B1G Offseason To-Do

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Posted on ESPN.com today by Adam Rittenberg, this B1G to-do list brings up some interesting discussion points as we hit the offseason full force.

Here's what he said about Nebraska:

4. Complete Nebraska's integration: All indications so far suggest Nebraska's transition to the Big Ten is going well. It's important for both sides to complete the process without any snags before Nebraska becomes a full Big Ten member on July 1. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and others acknowledge Penn State's transition two decades ago didn't go as smoothly as it could have. It's important for the Big Ten to finalize future schedules and any other logistics before Big Red comes storming in.
Regarding the bolded, I wonder what potential "snags" there are. He mentioned finalizing schedules and other logistics, but what about money, contracts, etc?

 
Posted on ESPN.com today by Adam Rittenberg, this B1G to-do list brings up some interesting discussion points as we hit the offseason full force.

Here's what he said about Nebraska:

4. Complete Nebraska's integration: All indications so far suggest Nebraska's transition to the Big Ten is going well. It's important for both sides to complete the process without any snags before Nebraska becomes a full Big Ten member on July 1. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and others acknowledge Penn State's transition two decades ago didn't go as smoothly as it could have. It's important for the Big Ten to finalize future schedules and any other logistics before Big Red comes storming in.
Regarding the bolded, I wonder what potential "snags" there are. He mentioned finalizing schedules and other logistics, but what about money, contracts, etc?
I would think there could be many "snags" in a transition like this, but I am sure they have been addressed or at least identified before the move. I would think there would more snags with getting away from the Big 12 than joining the Big 10.

 
On the B12 side, Ubben had this to say:

2. Keep the balance at the top (a.k.a. forget about Nebraska). The Huskers are done playing football in the Big 12. Everyone else can't just get rolled by Texas and Oklahoma. Texas was obviously way down in 2010, but it was the only Big 12 team in the top 20 in late 2009, when it went undefeated and made it to the national championship game. Oklahoma will be a national title contender in 2011, but the reigning Big 12 champion lost to Texas A&M and Missouri in 2010. The Aggies and Oklahoma State look like solid Big 12 contenders in 2011, and they'll need to hang around the top 10 to help keep the Huskers' absence out of mind.
All I gotta say is Nebraska will be missed.

 
Posted on ESPN.com today by Adam Rittenberg, this B1G to-do list brings up some interesting discussion points as we hit the offseason full force.

Here's what he said about Nebraska:

4. Complete Nebraska's integration: All indications so far suggest Nebraska's transition to the Big Ten is going well. It's important for both sides to complete the process without any snags before Nebraska becomes a full Big Ten member on July 1. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and others acknowledge Penn State's transition two decades ago didn't go as smoothly as it could have. It's important for the Big Ten to finalize future schedules and any other logistics before Big Red comes storming in.
Regarding the bolded, I wonder what potential "snags" there are. He mentioned finalizing schedules and other logistics, but what about money, contracts, etc?
I would think there could be many "snags" in a transition like this, but I am sure they have been addressed or at least identified before the move. I would think there would more snags with getting away from the Big 12 than joining the Big 10.
I completely agree with you on that one. Considering how much $$$ we're dishing to the B12 and the fact we won't get the full amount from the B1G for at least awhile, I prone to think there's even less room for error with the financials.

 
Posted on ESPN.com today by Adam Rittenberg, this B1G to-do list brings up some interesting discussion points as we hit the offseason full force.

Here's what he said about Nebraska:

4. Complete Nebraska's integration: All indications so far suggest Nebraska's transition to the Big Ten is going well. It's important for both sides to complete the process without any snags before Nebraska becomes a full Big Ten member on July 1. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and others acknowledge Penn State's transition two decades ago didn't go as smoothly as it could have. It's important for the Big Ten to finalize future schedules and any other logistics before Big Red comes storming in.
Regarding the bolded, I wonder what potential "snags" there are. He mentioned finalizing schedules and other logistics, but what about money, contracts, etc?
It has to do more with making sure they've communicated compliance standards, B10 rules etc and that we clearly understand them and are in compliance so there aren't any issues that come up. And they understand our practices so they can ensure us that we're doing things by their book. There are also a few things regarding financial agreements that need to be ironed out. It was stated publicly that neither the B10 or its current members or NU would be making any less than they were before entering the agreement for NU to join. And with the addition of the championship game that was taken care of. The its like of like when they say a player agreed in principle to a deal there are just a few minor details that wont make or break it. Its not to say that they pull the offer to be a B10 school and we're screw. That's been agreed and voted upon before the presser. They can't pull the offer now.

