The University of Colorado, which announced earlier this summer that it was leaving the Big 12 Conference to join the Pac 10 Conference, has decided to remain affiliated with the Big 12 for two more seasons.
With the University of Nebraska leaving for the Big Ten after the 2010-11 season, this means the Big 12 will go from 12 to 11 member schools in 2011 before becoming a 10-team conference in 2012.
A source close to Colorado school officials said the school decided to remain in the Big 12 an extra year for financial reasons. Colorado and the Big 12 have not reached an agreement on how much of the conference-generated revenue (income paid to the school from television contracts, bowl games and NCAA basketball tournament games) would be withheld from the Buffaloes as a penalty for its planned disaffiliation from the Big 12, the source said.
According to the Big 12 Conference bylaws, Colorado would reduce its financial penalty by 30 percent by staying in the league two years instead of leaving after the 2010-11 academic year like Nebraska. If Colorado were to leave the Big 12 after this coming season, the school would forfeit 80 percent of its conference-generated revenue. By waiting until the following year, the penalty rate is reduced to 50 percent.
Based on the most recent financial figures available from the Big 12, the Buffaloes would forfeit approximately $9 million to $14 million over the next two years.
It also was reported this week that Colorado has agreed to a 2011 nonconference game with Ohio State that will be played at the Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio. For agreeing to come to Columbus, Ohio State reportedly will pay Colorado $1.4 million. That will help offset a portion of what the Buffaloes are expected to lose in financial penalties for leaving the Big 12.
Colorado’s decision to remain in the Big 12 one more year than Nebraska does create potential scheduling problems for the conference in both football and basketball. Big 12 officials were already planning to go to a 10-team schedule, eliminate the two-division format as well as a championship game in football.
With this latest development, the conference will probably go ahead with its plans for a nine-game conference schedule in football, beginning in the 2011 season. This would mean scheduling only three nonconference games instead of four and, for the 2011 season only, every conference team would play nine of the ten teams in the league, which could stir up all kinds of controversy depending on who is left off of whose schedule.
Insofar as the conference postseason basketball tournament, for the 2011-12 season, it is likely that first-round byes will be awarded to the five highest-seeded teams instead of four as it was when there were 12 teams in the league. The remaining six conference teams (those seeded sixth through11th) would play first-round games.
This may be a highly prudent move for Colorado from a financial perspective. But in reality, it only prolongs the inevitable, and actually ends up penalizing the 10 schools that will be staying put in the Big 12.
Any way you slice it, dice it, turn it over or fumble it, it’s going to be an interesting two-year farewell tour for the Buffaloes.
For more information:
Big 12 Conference official website
University of Colorado athletic website
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