It obviously puts him in the minority, but Oklahoma State booster T. Boone Pickens believes not only that the Big 12 can survive, but that it can employ an equal revenue sharing policy some day.
Appearing as a guest during Thursday evening’s broadcast of Oklahoma State and Arizona, Pickens spoke about the instability facing the Cowboys’ current conference, and how equal revenue sharing would fix it.
“I don’t want to go another year and have the same problems that we’ve had,” Pickens said. “I think the conference is important to us.”
The main question is whether it’s equally important -- see what we did there? -- to everyone else outside of A&M, who despite Baylor’s nagging, should end up in the SEC. In a somewhat unexpected bit of information, Chris Level of RedRaiderSports.com tweeted earlier tonight “Interesting what Pickens just said about equality. Learned tonight that UT has agreed to it but OU hasn’t come around yet.”
If true, OU could end up being the one who drives the stake into the slowly-beating heart of the Big 12, not Texas. For the Longhorns, the Big 12 offers multiple sources of TV income (Big 12 Network, ESPN/FOX media rights and the Longhorn Network) and power. Though UT could stand to make more income in a Pac-16-esque conference, they would relinquish at least part of the influence that they have in the Big 12.
It simply makes sense for Texas to want to do everything in their power to keep the Big 12 alive.
Oklahoma president David Boren, on the other hand, has made it public that the Sooners are considering other options when it comes to their conference affiliation.
“Obviously Texas is very powerful,” said Pickens, noting the “special deals” that have favored the Longhorns, Oklahoma and Texas A&M -- and previously Nebraska. “But I think we’ll have equality. I think we’ll get there.”
But, for what it’s worth, Pickens also said “You always need to look out for your best interest in every situation.”
Very true; a successful businessman like Pickens would know the merit of that philosophy. But at some point, there needs to be a collective agreement that every member of the Big 12 is valuable and should be treated as such -- whether that means equal revenue sharing policies or not.
Otherwise, the Big 12 is still on course to dissolve.
We’ll have more from the Oklahoma State-Arizona game later tonight, so check back.