All of this information has been out there for nearly two months. None of this is a surprise.
The whole concept of these "all-in" deals is that the big-time schools sacrifice some of their potential earnings for completely equal revenue sharing with the smaller-market schools. The Pac-12, Big Ten, and ACC all throw their money into one big pot and cut everyone the same check. USC gets as much as WSU, Michigan gets the same amount as Northwestern, and FSU gets the same check Wake Forest does. etc. There are no other television or digital rights to monetize. They are all in. The SEC may end up going that route, but the details of Project SEC are still kind of under wraps.
The Big 12 decided to go a different route. We get paid nearly the same amount for our core rights (Tier 1 & 2) that the Pac-12 does ($20.8 million vs. $20 million). However, we don't throw our Tier 3 into a pot like they do, nor do we have a CCG to monetize. Texas gets $15 million for the LHN on top of the "core" rights. So, their total payout will be $35 million. OU, depending on how much they get for their Tier 3 (let's assume it's around $8-10 million), get as much, or more, than Pac-12 schools. Hell, KU, who commands somewhere between $7-9 million for their Tier 3 rights (due to all of those locally broadcasted non-con basketball games on JTV), will pull in roughly the same revenue as USC, UCLA, and Oregon. KSU, who probably commands somewhere in the $3-5 million range for K-StateHD.tv and our Tier 3 basketball games (I'm just guessing) will make as much as most Big Ten teams and nearly $7-9 million more, annually, than teams like Florida State, North Carolina, Virgina Tech, and Duke.
See, the key here is that the schools that we anchor our conference around have an extremely competitive core compensation package and a flexible Tier 3 structure that allow them to make tremendous sums of money. They don't have to sacrifice value for the sake of solidarity. We threw all of that crap out the door two years ago. That's why Florida State is on the table; presuming we can get another team to come with them that can keep us at our $20 million value for Tier 1/2, they can monetize their Tier 3 rights and make roughly $10 million more annually than they are now, and that's not including Champions Bowl revenue, CCG revenue, Playoff revenue, bowl revenues (that will be higher than the ACC), etc.
The Big 12's TV deal is excellent, and the flexible Tier 3 structure puts attractive schools (even Notre Dame in doomsday scenarios) into play because we don't force big-time programs to revenue share with schools that can't command that type of value on the open market.
So, in other words, everyone calm the eff down.
