Nebraska's Journey to the Big 10.

by Aaron Musfeldt on Aug 30, 2010 6:41 PM CDT

A fantastic article published in the Sunday Omaha World Herald describes, in fairly good detail, how Nebraska and the Big 10 ended up happening.

Osborne had opposed the relocation of the conference offices from Kansas City to Dallas. He also fought anchoring the conference title game in Dallas, preferring it move between cities in the north and the south.

But Perlman didn't really share those geographic concerns. In fact, he actually would end up voting to play the title game in Dallas for the next several years. "I wasn't prepared to sit in Kansas City in the cold,'' Perlman said.

And on the issues of greatest import, "Nebraska was getting largely what it wanted,'' Perlman said.

While some schools complained about the league's unequal distribution of revenue from network TV contracts, Nebraska wasn't among them. It joined Texas as a strong proponent of giving big-time football schools — those most appealing to the networks — a bigger slice of the pie.

Again, reiterating the fact that Missouri was crying about the unequal revenue sharing and that Nebraska was thrown into the mix simply because both schools were Big 10 candidates and, thus, both schools must have had a problem with revenue sharing.

While many have blamed Texas and its plans to start its own Longhorn TV network as the reason a Big 12 network never got off the ground, Nebraska wasn't on board with a conference network, either. Nebraska's support was conditional on the high-profile schools taking a larger cut of that revenue, too — a condition some schools strongly opposed.

As a result of those talks, Nebraska, like Texas, was now moving to create its own network. A consultant's study had concluded that a Husker network would succeed and bring in seven-figure revenue on top of what Nebraska was getting from major network telecasts.

Perlman said NU was on track to have its network running by the fall of 2011 — actually ahead of Texas' timetable.

Nebraska likes to make money too.

To this day, Perlman, Osborne and Delany won't say where they met on May 25.

Perlman will describe it only as "a very remote private location'' far from both Big Ten country and Nebraska. It's a secret, Perlman said, because the Big Ten may use it for future business.

They went to considerable lengths to keep the meeting under wraps.

Because Osborne is a well-known figure who tends to attract attention, it was agreed he and the chancellor would fly separately. Perlman was joined by Joel Pedersen, the university's general counsel. Few on any of their staffs knew the reason for their travel.

After staying overnight in a city and eating breakfast separately to preserve their low profile, Perlman and Osborne received cell calls summoning them to meet a car outside. They then rode to a rural location about an hour outside the city.

They were greeted by Delany, Big Ten Deputy Commissioner Brad Traviolia and the conference's legal counsel.

Cloak and Dagger shit. I can see the casting for the movie now. Arnold Schwarzenegger as Jim Delany, Al Pacino as Harvey Perlman, Master Yoda as Tom Osborne and Tom Cruise as Chip Brown.

Great read. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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Nice read

Nebraska likes to make money too.

They’re gonna love the BTN then – the shared revenue growth projections before adding Nebraska were incredible.

Cloak and Dagger shit.

Incredible, huh? Kudos to all for having sense to keep it quiet as long as possible.

The attraction was becoming mutual. Delany says Nebraska’s stock rose significantly during that May 25 meeting. His parting words convinced Perlman that Nebraska was now a serious candidate.

This seems to be a common theme. CIC affiliation has been a carrot to attract the academic staff and presidents of almost every University mentioned (even ND faculty were in heavy favor when it almost came to fruition in the early 90s). Apparently membership has its privleges.

During the showdown at Big 12 meetings a week later, Perlman tried hard to keep Nebraska’s options open but left facing a one-week ultimatum instead.

How’d that work out for ya Bif12? Somehow I don’t think the rest of the Big12 expected the results that came out – they were hoping to catch the Huskers and the Big Ten unprepared as they tried to hide their own discussions and intent.

"I don’t know what you guys are thinking,‘’ Perlman recalls saying. "But if you think about looking west, Nebraska would be interested in at least having a conversation with you.’’ Delany said he appreciated the interest from Perlman and then talked briefly about the Big Ten’s timeline, set at 12 to 18 months. Delany did not betray any particular interest in Nebraska. But as Perlman would later recall, Delany didn’t give him the brushoff, either.

The darth shows no emotion, but you know he had to be floored with this coming from nowhere (he had probably spent the day hiding from Missouri Administrators). The Gee e-mails don’t hint at there being other interest in Texas, etc.

"We didn’t have an endgame in mind or an end institution in mind,‘’ he said. And in the end, "there was only one serious dance with one institution.’’

Busted! The Illini AD noted 13 or 14 inquiries, 7 or 8 programs looked at really hard, 4 or 5 that made economic sense.

By that point, Delany said, many schools had reached out to the Big Ten. But now the league would take the next step and sit down with schools it had interest in. Delany won’t disclose which, or how many, schools were on that list.

The illini noted 4 or 5. Lets see – UT and TA&M (Gee e-mails), ND (the key is under the mat anytime they want in). The other 2 hold the answer to future expansion – I am guessing Syracuse is 1 of them based on Illini AD comments and uber BTN subscription revenue. There are lots of candidates for the 5th.

Perlman will describe it only as "a very remote private location’’ far from both Big Ten country and Nebraska. It’s a secret, Perlman said, because the Big Ten may use it for future business.

I confess – it was my living room here in Alaska.

The Big Ten contingent went through a PowerPoint presentation detailing the Big Ten, its TV network, projections on future revenues, conference traditions and values and what it was looking for in a new member.

An assistant was assigned to wipe the druel from Perlman’s chin.

Osborne and Perlman had decided against PowerPoints or flashy videos playing the school fight song. They talked through what they thought were the "high points’’ of Nebraska and went through a series of documents outlining information requested by the Big Ten.

WHAT? No pie charts? Y’all really, really need the benefits of CIC membership.

by ProveIt on Sep 10, 2010 8:33 PM CDT reply actions