Has Delany/B1G done more for Nebraska than the Big XII?

VectorVictor

VectorVictor

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The Ivan Maisel thread saying how more and more he likes Nebraska going to the B1G and how harmonious the marriage will likely be got me thinking about our contentious history with the Big XII conference and how little the conference has done for Nebraska.

Perhaps I'm not being subjective, but I'm really struggling to find examples of benefits the Big XII actually provided to or acquiesced to Nebraska that DoNU didn't already have...so other than the marginal improvements to television exposure (and even those are debatable with the advent of Fox Sports PPV games...), what did the Big XII actually do for Nebraska?

 
That's a pretty good question that I'm not sure I have the answer to. But, I do know the Big 10 has blown the Big 12 out of the water as far as conference unity and acceptance is concerned. Case in point, instead of shunning our tradition of playing our last regular season game on the Friday following Thanksgiving, the Big 10 accepted it and is letting us continue to do so.

 
The big ten will potentially supply the university with many more grants and scholarship opportunities. It will potentially pay millions more per year than being in big twelve and it will provide for greater academic prestige for our students and athletes. Mainly we are now in a stabilized conference that is not on the brink of collapse.

 
The B1G treats its member schools in an even handed manner. The Big 12 is owned and operated by the University of Texas.

 
mmmtodd said:
dont forget its not all about athletics.
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Thats true, but I think most of us are looking at it from a primarily, football point of view. I thought the fact that they were cool with us still playing every friday (even though this is cause some hawkeye fans to have sand in the uterus), says alot for them.

It is still early in the goings, but I hope this pans out..

 
Well, so far the Big 10 has helped us keep tradition (our Friday after Thanksgiving game). The Big 12 destroyed tradition (terminated our OU rivalry) so that is one thing at least.

 
Well, so far the Big 10 has helped us keep tradition (our Friday after Thanksgiving game). The Big 12 destroyed tradition (terminated our OU rivalry) so that is one thing at least.

 
nuance said:
The B1G treats its member schools in an even handed manner. The Big 12 is owned and operated by the University of Texas.
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Which is nice for those not being treated fairly, but less than ideal if you're the one that gets all the special treatment, like we used to in the Big 8, and were fighting to keep with the formation of the Big XII. We're a bit hypocritical in this regard, not that it bothers me much.

 
Coqui said:
If you're a student, check out your libraries starting next year and you tell us if you received any benefits.
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Actually, it wouldn't be in the libraries, but in the increased research opportunities in the labs and educational outreach programs the B1G has that the Big XII does not care to foster.

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And yes, while I originally had football in mind when starting this thread, we should not overlook the educational benefits that the B1G brings us. IIRC, Penn State almost tripled their grant money and saved quite a bit joining the B1G's educational spending consortium. If we emulate Penn State's success, DoNU could bring a lot of money into the state and save the taxpayers money at the same time.

Conversely, did/does the Big XII have anything similar to the B1G's educational partnerships? I know we've entered into joint projects with ISU, KSU, and KU from time to time, but nothing of the magnitude the B1G provides, right?

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Back on the football side, didn't the Big XII take away partial qualifiers from Nebraska? And I don't think we can blame just the Big XII for the demise of the yearly OU/NU game--Oklahoma wanted nothing to do with us yearly when the Big XII was formed, as that was their Gibbs/Blake era. They wanted out of what they perceived to be yearly arse-whippings for the forseeable future.

And remember the Big XII removed (every other year) the conference basketball tourney from Kansas City, as well as relocated the offices to Austin North (Irving).

 
I'd say the B12 at the time it was formed gave us a greater TV exposure which aided in our branding of Nebraska Football. At the time we were in the Big 8 we were on TV 3 times a year if we were lucky and that was usually a national audience. When we joined with the Texas schools that gave us double the % of TVs watching the conference and allowed us to negotiate more TV appearances regionally and gave us better exposure to recruit our key areas. We also were kind of the lead conference in pushing for for bigger and better TV but we were just dumb on how we locked ourselves into contracts expiring at different times so in the end we played catch up to the SEC and B10 and allowed them to get ahead. But all in all the B12 did do us some good. I think we're getting into a better situation though.

I would say the league also helped us basketball wise. I don't think past AD's took advantage of this but its a damn good league. Our problem is that we treat it like a red headed step child. We wanted to be a winner then build around it with facilities when the reality is we needed to contribute to the facilities to be able to create a better opportunity for our basketball. But none the less we would have zero games on TV beside the two times we played KU if it weren't for the B12.

 
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