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http://www.columbiatribune.com/weblo...s-talk-big-12/

Here are some of the highlights from Tuesday’s news conference at Mizzou Arena featuring Missouri Athletic Director Mike Alden, Chancellor Brady Deaton and UM System President Gary Forsee. We’ll have much more coverage in Wednesday’s Tribune:

● First things first, Deaton stated the Big Ten never extended an offer for Missouri to join its conference. MU officials explored the possibility and studied the numbers, Deaton said, but an offer never arrived. Later, Alden tried to trace the origin of the Big Ten speculation, which of course started when MU officials didn’t initially deny MU’s interest in changing conferences. Alden admitted as much and agreed it might have been the wrong approach.

“When this all started to bubble in December, I think our fans developed a thought that and an expectation that the Big Ten was a league that was going to invite Mizzou,” he said. ‘By us not coming out and reinforcing that message that we have not received an offer from the Big Ten or that we needed to only focus what we were doing in the Big 12, certainly I can understand how that fueled the desires and the angst of our fans. For those out there who thought about that, the reality is we did not receive an offer from the Big Ten Conference. When we heard about conference expansions, we did our due diligence and did all the things necessary to make sure we were moving forward … but at the end of the day the Big 12 Conference is where we’ve been and … where we continue to be.”

“The speculation out there needed to be talked about and needed to be directly refuted,” he added. “What happens with your fan base, and I understand this, they’re sitting around going, ‘Maybe, maybe.’ Then at the end it’s like, ‘Holy cow, what’s going on?’ That’s an unfortunate occurrence.”

● Alden’s and Deaton’s thoughts seemed to conflict with Commissioner Dan Beebe’s regarding the league revenue that will be withheld from Nebraska and Colorado … and, according to Beebe earlier in the day, conceded to Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma by the five schools who weren’t being pursued by other conferences: Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri. All three MU officials seemed to be finessing non-answers to the question of whether the five schools agreed to concede those funds to the other three.

“Our understanding on that was … there were institutions in our league that had opportunities to go elsewhere," Alden said, "and doing that, mostly likely — you’d have to ask Dan about that — there were opportunities for them to perhaps generate more revenue share than they’re currently getting. So we wanted to make sure that wasn’t necessarily an issue for them. If there was a way we could assist, we were more than happy to be able to assist in that fashion with the league. But, again, in our projections it’s going to be a moot point. It’s not going to be necessary but we were willing to do that.” I’ll explore that topic more in Wednesday’s Tribune.

● There will be no changes to the revenue distribution model the Big 12 has been using for TV revenue, Alden said. “And that puts the onus on Mizzou to win more games,” Alden added. More important than winning games is scheduling attractive ones, and I can’t imagine a new conference schedule that will include Oklahoma and Texas every year will inspire Alden and Gary Pinkel to strengthen the nonconference slate. In fact, I’d be surprised if MU doesn’t go straight cupcake on the three noncon games. Arizona State better have a fat buyout in its two-year deal, especially if the nine-game Big 12 schedule goes into effect in 2011.

● Alden reiterated the point made earlier in the day at Texas and by Beebe that there is no new finalized television agreement, but the league has assured the remaining 10 schools that consultants project a new deal that will be more lucrative than the current agreements, with the potential to be the second-highest revenue generating league in the country, Deaton said.

● There will be no changes to the way the Big 12 bowls select their Big 12 participants, Alden said.

● Some of the North Division ADs met in Kansas City on Tuesday and they discussed conference scheduling issues, non-conference scheduling, exit fees and eliminating the North-South divisions. That's a distinction Alden is in favor of erasing. "The quicker we can get away from the North and South divisions, to say, 'We're the Big 12 Conference, it doesn't matter where we're at,' the better. I think this will help facilitate that. ... We choose to believe the league will be stronger."

● Alden does not expect the conference’s name to change. “Big 12. Big 12,” he said. “It’s a great brand and we’re going to keep moving with that.”
● I asked Alden that if the future of the Big 12 is so promising, does he believe Nebraska or Colorado will regret leaving? “I don’t know,” he said. “Those two institutions made decisions that they felt were in their best interest. To us, we think the Big 12 is clearly one of the strongest leagues in the country. They were valued members. Will they regret not being here? I don’t know. I have tremendous respect for Coach Osborne. Tremendous respect for him. … We think the Big 12 is as strong as there is in the country and we’re just proud to be a part of it.”