got worse in the last 6 weeks? Whatever reason was given to the various schools it was plausible enough for well educated people to take at face value. Dodds isn’t one to easily walk away from a revenue stream for the sake of State Brotherhood. They had to reasonably believe the enhanced revenue was there.

Great stuff. Good luck to the Aggies on getting the $20 Megabucks on a verbal agreement. Pretty sure bb did not have the authority to sign off on anything that big. This might be a 2fer: maybe we get rid of both the aggies and bb.

If the aggies go to the sec (in the unlikely event that there is an actual offer from the sec) , that probably reopens the Pac 16 deal. What is especially sweet is that it would be the aggies who are breaking up the UT/AM rivalry and the Big 12.

Personally I’d be thrilled not to play the aggies any more.

Is that toilet paper roll of Benjamins in the same bathroom as the aggie gloryhole?

Maybe a&m school of law should teach the difference between an oral agreement or even promise to pay a specific amount and what beebe did here, which was to say “if we stick together, based on the tv $ projections and minus NU and CU, we think UT, A&M, and OU will earn around $20mm.”

I wouldn’t put it past aggy to actually believe they can enforce the $20mm, but this could also be posturing to try to go SEC. If so the meltdown will be beyond biblical when aggy finally realizes there’s no SEC offer.

What cracks me up is that many UT fans are so busy convincing themselves of A&M’s inferiority that they are flat ignorant of the fact that OU’s president flat out stated that OU and A&M had SEC offers. The problem is that OU wasn’t abandoning OSU, and I strongly suspect that Dodds and Castiglione were collaborating from the outset.

Nate, I was under the impression that OU and A&M had to go together, and A&M did not have its own offer. That is the funniest part – listening to the Aggies claim they were on their way and knowing full well that the SEC was NOT taking A&M all by themselves.

Maybe there is something to the thought that Texas and the Big 10 were ready to blow up the NCAA and start the super-conference era, and decided not to through agreement with the NCAA that they would actually begin to do something about street agents, but I really have to put my burnt orange, holier-than-thou glasses for that one…

" How does mediocre A&M merit a hard $20 m guarantee?"

How do people not realize that bargaining power has exactly ZERO to do with how much your football team wins. If A&M goes 0-fer every season but still commands a sizable share of attractive Texas markets, they are more powerful than an undefeated KSU.

“Why would Michael Bay get several hundred million dollars to make the new Transformers movie when it didn’t even win any awards?”

Answer: Because people show up in droves to see his shitty product time after time.

We’re Texas A&M, dammit!!!
(crickets)

If A&M goes 0-fer every season but still commands a sizable share of attractive Texas markets, they are more powerful than an undefeated KSU.

Five of the Aggies 12 games were not televised across the state last year.

So, the SEC Commish is willing to take A&M without OU and without Texas, even when their program is struggling to fill seats and roughly 40% of their games are not televised, at all.

Who thinks the SEC is looking at conference expansion at this moment? Do they not have the NCAA investigating 3 or 4 of their schools – right now? It just doesn’t seems like the time. And, if by chance, Florida and Alabama had players who dealt with agents on a Bush/USC scale, those TV contracts may begin to dwindle a bit.

Nate, all Boren confirmed was that you both had invitations, which, to me, sounded much like a package deal.

“There was a time when A&M thought they were going to the SEC and they very much wanted us to go with them,” Boren said.

(link)

I will stand by my previous statement that if Aggie really had an unconditional offer to leave by themselves, they would have been gone in a cloud of cartoon dust before the paper had been spit out of the fax machine.

Beebe pulled a fast one on TAMU for that matter everyone. The only thing he said was that according to “media people” the Big12-2 “could get” 20 million for each team at the end of the contracts, which last for two and three more years. Who knows what will happen in two or three years. Next as far as the buy outs for NE and CO it will not be anywhere near the money people are talking about. Do you really think that Texas and wants to air their dirty laundry out for the nation to see? There will be money but more in the range of 6 or 7 million area.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/college/texasam/7131548.html

COLLEGE STATION — The Big 12 will honor its pledge of $20 million annually to Texas A&M, league commissioner Dan Beebe said Thursday.

“The commitment to Texas A&M was made, and it still stands,” Beebe said in a statement. “We did not have the luxury of time during the crisis to sort out the details, but that will be addressed in the future.”

