Iowa State's proposal - endorsed by the six dwarves - that A&M, Texas, and Oklahoma split up to 18 million dollars in penalty fees from Colorado and Nebraska's departure has, once again, been publically rejected by the Longhorns. The Horns favor a normal split of that money amongst the remaining conference partners, meaning about 4 million dollars less for our fat coffers.
A&M isn't so sure if they can afford to do the noble thing:
Texas has said it will decline a larger share, while Oklahoma officials have not made their position clear . "Texas A&M continues to have conversations with the Big 12 office on many of the financial points," said A&M spokesman Jason Cook
Money Nebraska says that they won't pay. Harvey Perleman and Nebraska have morphed from clamoring welfare recipients with notions of economics that would make Che Guevara wince to moralists that can't understand contract law:
However, Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman, in an interview Tuesday with Lincoln radio station KLIN, said he doesn't want to go to court over the issue.
Really, now. Since you're the one that will take it to court, I find that hard to believe.
"I thought in the context, (an exit fee) would be inappropriate," Perlman said. "From what I understand the Big 12 has done, I think it's even more inappropriate."
Ballsy. Just, ballsy. The Big 12 has persecuted poor Nebraska from the start, limiting their number of rapists, girl punchers, and murderers, forcing them to have players that can read, pummeling them on the field for the last half decade, and harboring the outrageous economic premise that a school with 700,000 television sets doesn't deserve the same payout as Texas.
It's just not fair.
Texas A&M hasn't come out definitively yet and there are good reasons why. Namely, the fact that their athletic program under Bill Byrne's stewardship is 16 million dollars in the red. In a recent Weekly Wednesday, Byrne once again chided the Aggies for failing to sell out Kyle Field and for sluggish ticket sales.
One of the challenges we face at Texas A&M is we have never sold out Kyle Field in season tickets. I attributed that to a margin of our fans that focus on who the Aggies are playing instead the fact the Aggies are playing. Folks tell me they take pride on being big Aggie supporters. To the fans on the margin it means they have never missed a game against our friends from the state capital or a big game in general. Great program's fans support their team regardless of the opponent. They are grateful to be in the stadium. My hope is we can build Texas A&M football to be one of those great programs.
Ouch.
Byrne should be careful. Aggies accept that abuse is part of being an Aggie, but they don't like it from an athletic director that doesn't deliver in football, runs up debt like a teenager with a credit card, and tweaks them constantly for their deficiencies. Considering that Byrne was also completely frozen out by the Aggie power brokers in the latest realignment (Texas stopped talking to him after they realized he wasn't even in the decision loop), and his bizarre small-city mayor approach to public relations management, and he has the feel of a lame duck.
Oklahoma hasn't declared themselves either. Mostly because they want Dan Beebe to cut checks directly to their athletes. What? What! You're saying we can't do that, Beebe? Goddamn you and your rules. We've got games to win, you asshole.