The name “Paul Finebaum” brought a quizzical look to University of Oklahoma President David Boren’s face Thursday afternoon.
“No, not really,” he said when asked about the SEC Network’s chief mouthpiece and ESPN commentator.
Lately, Finebaum has pushed the notion the Sooners are “desperate” to leave the Big 12 Conference, comparing the league to the Titanic speeding toward an iceberg.
Boren didn't buy the analogy.
“It’s in our interest that the Big 12 succeed. So, no, we're not desperate to go anywhere else,” Boren said. “Financially, it's fine. Who can predict who's going to do well in this next season, but on the other hand, no one is turning down any other conference either.”
Boren reiterated there were discussions with the Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC conferences in the past. In 2010 and 2011, OU's regents were convened to vote on a move to the Pac-12. Both times, the votes were not held because Texas elected to stay in the Big 12 and OU didn’t want to move without it.
The Big 12 has always been able to cobble together enough money to make it financially stable. In terms of perceptions, the departures of Nebraska (2010 to the Big Ten), Colorado (2010 to the Pac-12), Texas A&M (2011 to the SEC) and Missouri (2011 to the SEC) were blows the league still hasn't recovered from.
The Big 12 hasn’t won a football national championship since 2005. Since the College Football Playoff began in 2014, its lone berth belongs to the Sooners in 2015.
Financially, it’s still a Power 5 Conference. Its television deals run through the 2024-25 football season and bowl ties-ins guarantee its security until then. But Boren isn’t interested in extending OU’s grant of rights with the Big 12 beyond the current contract.
“I've wanted to make sure that we didn't tie our hands in any way permanently that we could not evaluate the best option for ourselves,” he said. “Frankly, I've been thinking three or four or five years down the road if there's any need to make a change, but I haven't wanted us to extend our grant of rights by 20 years or something like that so that OU would have no choices. I think it's very important for us to always have the possibility of making a move if we want to.”
The next possibility for that to occur likely won’t come for at least three years.
The Power 5 conference that will make the next move is the Big Ten. Its television contracts expire following the 2022 football season. It figures to enter negotiations with ESPN/ABC and FOX on a new contract at least two years before those deals expiring. The Big 12’s media rights deals end following the 2023 football season.
OU and Texas figure to be the ultimate power players if there’s going to be a seismic conference shift.
They are the only schools that are not currently in the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 or SEC, that carry much favor with television networks.