A&M had expressed some concern this week it might not receive the full $20 million annually starting with the 2012-13 school year. The Aggies, Texas and Oklahoma are supposed to receive at least $20 million each annually under the new agreement, while the Big 12’s seven other schools should receive somewhat less each year in the future 10-member league

 But but but how is A&M getting this guarantee and not the other schools? SEC offer maybe?

Only in your wet fantasy dreams does A&M not have a standing committable standalone offer from Mike Slive. Or else how do you explain A&M getting the $20MM?

Focus people.

A&M is eliminating toilet paper in their dorms.

That campus is about to get even shorter on foliage.

We certainly can enforce the $20 MM. we can enforce it by leaving. The SEC offer is still on the tabel because the underlying economics that drove the offer are unchanged.

What our admins are going through right now is exactly what was predicted by me on that fateful day they bought a handful of magic beans from Beebe.

The long and short of it was Dr. Bowtie was told by the BOR to get the “guarentee” Beebe and the Little 5 promised in writing or else SEC here we come. Maybe we’ll end up doing the right thing.

The old adage “be careful what you wish for” has never been more appropriate.

Only in your wet fantasy dreams does A&M not have a standing committable standalone offer from Mike Slive. Or else how do you explain A&M getting the $20MM?

Because the offer of $20million was not stand alone. It was to Texas and OU as well, both of which declined. Again A&M was part of a package deal.

The SEC has no intention of expanding. They were more than willing to take action when it looked like the Big 10 was going to expand to 16 teams, but that is not happening in the near future.

There is no incentive for the SEC to expand, (and split up their TV revenue into smaller pieces). Please don’t try to sell the idea that A&M delivers the Texas markets as a stand alone. They can’t even get all of their games cleared.

Besides being tied with OU, the SEC offer to A&M was probably contigent on the Pac-10 seeking to become a Super-Conference (with UT). In which case, the SEC would feel compelled to expand in order to meet this challenge. In the status quo, there’s little incentive for the SEC to expand to only add A&M.

In fact, I will say that it’s not in the SEC/ESPN’s interest to begin the process of expansion (jnto superconferences). Therefore, there is no offer on the table for A&M – they have no leverage until such time as expansion becomes a possibility again. At this time, there is no way SEC/ESPN accepts A&M’s plea to join their league.

I think the Ags had an offer to join, with details to be worked out. No, they don’t deliver the Texas market as a whole, but Florida doesn’t deliver the Florida market as a whole, does it? I think the offer was real because I think it would have been a very smart move by the SEC. It offers a new area geographically that other proposed candidates (FSU, Clemson) just don’t.

I think the reason they didn’t make the move was that the initial financial hit would be so large that the university would have to cover it, inviting legislative criticism for spending while various legislators are POed over it leaving the pack.

As a lifelong Texas fan I really hate to say this, but why are Longhorn fans acting like such spoiled babies over these Aggie statements? This is still Texas, right? Regardless of whether they’re worth it, and despite how their financial ineptitude makes them look, if they were promised the money, they should get it. Period.

And if they were to leave for the SEC, who cares? Why do the Longhorn faithful have such a “if you leave, we’re taking our ball and going home” attitude on this? If scheduling Aggie becomes to onerous after the inevitable super conference era begins, so be it. But to not schedule them out of spite just makes us look juvenile. Are we really that afraid of letting the SEC into Texas? Does Florida State suck because they share their borders with SEC Florida? No, Bobby lost his mojo the last few years. That’s all. They can, and probably will rise again.

And do any of you really not want to play them anymore because they’re whiny and act a little too big for their britches? They’re Texans, and our natural rival, and we need to stop acting like we don’t name them in our fight song.

We name them in our fight song. And say goodbye.

Cotton – I don’t think anyone is acting like babies, personally I just think Aggy antics are hilarious and I think others do too.

Hilarious because they look like such asses for demanding the $20mm in writing, stating its not their problem where the Big12-2 gets the money, as if they are not a part of the family, and it could require the Iowa States of the world to forego money that should be equally split per the original Big 12 agreement, and god knows the Iowa States need the money too.

Hilarious because they are so focused on the SEC, even though it would be bad for their football team and good only for their bank account, and have convinced themselves they have a “standing commitable standalone offer.”

