MASSIVE Senate Bill Saves Big 12 and ACC? SEC and Big Ten Losing Their Minds

Big 12 and ACC fans finally got a real piece of congressional movement that could reshape the future of college football. A new bipartisan Senate bill from Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell would take aim at a potential SEC/Big Ten super league, reopen the Sports Broadcasting Act conversation, create real enforcement power around revenue sharing, limit transfer chaos, cap agent fees, and even stop coaches from leaving before the season ends.

But is this bill actually enough to “save” the Big 12 and ACC? And could one part of it quietly hurt the very leagues it is supposed to protect? In this video, I break down what the bill does, why Cody Campbell and Big 12 supporters are celebrating, why SEC and Big Ten country may hate it, and whether Congress can actually get this done.

Get “Open For Business” a Big 12 newsletter sending the key headlines, interviews, and my analysis straight to your inbox. No more college football news through an SEC/Big Ten lens. If you're a Big 12 fan (or just curious), sign up below!
https://bit.ly/OFBNewsletter

For national college football coverage, subscribe to OFB College Football:
https://www.youtube.com/@OFBcollegefootball

#Big12 #ACC #CollegeFootball #SEC #BigTen #CollegeFootballPlayoff #BrettYormark #CodyCampbell #TexasTech #CollegeSports

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Cool boys, the Big 12 saved is the Big 12 saved. We got a bombshell today in the form of a Senate bill. Now, I can understand skepticism about politicians being involved in college sports. I understand skepticism about getting your hopes up about any kind of potential reform coming to college sports, but I'm telling you, this one has more legs than the Score Act or anything that we have seen before. And the reaction to this today has been wild, all over the place, and frankly, very telling about who this piece of legislation would actually impact. Is it best for the Big 12? I would tell you, I think for the Big 12 and the ACC, this is definitely more good than bad, for sure. And you can tell by the reaction of Big Ten and SEC country from what I was seeing in my Twitter mentions all day today. But there is a catch. There is a pretty big caveat and a pretty big catch to that. I think you do need to be careful with this one if you are a Big 12 fan. One thing that could come out of this is getting some great Big 12 rivalries back. All right. We are going to talk about that. And of all things, of all things, as the SEC threatens a breakaway and talks about self-governance and all of these different things, reforming the College Sports Commission. In the midst of all that, one Paul Feinbaum took the time to defend Texas Tech in the Big 12. Yes, to defend Texas Tech in the Big 12. How about that, my friends? Ladies and gentlemen, Paul Feinbaum, he who took massive shots at Iowa State and BYU recently, decided to go all in for the Red Raiders. I will play you those comments later on in the show today. So we've got a lot. We got a lot to cover, a lot to get to, uh, my friends. Listen, as always, welcome in. Thank you for being here. It is the Open for Business Big 12 podcast. It is a live YouTube show. If you were listening on podcasts, this is a live YouTube show coming at you earlier than normal today on Wednesday because of my schedule and because of the urgency of the moment. I would have just waited until Thursday to do the show, but this was important enough. I felt like it needed to get out here. So here we are. Of course, like and subscribe. That definitely helps. If you're listening on the podcast platforms, subscribe, continue to listen, share it with a friend. All of that stuff helps. We keep growing there. Thank you, all of you who are doing that. But it also really helps here on YouTube. And you can chat along in the live chat. I see you, Kviser. I see you, Fongway. Thank you for being here. You guys fill up the chat. If you want to submit a super chat, you can do so by clicking the dollar sign below the chat box. And uh that is a great way to support the channel. It will also guarantee that your question or comment makes it on tonight. You can hit me up on Venmo at John-Kurtz-4 as well if you want to submit a super chat there. I will kick off the next show with it if you do. So uh lots of ways to keep in touch. That's a great way to stay a part of what is going on and part of the conversation, even if you're not able to watch live, which I certainly understand tonight because it is a little bit earlier. You can sign up for the Open for Business Big Twelve newsletter at OFBnews.com. That is OFBnews.com to get signed up there. And I think that's all the housekeeping I have. We've got a lot to get to in a short period of time, ladies and gentlemen. Uh the new bill is out. The new bill is out. Are the Big 12 and the ACC going to be saved? Are they saved now by this new Senate bill that