Things just went from weird to weirder.
Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe conducted a press conference indicating that the buyout money from Nebraska and Colorado would not be distributed between the remaining 10 schools but instead go to Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.
The Big 12 bylaws say that money would be distributed evenly but Beebe says they will do otherwise. Here's Beebe, in his own words:
"Those five (Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Baylor and Missouri) were willing to hold out -- this hasn't been completed yet [because] there's a lot of last-minute scrambling - but part of their thinking is that we'll hold out the distribution [money] that would have gone to us (the Big 12 conference) from those member institutions and use that to help Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Texas hopefully stay in the conference."
Translation: We'll give the Nebraska and Colorado buyout money -- reported to be in the $20 million range -- to Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma to convince them to stay in the conference.
And what does Missouri AD Mike Alden think about that?
"Let me nip that one right in the butt. There is no accuracy to that whatsoever."
Uh...Dan Beebe says it is. The Associated Press wrote about the story. The Kansas City Star, too. ESPN, SI. Everyone knew what Dan Beebe said.
Alden, however, says he had not heard that.
"None of us in our league would believe that because we believe our bylaws."
"Money that comes into the conference is shaped by conference policy and it's the board of directors that will determine what happens to any money coming into the conference."
Considering the way Missouri officials and Beebe have conducted themselves throughout this process -- or at least the perception of the way they've conducted themselves -- I think this is par for the course. We'll keep updating with more from the Missouri press conference.
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