Big 12 new revenue and its new members

The Big 12 conference recently announced a record-high $426 million to its current members. This may come as a shock after both Oklahoma and Texas announced their move to the SEC, causing some to believe that it would weaken or destroy the Big 12. It seems that the Big 12 has the potential to not only stay afloat but even grow for the foreseeable future. With a 20 percent increase over last year, this money will be vital not just to current members but also to the new members’ growth. This 40 million per school is a drastic increase for the AAC member schools joining as out of the three, Cincinnati being the highest-paid, was only awarded 9.44 million. Brigham Young still sees an increase but only around a million more as they made $39 million in their own personal TV deals. This will play a pivotal role in the development of the newcomers. What these schools have done with their current budgets is nothing beyond impressive, but some schools have caused them to run at a loss as we all know Football isn’t cheap. With increased revenue, we will see quite a few incoming renovations among some of the new members as both Central Florida and UC have plans for massive projects. Central Florida is currently looking at upgrading their stadium and UC is both looking at potential expansion of Nippert stadium as well as creating a new indoor training facility. Increased revenue and brand new facilities will also help with recruiting. As most college football fans know, recruiting is the lifeblood of the sport and will play an important role in keeping the Big 12 in competition with the other power five conferences. With the greater resources being allocated I see no reason for the new members to not only thrive but also compete both heavily in the conference and in college football overall. These new members have already pulled off impressive seasons with minimal resources and I’m excited to see what they can do with a larger pool of money and new facilities.