was dropped today? It sure has SEC and Big Ten country upset, and that should tell you something. Uh, it definitely has some of the worst actors in the media space upset today, and that should tell you something. Cody Campbell is celebrating today, and that should tell you something. But will this actually go through? Is there any chance that it goes through in its current form or close to it? How much of a fight is this going to be? And even if you are a Big 12 fan or an ACC fan rooting for this, there's one huge unintended consequence you need to pay mind of. There is one way I think this actually could backfire, is a better way to say it, on the Big 12 and the ACC. So I'll cover all that in this video. After seven years of lobbying, finally there is somewhat of a breakthrough here, right? The the power conferences, folks within the college sports sphere have been lobbying for like seven years. They they wanted the score act. It basically just fell flat on its face within the last week. And now suddenly we have uh Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell introducing the Protect College Sports Act, which is a bipartisan bill. Okay, that is not something we see very often at all today in an extremely divided time. So that is something that needs to be paid attention to. This in and of itself is a step in the right direction for this bill. It's further along than the Score Act or any of the others were the Score Act or the Safe Act, because it is very much bipartisan, which the others were not. All right. So here are the key elements. And I'm gonna give you the key elements, and then we'll break down what's good for everybody, what's good for the Big 12 and the ACC, and what's bad for the Big Ten and the SEC. Uh, and then we'll get to the potential backfire here on the Big 12 and ACC. All right. Please do subscribe to the channel. It is free, it is very easy. One click, many of you watch, but don't subscribe. Helps me out if you subscribe. Thank you for doing so. Okay, this is what the bill will do if it becomes law. It would shut down any creation of a super league, stops the Big Ten and the SEC from being able to break away and form their own super league. It would open up the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. So you would have the chance to pool media rights. It's not forced, but that option would be there if 75% of the schools agreed to it. There would be legitimate enforcement power for the College Sports Commission to enforce the Rev share cap. So you would have a stringent Rev share cap. Any NIL deal above that would have to go through the College Sports Commission, and they would actually, as Ted Cruz as part of this bill put it, have teeth to enforce it. Okay, so you would have ostensibly a salary cap with all of this. There would be a one-time transfer rule. Okay, so you get to transfer one time without penalty. After that, you have to sit out a year to transfer unless your coach leaves or unless you are a graduate student. There would be five years to play five. There would be no international pro players allowed, so that would greatly affect college basketball. There would be a registry for agents, and they cannot collect more than a 5% fee. So you would have less bad actors ripping off student athletes. And there's even a Lane Kiffen rule, as it's being called here, that would ban coaches from leaving their team before the season ends. Yeah. All right. So that's a lot to digest. And you can see just how all-encompassing this is, why this is such a big deal, because that this this is pretty dramatic. This is a lot. There's a lot in this. What's good for all the schools? All right. We'll get to what's good for the Big 12 and the ACC and what really has the SEC and Big Ten up in arms here. But what's good for all the schools? I mean, the one-time transfer rule would save so much of the chaos here, right? Like if you if players then, like I theoretically, then what are you signing a player to like a three-year deal if they come in? If they have transferred from somewhere else after one year, you sign them to like a three-year deal or something. Look, there would still be the transfer portal. You would have grad transfers, you would have people using their players using their first transfer that's available to them. You'd have coaching changes every year. Stuff would still happen, but it would not be the total wild, wild west atmosphere that we are seeing right now. That to me, I think all the conferences would generally be in favor of. Now, there's an argument about what that does to the labor and the student athletes here and all that, but that seems like I think all the leagues would support that. I think all the leagues would support limiting the bad actors, the agents that are in this, limiting agent fees to 5%, creating a registry. I think everybody would support that. I would have to imagine that every league could get behind, like, hey, if you're a coach, we