Serves them right for siding with the evil empires when the Big 12 was formed because NU thought they were one of the "big boys".
Care to give us a clue on what the hell you are talking about?
Little early in the day to be that drunk..
It comes down to the revenue sharing agreements that were put in place when the conference was formed. The "big boys", UT, OU, A&M & NU, wanted less sharing and NU sided with them as it would keep more money in their coffers. The smaller schools had little choice but to agree as they could see the benefit of "a rising tide raises all boats".
In the beginning everything was good as what was brought to the table in terms of exposure and competitiveness by the old Big 8 schools made everybody essentially an equal player. However, as time passed, the "rising tide" elevated some boats significantly higher than others and the balance of power, exposure, and influence in the league has shifted to those schools. NU, while still one of the wealthier athletic departments, is being affected by the balance of power and exposure in the Big 12 shifting to the south.
Look at it this way. The Big 12 is what MLB was 10-15 years ago and some other conferences are the NFL. All of the $$ in MLB was centered in a few teams. The rich teams dominated and nationally interest in baseball suffered. In the NFL, the playing field was leveled, all teams had the same competitive advantages, competition increased and the league flourished. What made teams successful was not having more $$ to spend than everybody else, but how good they were as an organization allocating their resources.
Not saying that every $ of revenue needs to be shared or that all athletic department budgets be the same. Just that when the Big 12 has $30MM - $50MM less revenue that is shared than other BCS conferences, I question what is going on. If schools see there are economic advantages to joining other conferences, the Big 12 is in trouble. Just the report that that MU, CU, NU, etc would look into joining another conference is a MAJOR blow to the Big 12.
