Do You Think ESPN Is Trying To Destroy The Big 12?

Do You Think ESPN Is Trying To Destroy The Big 12? | Sports Takes & News | TooAthletic.com

Click Here For The Best Twitter Reactions

The fight for the survival of the Big 12 Conference has drawn in an interesting party, ESPN. That’s because the conference believes the four-lettered network is pulling strings behind the scenes in regards to teams joining the SEC. While the network is denying all the rumors, the fact is that ESPN will benefit from Oklahoma and Texas moving to the SEC, so having them play matchmaker for other schools is not out of the realm of possibility. So, in short, do you believe ESPN is trying to destroy the Big 12 Conference for their own gain?

First came word that Oklahoma and Texas would not discuss renewing their media contracts with the Big 12, and then came the reason why since both the Sooners and Longhorns are expected to join the Southeastern Conference as soon as possible. 

.@SINow has obtained the cease and desist letter that the Big 12 sent to ESPN.

In it, commissioner Bob Bowlsby says that ESPN has reached out to at least one of the eight remaining Big 12 members in an attempt to convince the school to leave in wake of the Texas and OU exit. pic.twitter.com/j50gEBPWBY

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) July 28, 2021

On Wednesday the conference’s commissioner Bob Bowlsby wrote ESPN a “cease and desist” warning for the network to stop offering incentives to other conferences to invite the remaining Big 12 schools to join their conferences. The inference being that ESPN was trying to move schools where they wanted them for their own financial gains.

ESPN responded by stating:

“The accusations (The Big 12 Conference) made are entirely without merit.”

Bowlsby told the Associated Press Wednesday, his “cease and desist” order was sent because he had “absolute certainty” regarding what ESPN was doing.

Far be it for me to accuse a sports network of trying to influence which conference certain college football programs are playing in, but does anyone besides me think the timing of ESPN outbidding CBS for all SEC games shortly before Oklahoma and Texas announced it would be joining that conference looks a little bit like insider trading? Do we really need to look much further than the ESPN Campus in Bristol, Connecticut to understand why the Big 12 Conference is likely in the final years of their existence? Television pays the bills for college football and now with schools needing to compete even harder for top recruits who are able to make money off the field, making sure your school’s mascot and logo are on the biggest stages in the sport is now more important than ever.

Of course ESPN is trying to knock off the Big 12 Conference because they have a deal with Fox Sports … and guess what, Fox and ESPN are competitors! When ESPN didn’t broadcast hockey games and NBC did … you didn’t really see many hockey highlights on ESPN, but don’t you think that will change now that ESPN has the rights to some hockey games?

The SEC is taking the two premiere programs from an otherwise boring conference and adding them to their own power conference. This is an example of survival of the fittest where the strong advance and the weaker programs won’t.

This is playing Monopoly with real sports teams, colleges and players, so why it is so “shocking” that the people with the most to gain are trying to move the pieces around the board to their own benefit is beyond me. So, for those of you who think that because they are in the sports business that ESPN should act any differently than the rest of the corporate world are kidding themselves, including those of you who are visiting the Big 12 for the last time in the years to come. This is a battle sports fans, and in any battle, only the strong survive. 

Click Here For The Best Twitter Reactions

About TooAthletic
TooAthletic Takes is the News division of TooAthletic. Launched in 2019, TooAthletic Takes is a source for all your sports takes. TooAthletic Takes will make you laugh, cry, get mad, and even call us “idiots.” We strive to give our readers another viewpoint on any sports situation, and we look forward to disagreements with the hopes that it leads to healthy discussions and debates.

TooAthletic Takes aspires to be the #1 source for all sports takes, and become a leader in sports media.

Categories

“What If” Takes

Boxing Takes

Dumb Sports Takes

Either/Or Takes

ESPN Takes

Fantasy Football Takes

Fox Sports Takes

Funny Sports Highlights

Funny Sports Takes

High School Highlights

Lists

Memes & GIFs

MLB Takes

NBA Highlights

NBA Takes

NCAA Sports Highlights

NCAA Takes

NFL Highlights

NFL Takes

NHL Takes

Predictions

Question Takes

Racing Takes

Rafael’s NFL Betting Picks

Sports Gambling Takes

Sports Movie Reviews

Sports News

Sports Quotes

Survivor Pool Picks

TooAthletic Takes

UFC Takes

Voting

Worried/Not Worried About Takes

XFL Takes

Do You Think ESPN Is Trying To Destroy The Big 12? | TooAthletic.com

The post Do You Think ESPN Is Trying To Destroy The Big 12? appeared first on TOOATHLETIC TAKES.

----------------------------------------

By: Rafael Thomas
Title: Do You Think ESPN Is Trying To Destroy The Big 12?
Sourced From: tooathletic.com/do-you-think-espn-is-trying-to-destroy-the-big-12/
Published Date: Mon, 02 Aug 2021 16:59:57 +0000

Read More