I think the only thing that really changed is the length of time until NU becomes full member and that was lengthened a year or two from initial estimates but that happened when we had to kind of put them on the spot. When they were courting us it was shorter than when we had to sh#t or get off the pot with the B12. It still wasn't a huge deal because we won't be making any less than we were with the B12 other than how we pay the penalty. I won't even get into how Harvey Perlman screwed us on that one. I'm far from his biggest fan for that. But to me 1.5 million looked a lot better as the penalty until he opened his mouth than what it ended up being.

 
I won't even get into how Harvey Perlman screwed us on that one. I'm far from his biggest fan for that. But to me 1.5 million looked a lot better as the penalty until he opened his mouth than what it ended up being.
I'd like to hear more about this. I think we had a great case for not paying a dime, and the remaining Big XII schools had a lot of reasons not to let this turn into a public battle - embarrassing reasons, for some. I was very surprised to hear that we're paying to leave. What happened? Why didn't we tell them to sue us? I don't think they would. Did the Big10 influence that situation at all, as in, they didn't want to be party to a messy divorce?

 
I won't even get into how Harvey Perlman screwed us on that one. I'm far from his biggest fan for that. But to me 1.5 million looked a lot better as the penalty until he opened his mouth than what it ended up being.
I'd like to hear more about this. I think we had a great case for not paying a dime, and the remaining Big XII schools had a lot of reasons not to let this turn into a public battle - embarrassing reasons, for some. I was very surprised to hear that we're paying to leave. What happened? Why didn't we tell them to sue us? I don't think they would. Did the Big10 influence that situation at all, as in, they didn't want to be party to a messy divorce?
Im guessing Nebraska didnt want to be associated with Big12 any longer then they had too. Just pay the exit fee and get the heck out. Taking the thing to court would just drag the thing out with appeals, plus lawyer fees and what not.

Maybe the BigTen did influence this decision by offering to pay part of the exit fee since Nebraska wasnt gonna become a full member for few years. :dunno

 
I won't even get into how Harvey Perlman screwed us on that one. I'm far from his biggest fan for that. But to me 1.5 million looked a lot better as the penalty until he opened his mouth than what it ended up being.
I'd like to hear more about this. I think we had a great case for not paying a dime, and the remaining Big XII schools had a lot of reasons not to let this turn into a public battle - embarrassing reasons, for some. I was very surprised to hear that we're paying to leave. What happened? Why didn't we tell them to sue us? I don't think they would. Did the Big10 influence that situation at all, as in, they didn't want to be party to a messy divorce?
Short version:

HP opened his mouth at the wrong time during the exit negotiations. He did this story for the OWH http://www.omaha.com/article/20100830/BIGRED/708309872 and at the time the B12 was pretty much clueless as to what just hit them thinking the B10 was a poacher so to speak. We basically had the B12 over the barrel stating we were put in a bad position with 6 schools looking to bail and we were protecting ourselves yada, yada, yada. Remember they wouldn't agree to commit to the B12 more than 2 years and refused to give up their TV rights to show they were committed. We pretty much established it was a survival choice for us. We were threatening to ask for B12 emails and correspondence with President of Texas (which ESPN is currently in a legal battle for) It was very one sided and as I understand it we were down to trying to figure out if it would be a 1.5 million or closer to 3 million as an exit fee to at least let the B12 save some face. If he had put that off for 2 weeks we're much better off.

The league had no idea about the meetings between B10 and NU before the Big 12 meetings. The call Perlman made to force the timeline etc. It wasn't even known that we had actually contacted them to let them know we would be interested in the B10 the year before. Then that story comes out and they are like. . . please explain this to us. It changed everything because even though the B10 did pursue us it showed that we has some responsibility in what transpired because of our actions before the B12 meetings.

 
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