don't want another Lane Kiffin situation happening. You got to stick it out until the end of the year. You're not going to be able to bail on somebody. And, you know, all of these things would work to curtail some of the like insane calendar that we have right now with the portal going on during the college football playoff. Like, this could help a lot of that. That I think is the less interesting part of it because it's the stuff that would be more universally supported. All right. So what about what's the part that the Big 10 and the SEC hate that is an advantage for the Big 12 and the ACC here? I mean, I've seen a lot of it. I that favorite word subsidizing has come back around. Lots of Texas fans in my mentions today talking about this is all about subsidizing the bottom teams. And again, I think very short-sighted. To me, a lot of this is a save themselves from themselves bill for the Big Ten and the SEC to not do anything too drastic because, like it or not, admit it or not, the Big Ten and the SEC need the rest of college football and college sports, just like the rest of college sports need the Big Ten in the SEC. Clearly, everybody needs each other long term in this thing, whether they want to admit it or not. And this is a bill from people who are not associated with these leagues aimed at saving everybody from themselves. That is that is how I see this. Okay. Prevention of a super league is a part of that. And that is a big piece here that's obviously good for the Big 12 and the ACC, not good for the Big Ten and the SEC. Uh, the way that this bill would do that, it prevents any league earning more than a billion dollars in 2025 revenue from merging or consolidating with another league. Those two leagues that earned over a billion are the Big Ten and the SEC, clearly. So they can't just break off and do their own thing and say, hey, we'll do like a 40-team super league or whatever and screw the rest of you, which again, I think is going to be a bad business move for them long term. The money spigot will shut off at some point. There would be diminishing returns there. Save them from themselves. That's what I think so much of this bill is. It would also, the the other part of this is opens up the Sports Broadcasting Act. It would replicate the 1961 Act, which gives antitrust protection to the leagues to pool their media rights together. Whereas in college football, they were not a part of that. College sports were not big enough for that. So it would allow everybody to do it. Now, you'd theoretically have to get the SEC and the Big Ten on board, but a provision in this is 75% of the schools would have to agree to it in order to make it happen. Well, Andy Staples and the on-three crew did the math. 75% literally, you would get right at 75% of all Division I schools, all FBS schools, without the Big Ten in the SEC. So you could get to 75%. Now you would say, okay, well, if all of them are going to pull their rights, would that be valuable enough? I know that the point Andy Staples was making was that that could basically bully the Big Ten and the SEC into having to do it. I'm not sure that I totally see that right now, but I I may just need to listen to a little bit more of what he is saying. It would certainly put a lot more pressure on the Big Ten and the SEC to do it. And to be clear, they would make more money than they are right now, which is the whole idea of it. It would theoretically save your Olympic sports and women's sports because you everybody would generate more revenue, and then you're not going to have to be slashing sports to keep up. Okay, especially if you combine that with an actual real hard cap on the amount of money that the student athletes are making. Uh, that's gonna change the dynamics of a lot here. But the Big Ten and the SEC don't want to do this because it would lessen the gap. Like they would not have, they would make more money, but so would everybody else, and it would shorten that gap a little bit, right? They would be relinquishing some level of power by doing that if everybody pulled the broadcast rights. And, you know, Cantwell in this bill really, I mean, gives up in this, like, hey, yeah, this is definitely something aimed at. Yes, saving you guys from yourselves and helping to try and keep this thing together because she made a point to saying this, they're trying to promote regionality, and even said she hopes conferences unwind and go back basically to what they were, to where there's more regional games being played. Okay. And there were a couple, there's another huge provision we're gonna talk about with rivalries that was aimed toward that. So I don't know, man. I look at that and I say, look, these are people that understand what has made college sports great, and they want to make sure that as much of that is preserved as possible. I think it's a very earnest effort to do this. I understand the Big Ten of the SEC generally are not going to agree with that. Most