Hilarious because they resent UT so much, believing that UT is out to get them or something (UT is of course concerned about the bottom line too as everyone is but at least acted with other schools in mind (including A&M) through all of this, not the least of which involves developing the Longhorn Sports Network, which any Big 12 has the right to do but cannot afford, which if successful could be leveraged into a Big 12 network that will bring all the Big 12 schools extra revenue), instead of realizing they are just mad because we have been better in football for the last decade or so. And on and on.

I personally would wish them well if they somehow finagled a spot in the SEC, and would want to keep playing them anyway. A&M is a good school and their football program, in the grand scheme of things, is better than most, and they have a bigger fanbase than most. Its just that they are kind of delusional and its all entertaining.

Its easy for UT to be a target for everyone else because we hold a lot of cards, but overall I’m proud of the way we have handled everything. We realize that a healthy league is necessary for our own success and have done more than what is required to help the other members. As much as I hate to say it, OU has too.

Because the offer of $20million was not stand alone. It was to Texas and OU as well, both of which declined. Again A&M was part of a package deal.

That’s not what I said dip shit. Why guarantee A&M an amount at all? Why mention them in the conversation with OU and t.u.?

Why is A&M getting guarantees from Bebee of $20 MM when TT and oSu and the others are not?

The SEC has no intention of expanding. They were more than willing to take action when it looked like the Big 10 was going to expand to 16 teams, but that is not happening in the near future.

This has been debunked over and over again, but to reiterate: Mike Slive has told R. Bowin Loftin that all he need do is ask for an offer and it will be there. Slive delivered this promise in person to our administrators.

There is no incentive for the SEC to expand, (and split up their TV revenue into smaller pieces).

You’re so fucking stupid. The SEC gets to renegotiate a contract if it gets any bigger.

Please don’t try to sell the idea that A&M delivers the Texas markets as a stand alone. They can’t even get all of their games cleared.

I won’t try to sell it to you, but the SEC folks are buying it already. you and I both know people will tune in to watch A&M in all the major metro areas and the SEC’s TV deal doesn’t conflict with the BigXII’s networks. Everyone in Texas would rather watch A&M play SEC teams than watch Baylor, TT, or any of the remaining BigXII teams. And when we go to the SEC, you will watch too.

UT is building a network for the Longhorns and no one else! They are not going to share any profits with any other member of the big12-2. Why should they ? They are putting their own money into it, taking all the risks. If another member of the big 12-2 want a network let them start one. UT is out for UT only and tha’s as it should be.

“Why is A&M getting guarantees from Bebee of $20 MM when TT and oSu and the others are not?”

Primarily because the sec wants into the Texas market and wants to recruit Texas kids and TAM is good enough WRT academics, size, alumni support. The TAM football program is not so good nowadays but was good in the past. In any event, sec football is already outstanding so TAM’s poor performance on the field is not that big an issue. Tech has been better than TAM in football but is less attractive WRT TV, travel, academics, size, alumni base.

Magnificent Bastard – That’s an irrelevant distinction, and you know it.

Shuyler Marshall – Look, I’m a Longhorn fan, and I find Aggies to be endlessly amusing as well, but please spare me the BS. They were obviously OK with making a handshake deal to begin with, and now UT, or our “league,” has given them reason to believe they won’t get what they were promised. Maybe they’re just being paranoid, but if not, then shame on us. Where I come from (and apparently Art Briles too), a handshake should be good enough.

Also, spare me the BS about UT caring about the Iowa States of the league. We did what we did with our own interests in mind. We bought the time we needed, nothing more. That’s why there isn’t equal revenue sharing in this league – we feel that Iowa and the rest of the smaller schools shouldn’t receive as much as we do because they don’t earn as much for the league as we do – and most of you agree with this policy, it seems. But TAMU is somehow more selfish than we are? That doesn’t pass the smell test, sir.

And yes, threatening to never play them again in any sport if they leave is whiny baby material, not matter how you try and spin it.

Still though, I love my ’horns!

Who threatened never to play A&M again? I’d like to see some evidence.

UT turned down the NU/CU penalty $ the small schools offered to keep the conference together, A&M is demanding it. Thats just one example of A&M being greedier and looking out for #1 only. Hell, just the “nananybooboo we’re going to the SEC” is A&M looking out for #1. The unequal revenue sharing was negotiated when the conference began, not when all hell was breaking loose and small schools were facing the abyss.

