Nebraska comes to agreement with Big 12
The Nebraska Cornhuskers have come to an agreement with the Big 12 in terms of fees needing to be paid to the conference, due to Nebraska’s early departure to the Big 10. The conference will be withholding $9.255 million in distribution payments from the university.
The figure is much better than the first proposed number of $19.4 million when the Cornhuskers originally announced they would be exiting the conference.
Nebraska accepted an invitation to join the Big 10 in 2011 during the summer. The decision violated a rule voted on by Big 12 participants, stating that teams were required to give two years notice before they left the conference. The fine for the failure to
inform the Big 12 commissioner two years in advance was decided to be a forfeiture of 80% of projected distributions.
The figure of just over $9 million can be reduced if Nebraska is able to qualify for a BCS bowl game this season. The number would be reduced to $8.755 million, because bowl games help to generate an extra $4-$5 million for the conference. At this point the
prospect of getting into a bowl game looks good for the Cornhuskers who sit at 3-0 and are ranked sixth in the nation.
The conflict between the two sides was settled outside of court. However, for a point it looked as though the two sides would enter litigation over the issue.
Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman believed that Nebraska had a case in court, but in the end was happy the issue was resolved, saying. “I’m disappointed as an academic that my curiosity about the legal claims won’t be resolved. But when you look at everything,
I think it made sense in this setting to get this behind us and avoid the risks of litigation.”
With Nebraska’s departure the Big 12 is set to become a 10-team league, as Colorado recently accepted an invitation to join the PAC-10 next season.
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