of their fans probably won't because the new age just benefits them so much. But again, save them from themselves. Now, how does the Big 12 feel about all this? Because there have been statements put out that have been signed by a lot of people, notably absent Tony Petiti, Craig Sankey, same with Charlie Baker, the president of the NCAA. Here's what Brett Yormark said. All right, so the Big 12 did release a statement. On behalf of the Big 12 conference, we thank Chairman Ted Cruz and ranking member Maria Cantwell for their leadership and efforts to address challenges facing college athletics. We look forward to reviewing the legislation and providing constructive feedback as a part of the process and remain committed to empowering student athletes while helping build a sustainable future for college sports. So that statement basically is Brett Yormark at least acknowledging, hey, thanks for this. Let's take a look, let's dive in, we'll provide feedback. It was not a strong endorsement one way or the other, but it was also not a rebuttal, and it was not a, hey, we're just going to let this pass and not say anything. Uh, so that's where the Big 12 is at on it right now. And again, remember, I said there's a way I think this can backfire on the Big 12 in the ACC. So it would be wise for the Big 12 to really do its due diligence on what all is in here. Now, very debatable point before we get to what could backfire. Very debatable point. Well, uh let's let's just get to it right now. This is what could backfire, and it's a debatable point on whether or not this would like help the Big 12 in the ACC ultimately or not. It's it's having the cap, right? Having a Rev share cap and actually being able to enforce anything over the top of that with NIL, not letting it just be crazy pay for play. If we take that to its logical conclusion, which is more or less you have a salary cap there, which can go up year by year, right? That's another thing here, too. They're saying their argument to we're not preventing the student athletes from making more money is basically it can still rise. Like the cap will go up from $21.5 million where it's at right now. So it's not going to stay static. But if you do, even with the rising cap, have everybody playing by basically the same rules monetarily, this is where if I were the Big Ten of the SEC, I might actually be championing this and celebrating this because you'd be saying, especially if you're a the upper crust of one of those two conferences, because you'd be saying, hey, look, if everyone has the same amount of money, then it's just going to go back to what it used to be when we we all technically couldn't spend any money. Maybe there was some under the table, but we technically couldn't spend any money. And so, how did you win in recruiting? You won with your brand, you won with facilities, you won with coaching, you won with I can get you to the better NFL career, all of that. You know, I mean, money will still be a part and it's how you allocate it, and maybe one school is gonna give more money to one kid and then change the way they their roster distributes, but it would take away some of the advantage of a school like a Texas Tech, you know, to just money whip its way into another tier, another echelon of the sport. Uh, it's gonna curb some of that. That's where I would say if you're the Big 12, you might be a little leery here because that this to me would almost codify like, hey, stuff like what Indiana just pulled off is gonna be more difficult to do. You know, the season that Texas Tech just had would be more difficult to do, which is interesting because Cody Campbell was championing this, he was a part of this. Um, and I know, you know, I had um Chris Level on the other day from Texas Tech, who was talking about, yeah, I think part of that is just even Texas Tech, it's like people have limits. They don't want to just be spending $50 to $100 million a year on rosters in perpetuity. And so maybe there is a part of that there, but this this would kind of in a way reduce some of the parity that you're seeing in this era. So I would guess that is perhaps a part of why Brett Yormark is looking at this like, hey, we're the Big 12. Look, the Big 12 right now is even more marginalized than it was before because Texas and Oklahoma are gone. So you've lost those powers, and then now you've lost upward mobility by throwing crazy money around. Like, yes, it's gonna save you from getting weighing over your heads and having to do all this private equity, private capital stuff, and taking on all this debt and spending crazy, shh, absolutely. So, for everybody in that respect, it is good. It seems like a very unsustainable model that's going on right now. Uh, but you do lose some of the upward mobility that's been unlocked with the current era that we're actually in. All right, so will this actually pass? Will this actually pass? It's gonna be tough, right? I mean, getting anything, let's