Yuk yuk yuk.

The past couple of weeks have been a roller coaster for college athletics. In case you missed the party, rumors and speculation erupted regarding a possible realignment of several college conferences with the Big 12 right in the middle of the action. Nebraska left for the Big 10. Colorado left for the Pac-10. Most signs pointed toward seeing Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State join the Pac-10 to form a super-conference, leaving Baylor and the rest of the Big 12 North out in the cold. Another possibility had A&M joining the SEC instead, breaking up the 100-year-old rivalry with UT. As a Baylor alum and fan (yes, despite our struggles in the one sport that Texans care about most), this prospect disappointed me. Baylor would most likely be forced to join a lower-profile conference, possibly the Mountain West, which would reduce Baylor’s TV revenue, recruitment success, and player convenience due to unfavorable time zone changes and long distances to travel. Even worse from a fan’s perspective, we would lose the rivalries we have developed with Texas, A&M, and Tech.

I don’t know whether the Bears just prayed harder or the whole realignment scenario was simply a ploy to get more money, but apparently the meltdown of the Big 12 has been canceled, or at least postponed. Texas, the power player in the conference, chose not to join the Pac-10, and the other remaining Big 12 schools followed suit. Somehow the Big 12 is going to receive a huge boost in TV revenue that the remaining 10 schools will share. Baylor’s TV revenue will roughly double, we stay in a high-profile conference, and we get to keep our rivalries and maintain an easier travel schedule for the players. I am very happy, as are most of the Baylor fans.

College Football News posted a nice article that analyzes the situation in more depth.