We have our own interests in mind but other schools interests too. If we had only ourselves in mind we would have gone independent or by ourselves to the Big10, SEC, Pac10, or wherever we wanted to go. We’re working on a long term plan that benefits us but also other league members. Whats bs about all of that?

“We name them in our fight song. And say goodbye.”

“Magnificent Bastard – That’s an irrelevant distinction, and you know it. "

It was funny. On BC funny is very relevant.

I’m a Texas Ex, and even I’m tired of the UT arrogance. A&M doesn’t need us, and all this talk about killing the Aggie “tradition” is just stupid. It will hurt us, too. Besides, I don’t see the connection between the losers commenting here and any football team. Do you put on the pads? No, you just hide behind the skirts of those that do. I just don’t get how some people use the quality of their school or football team to fuel their arrogance. Never understood it, never will.

I just thought of the best name for the new Big 12……..
(drumroll)
the Trickle Down Conferencce

The new uniforms are skirts? Like kilts or just straight up sexy? Either way thats pretty ballsy, love it.

I’m all for ATM demanding the money they were promised, (as long as it doesn’t come out of our pockets).

I almost think we should demand it too, the PR would make it a nightmare for us though, everyone already thinks we’re greedy bastards, how CU UNL and Aggie don’t get any heat for being greedy bastards amazes me.

Oh wait that’s right no one cares about them.

Mike -

If you don’t understand why sports fans vicariously get a thrill from the successes of people they have never met, then you probably shouldn’t be wasting your time getting involved with a sports blog.

In our collective defense, fans of college sports have a hell of a lot more real connection to their teams than fans of professional teams do to theirs. Degrees, children that attend, even the taxes we pay, connect us to our universities and in some way directly or indirectly eventually wind up affecting what happens on that field.

And even if it didn’t, it’s entertainment, man. Everybody needs a distraction.

bduran – You’re right – that was funny. I guess I was feeling defensive.

texastough – you really think we could have gone independent but didn’t to help out the little guy? seriously? of that we could have gone to the B10, SEC, etc. on our own, but didn’t…
dude, are you for real?

also, regardless of when revenue sharing for the B12 was determined, it proves what it proves.

“We’re working on a long term plan that benefits us but also other league members. Whats bs about all of that?”

So our long term plan to benefit our league is to launch the Longhorn network, that benefits no one else in our league? come again? And TAMU is greedier than us by contemplating moving to another league they like better after trying to convince us to go with them?

I hope that answers your BS question.

Are you saying we could not have moved to another conference if we wanted to? If so I’m not going to waste my time any further. I never said we were motivated solely by altruism, rather by self interest that includes looking out for other league members.

The LSN benefits us while its the LSN. If it is successful I have no doubt that it will be used as the platform for a Big12-2 network, where each school gets a percentage of fees based on the subscribers in the school’s designated area, or some such. UT will obviously get the lions share because we’ll have the most subscribers, and we’ll probably get extra on top of that for making the huge initial investment. Point is, the other schools will get extra revenue they never would have gotten otherwise.

So yes, I see the LSN as part of the longterm plan to benefit our league members. Much like our refusal to leave Tech and A&M behind and go somewhere else, and the ultimate decision not to send the north schools to athletic purgatory.

Cotton -

You rhetorically blew my mind.

the taxes we pay, connect us to our universities

That’s a new one for me. t.u.‘s t-shirt fans can now claim kinship based on the fact that they pay taxes. Never mind that football programs are hardly ever funded from public sources, but I guess that wouldn’t matter to them. They’re practically alumni since they pay taxes.

Yeesh

“So our long term plan to benefit our league is to launch the Longhorn network, that benefits no one else in our league? come again? And TAMU is greedier than us by contemplating moving to another league they like better after trying to convince us to go with them?

I hope that answers your BS question."

It’s not a great answer because the league that A&M so desperately wants to join allows schools to set up their own networks.

nero – thx. i’m thinking about trying out for the Riddler in the next Batman.

texastough – No. I said our motivation for not doing so wasn’t to help out the “little guy.”
And what you said, that I clearly referenced, was the assertion that TAMU is somehow “greedier” than us. I’m not judging them or us, I’m just calling BS on the assertion.