just let's start with the obvious getting anything through Congress and the Senate in 2026 is not easy. Like, that's it's probably gonna undergo changes. Um everybody is so divided on everything that even though there are four lawmakers involved here, two Republicans, two Democrats, like this is legitimately bipartisan. I still think it's gonna be really tough. There are a lot of technical challenges with it. The the White House and Trump, by the way, do they have come out totally in support of this? This all started around that meeting that was held at the White House. Okay, so they're on board with it too if it does make it there. And then, of course, I know some of you in the chat have already pointed this out. One of the other things being talked about is even if it passes, there would probably be legal challenges, which is just like, I mean, yeah, who was it? I think it was Eli Drinkwitz that made the joke at Meaty Days. Like somebody that the Big Ten didn't like a new rule about punting that's in college football. And he said, Well, they should just go find a uh find a lawyer, find a judge, take it to court. I mean, it's just like with everything. Like, it no matter what happens, there are going to be lawsuits, and so there's that component of it too. People think it wouldn't stand up to uh to legal scrutiny. Uh, and then there is a time crunch here. So hearings are expected to start next week on this thing, but your time crunch is like get it done before August or close to done before August, because then you have a recess and then you have midterms coming up, which obviously that will take everybody's attention, and then also like that could just blow that changes the who's actually gonna be there in Congress and the Senate, and then who knows you know how that changes the dynamics of the bill from there. So there's uh yeah, a lot of hurdles. But what I will say is I I continue to take the stance that this is more movement on this than we have seen ever since we've been talking about this for the last like five years and all the problems and things in college sports. There's there's not been anywhere close to this much movement on it as what we've seen in the last like six months, and it feels like progress towards something more stable. So I'm gonna take an optimistic stance on this that this can at least wind up helping somehow, some way. And it may be that the the bill gets, I'm sure there will be concessions made by people with this thing. And if you're gonna get the SEC and Big Ten on board, I mean, there's probably gonna have to be significant concessions made. I'm optimistic that this will at least do something positive, right? That more of these things that are not just grant the Big Ten and SEC blanket power and blanket immunity to do whatever they want are starting to gain momentum. So they can complain about it, they can call it communism, which I already see. Evil Badger's comment in there. I assume a Wisconsin fan. You can call it communism, you can call it uh subsidizing, whatever it is that you want to say. This is a save the Big Ten and SEC from themselves bill. Save college sports from itself, bill, but more particularly a save the Big Ten and SEC from themselves bill. All right. Uh period. End of sentence. Now, let's talk to Evil Badger here, real quick. Evil Badger, I appreciate you, my friend. Uh Evil Badger says this bill is the definition of communism led by Comrade Cody. Uh I don't know if you were listening for the whole thing, Evil Badger 72, but where we're going to disagree on this is that one, I think Chris Williams, who cut who works at Cyclone Fanatic, runs cyclone fanatic, is very, very good. You guys should all be following his stuff. He pointed out today, he's like, Look, I actually don't this is the type he said I this is the type of Thing that government should actually be looking into because it's one of the few things left in our society that brings people together, that is a pastime of so many people, fuels communities, like literally forms the economies of many, many communities across the country. It is such a good thing for the country that it bears having government responsibility looking into it. Uh, and like I agree with that. Guys, we are running out of things that we can all like agree on and enjoy together. Like, do we do not need to be cutting out a bunch of these college sports communities? That's one. But two, evil badger 72, it's that and if you are Evil Badger 72, I mean again, I assume you're a Wisconsin fan. If I'm wrong on that, let me know. But it feels pretty damn rich of a Wisconsin fan to be coming in with that take. You are not at the top of the Big Ten, my friend. You are not you're pretty replacement level Big Ten school. Now, look, I love the tradition at Wisconsin, and I don't want to have to like be demeaning here, but this is what gets really frustrating with this is when the middle to lower class of the SEC and Big Ten get really