Breakups are never easy. There’s a lot of playing of “who said what,” deciding who gets to keep the dog, whom has to share which streaming password with whom, among other things. Breakups are made even worse when one side has a “glow up” while the other side is left to pick up the pieces.
Consider Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby in the latter category following Texas and Oklahoma leaving for the SEC, and he is not going down without slinging some mud at ESPN, per a letter obtained by Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger.
In the letter, Bowlsby accuses ESPN, who is one of the conference’s media partners, of orchestrating the exit of Big 12 Conference members. He also claims to know that ESPN has “been in active discussions with at least one other conference” about poaching other members from the Big 12.
That is not a great look. A lot of eyes are already on Bowlsby for harboring an environment that is on the verge of collapse after the two marquee members of the conference took their toys to go play in a nicer yard. Speculation has run rampant about whether the Big 12 will operate as an eight-team league, look to add geographic and historic fits like Houston and SMU, or if it will disband completely, leaving its member institutions pining for life rafts from another conference.
If Bowlsby’s allegations are true, it would be damning. ESPN already dominates college football TV rights, and if they are trying to manipulate the college football landscape behind the scenes, it would certainly complicate a number of things other than just public perception. If the school in question followed the wishes of the powerful network, it could ultimately make sustaining the Big 12 an untenable task.
As for ESPN, the network had a very simple response to Stewart Mandel of The Athletic.