The Big 12 commissioner has alleged he posses irrefutable evidence that ESPN conspired with the AAC (*Not ACC) to pick up 3-5 Big 12 teams following the departure of UT and OU.
What an insane development. If this is true, this could build a credible ESPN conspiracy element to the realignment fiasco. My basic understanding is this:
ESPN leveraged a massive new exclusive media contract with the SEC in 2024. In order to increase their revenue for this new contract ESPN then brokers a deal to get UT and OU to leave the Big 12 for the SEC. Importantly, ESPN only partially owns the Big 12 broadcasting rights. By contrast, they will have complete ownership of the SEC broadcasting rights, netting them a huge payday—particularly with the addition of UT and OU. After getting the SEC expansion done, ESPN then approaches 3-5 of the remaining Big 12 teams and tries to convince them to join the AAC, which ESPN also has exclusive rights to. This way they have a complete monopoly on the most profitable athletic conference in college sports and have destroyed a Power 5 conference they didn’t own complete rights to, significantly hurting their rival FOX. They also have another money-maker with exclusive rights now in a brand new souped-up AAC conference.
It’s quite possible this is much ado about nothing but if it’s true this could be a monumental development.
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