From The Athletic's Max Olson
In a bold attempt to protect the future of his conference, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby sent a cease and desist letter to ESPN on Wednesday alleging that the network is colluding with and encouraging at least one other conference to attempt to poach their remaining members and demanding that the network stop.
Oklahoma and Texas announced this week they intend to leave the Big 12 in 2025 and have requested membership in the SEC. But Bowlsby is publicly taking on his TV partner for what has occurred since then, claiming he has evidence that ESPN is working with another conference to solicit and raid other Big 12 schools to the demise of his conference.
Bowlsby stated in the letter that these efforts to assist in the pursuit of members of the Big 12, who are bound to a grant of rights agreement through 2025, are “an apparent attempt to interfere with and to induce our members to breach these contractual obligations to the Conference and to encourage further conference realignment for the financial benefit of ESPN.”
In the letter addressed to ESPN executive Burke Magnus, Bowlsby demanded that ESPN immediately cease all actions that may harm the Big 12 and its members, as well as any communication with or about existing Big 12 members and other conferences regarding possible realignment and financially incentivizing such moves.
“This collaboration between and among ESPN and conferences to undermine the Big 12 is a tortious interference with our business,” Bowlsby told The Athletic. “We would be able to assert that even if it wasn’t in our contract, but in fact it is in our contract. It’s clearly them doing things that are disadvantageous to our business, and I have absolute certainty that what I’m saying is factual.”
Bowlsby declined to name the offending conference or elaborate on the evidence he’s gathered but said, “I can tell you it’s irrefutable.”
ESPN responded in a statement: “The claims in the letter have no merit.”
Multiple sources confirmed to The Athletic that the American Athletic Conference has attempted to engage three to five Big 12 members about potentially joining the conference with ESPN’s support. CBS Sports first reported the AAC is the league Bowlsby is referencing.
Last week, multiple high-ranking sources within the conference told The Athletic that the AAC plans to act as an aggressor during realignment and intends to poach remaining Big 12 schools. “We’ve already got ESPN at the table,” a source in the conference said last week.
While Bowlsby is taking aim at attempts to persuade the Big 12’s remaining schools not to leave and destabilize or destroy the conference, he believes ESPN’s actions are not unrelated to the efforts of Texas and Oklahoma to depart for the SEC.
“If the conference ceases to exist, they have the best chance to join the SEC more quickly and they have the best chance to get out of their obligations for the grant of rights and the exit fees,” he said.
Both schools announced they do not intend to renew their grant of rights beyond 2025. Bowlsby said he knows now Texas and Oklahoma worked on a move to the SEC for “at least a matter of months.” The exit penalty each member would have to pay for leaving the conference before the conclusion of the grant of rights is two full years of revenue distribution. Sources expect that fee to be roughly $80 million. “They’re gonna do everything they can to get out before 2025,” Bowlsby said. “It’ll be interesting to see what they try.”
The dissolution of the Big 12 would also save ESPN hundreds of millions of dollars, which is why Bowlsby believes the network is motivated to play a manipulative role in realignment and collude with other conferences to poach remaining members. Bowlsby has worked with ESPN for decades and said he’s “disappointed” in the actions they’ve taken.
“I understand the pressure that the broadcasters are under,” Bowlsby said. “They have huge rights fees and they have a cable architecture that is crumbling. It’s gone down 3, 4, 5 percent a year and it’s gonna continue until it gets way lower than what it is today. What has been a very lucrative financial model is now declining rapidly. So I understand why they’re trying to get out of rights fees and trying to look for economies and maybe even why they might be articulating moves like OU and Texas to the SEC.
“But there’s certain things you can do that are right and there are certain things you can’t do that are wrong. This is across the line. They’ve been accused of it previously and bristled. But I can tell you, I wouldn’t be saying these things if I wasn’t absolutely certain.”
Bowlsby believes he’s in a “good place” with his eight remaining schools, and his presidents and ADs are continuing to meet regularly since the rumors of Texas and Oklahoma departing emerged last week. The Athletic has reported that those leaders are doing their due diligence and looking into whatever options in other conferences might exist if more realignment occurs. The Big 12 does have a bylaw requiring members to notify Bowlsby within 12 hours of contact or conversations with other conferences, which Texas and Oklahoma both violated.
“They’re all getting pressure, and I understand it,” Bowlsby said. “Their boosters and donors and board members are concerned, and I understand the concern. On the other hand, these are not things that happen very rapidly. The OU-Texas transition hasn’t happened quickly and our decisions in the wake of it are not going to happen quickly, either. But I feel like if the eight schools hang together, we will have good options going forward.”
Whenever Texas and Oklahoma do eventually exit the conference, sources say the conference’s TV partners could immediately approach the Big 12 about reworking the rest of its TV deal to reflect the loss of value.
Bowlsby acknowledged that’s a possibility. He knows the move he’s making now, threatening legal action against a partner that has immense influence on the Big 12’s long-term survival, could certainly prove costly later.
“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do the right thing,” he said.