So the LSN is going to be the platform for a B12 network? you’ll forgive me if I don’t take your word for it…

and it would have been the platform for the PAC 10 if we had joined, i’m sure, which we didn’t, because Kansas State means so much to us.

this may, or may not be pertinent:

http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ap-big12-oklahoma

“the assertion that TAMU is somehow "greedier" than us. I’m not judging them or us, I’m just calling BS on the assertion. "

from A&M Chronicle:
“Beebe said Tuesday that Texas and Oklahoma had declined that offer from the five schools, but that A&M — whose athletic department is in the early stages of paying back a $16 million loan to the university — had not.”

sorry, aggie troll, guess I’m not paying attention today

reality_not _allowed said:
July 30th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
the taxes we pay, connect us to our universities

That’s a new one for me. t.u.’s t-shirt fans can now claim kinship based on the fact that they pay taxes. Never mind that football programs are hardly ever funded from public sources, but I guess that wouldn’t matter to them. They’re practically alumni since they pay taxes.

Yeesh

What does t-shirt fans have to do with anything? Those same “t-shirt fans” are the ones that have grown the Longhorn brand into the most powerful in nation, and allowed UT to have the bargaining power that they do. The more “t-shirt fans” the better. TAMU could probably use some “T-shirt fans” instead of just military uni’s and overalls.

aggie troll – so when did you invite your mother to this party?

so it’s greed that is motivating the Aggies to ensure they get what was promised to them, especially when they are bleeding money – it sounds like common sense to me. it’s probably the soundest financial decision they’ve made all decade.

texastoughy – it’s pompous asses like you who give Texas a bad name. there, i said it. yeah, yeah, we’re great and all, but I hate how preachy you get. because you’re like a super fan, or something, right?

have a swell afternoon!

Reality -

Oh how aggies forget how many t-shirt fans they had in the 80s and 90s. I grew up in Houston and it was a rare sight to see anybody in burnt orange back in those days.

Do you know how to get t-shirt fans? Win. That’s all you have to do. UT doesn’t have some special mind-control power that convinces people to go out and buy hats and jerseys and watch the horns on tv. Your average joe out there will cheer for whoever is on top.

I think the whole “Longhorn” brand thing is way over blown. UT-Austin is just another college associated with Texas, along with A&M, Texas Tech and Stephen F. Austin.

Ag_in_TX,

You are not very bright.

Yep. Not synonymous with Texas at all.

Aggy sez “Give us our $20M or we’ll go to the SEC and become a super-power”

Bwaahahahaha.

“yep not synonymous with Texas at all”

funny but anytime you say Texas in the context of college sports everyone everywhere pretty much assumes UT.

There’s nothing wrong with t-shirt fans. I just think it is hilarious to justify them because of taxes they pay. That’s what I was making fun of, bright guy.

T-shirt fans want to be part of success that they don’t have in their own miserable lives or personal affiliations. They want to be associated with success, no other reason.

“I think the whole "Longhorn" brand thing is way over blown. UT-Austin is just another college associated with Texas, along with A&M, Texas Tech and Stephen F. Austin.”

The entire East Coast is a sea of burnt orange. In the middle schools there is more burnt orange tshirts than ones from Virginia Tech.

So i’m sure no one is still reading this thread, but I’d like to apologize to texastough and whoever else was annoyed by me yesterday for losing my cool. I don’t really have an excuse, I just was out-of-sorts, I guess. my bad.

I guess those thousands of empty seats in college station must be from all of those t-shirt fans they claim to despise so much.

you guys are completely missing out an important detail. Beebe’s promise was that Texas, OU, and A&M would all get a ‘minimum’ of 20 mil, and if they didn’t get the 20 mil, it would come out of the exit fees.

because of scheduling, Texas and OU already know they are going to get 20 mil, regardless. so them coming out and saying they don’t want the extra money is just politicl horseshit, because they were going to need it anyway (to get to 20 mil).

A&M on the other hand has prob ably run the numbers and seen they will be a couple milion short.

and for those dumbasses saying A&M is bankrupt, maybe check your facts. the AD was in the black this year, and paying down the university debt as planned.

  the 16 mill debt was taken out as part of the facilities plan, and was not some budget overun, like assume you dumbasses would achieve, with the amount of homework you do.

typo in second paragraph: because they WEREN’T going to need it anyway….

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