Oklahoma President Boren: 'There are many great possibilities in front of this conference'

IRVING, Texas - By comparison to last year, when the Big 12 was exploring the possibility of member expansion, among other issues, this year’s Conference meetings have come with decidedly less drama. Which has given the Commissioner and CEO’s (Chancellors and Presidents) a chance to gloat about unity and a period of tumult being in the rearview mirror.

“I think there are many great possibilities in front of this conference,” said Oklahoma president David Boren, also chairman of the Big 12 Board of Directors. “I’ll put it this way, if you ask me on a scale of 1 to 10, ‘(from) last year, how do you feel about this conference this year and the future of this conference and its ability to grow stronger every year?’ it’s near a 10.”

Highlighting today’s meetings was the Joint Session of the Conference, which is where the CEOs, athletics directors, senior women’s administrators and faculty athletic representatives all convene in one ballroom to discuss issues collectively. That included Dr. Linda Livingstone, the new president of Baylor who is still not technically on the job in Waco.

“She’s basically here as a volunteer,” said Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. “She has quickly gotten up to speed on the issues in the conference, and obviously she has a lot on her plate (at Baylor). But I could not have been more impressed.”

In the joint session, once again, the topic of a Big 12 digital network was a topic. The subject and its fallout – the conference not aggregating its Tier 3 television rights into a linear television network – nearly brought this conference to its knees, and is partially to blame for four members leaving the league. The Big 12 remains the only Power 5 conference not locked into a long-term television collective agreement, yet each school does retain its own Tier 3 rights for distribution – including Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas Tech with Fox Sports.

As it stands, the Big 12 is not anchored by the weight of a television model that industry experts believe is blowing away one cut cable cord or shaved satellite signal at a time. That positions the Big 12 well to uniquely explore what may lie ahead with technology moving more digital and mobile. Along side traditional players like Fox Sports and ESPN, new players in the digital race like Amazon and Netflix could be vying for conference streaming rights.

“In our conference we’re already having the right kinds of talks to look at the options that are ahead of us in this area. We intend to be among the first to be successful with broadening our ability to bring our athletics to a different kind of audience on new platforms,” said Boren.

Bowlsby offers a unique perspective, having been on the ground floor of the development of the Big Ten Network and Pac-12 Network. He added, “Anybody that tells you they can forecast what media distribution looks like three to five years from now is delusional. Because the technology is changing so quickly. But we’ll know the right opportunity when we see it.”

Also to come out of Thursday’s meetings, the Big 12 announced that it has partnered with the College Football Playoff Foundation in Extra Yard for Teachers. Select Big 12 student-athletes, those chosen among its Champions For Life campaign, will be allowed to select a teacher that was impactful to his or her life and grant that teacher $1000.

The Big 12 meetings conclude on Friday and will include the announcement of monetary distribution for each school from media, bowl and NCAA revenue.