uppity about this. You simply won the geographic lottery. There's there's no difference between you and many of the Big 12 or ACC schools that are in peril here. And it's it's so 2026 society and the internet and where we're at that it's like we just look down on each other. And I'm not saying that I'm I haven't been guilty of this at times, too. It's just it's such a sad thing that we do that. And oh, by the way, have fun with that. If you don't want your communism bill here and you want to break away and get away from all the slop at the bottom that you think you're better than, talk to me in 10 years when interest is down and the TV money isn't there as much, and you're in all sorts of financial trouble because your rosters have continued to grow and grow and grow, and you're paying these like $80 million football rosters and you're cutting sports. The Big Ten and the SEC need the rest of the college football and college sports world, and the rest of the college sports world needs them. There is a reason this has worked the way that it has, and this is a save themselves from themselves bill that has been introduced here. I appreciate your support of the channel. I appreciate you being here. We're just going to disagree on that, and I just think it's very short-sighted from those who feel like they have the upper hand right now in all of this. Okay. Like the video, subscribe to the channel. Thank you, everybody who does that. Thank you, everybody who is here. Uh, we got some good stuff coming up here. Still gonna talk some rivalries, still gonna talk about Paul Feinbaum loving up the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Uh, but do subscribe to the Open for Business Big 12 newsletter at OFBnews.com. That is OFBnews.com to get signed up for that. Like and subscribe, as I said, pushing to 35k subs. That is very helpful. If you're listening on the audio platforms, that goes for you too. Uh, please do subscribe. Well, look, forget the Lane Kiffin uh the forget the Lane Kiffin rule in this new Senate bill. Uh, how about what's going on with rivalries? Okay, everyone's sidetracked by either the funny Lane Kiffin rule or all the big stuff that's happening in this bill, the SEC and the Big Ten being upset. There's a part of this that's slipped in that's very cool. We may get Kansas-Missouri back, we may get Nebraska-Colorado back on one condition. We may get West Virginia Pitt back. We could get some great Big 12 rivalries back on one condition if this bill passes. I'll explain what that condition is and why this would just be amazing. And once again, for the good of the sport, if some of these Big Ten and SEC teams have to start playing their rivals again. I will also tell you why I just listed out some of those games. Notice I did not say Bedlam. I did not say Oklahoma, Oklahoma State. Boy, on basically a technicality and a little one. We just barely miss getting Bedlam back because of this, which is a damn shame. All right. But look, the bill has been introduced, a bipartisan bill, Ted Cruz, Maria Cantwell, Republican and a Democrat. There are four lawmakers involved, two Republicans, two Democrats, bipartisan bill to make huge sweeping changes to college sports, give some antitrust protection, a really narrow antitrust protection that would be necessary. It would do things like shut down any creation of a Super League with the Big Ten in the SEC. It would allow all colleges to pool their broadcast rights together by opening up the Sports Broadcasting Act. It would basically institute a legitimate Rev share cap, more or less a legitimate salary cap. There would be a one-time transfer rule unless your coach leaves or your graduate transfer. There would be five years to play five, no international players, nobody that's played any professional sports anywhere can play in college sports. Limits agent fees to 5%, regulates them, and coaches can't leave their team before the season ends. The Lane Kiffin rule that everybody is laughing at. But with all the focus on that, again, we are missing what I think is a huge piece of this because what is one of the things that has sucked most about this era of college sports that we're in? It's that it is torn apart rivalries, conference realignment, and like we we just have lost so many of the teams that played each other forever. And that's what's great about college sports. You want to brag to your buddy at the water cooler who wears the opposite polo because it's a school that's near you and the regional rivalries and all that stuff, guys. They were trying, they were trying in this bill to help us out. Okay, so let's get to it. Please do subscribe to the channel, by the way. One click, very easy. Many of you watch, but don't subscribe. I would really appreciate it if you did. All right, Ross Dellinger. Let's get to what uh Ross Dellinger says about this. One, this is literally like the last line in his story, actually. Uh, this would re-establish regional rivalries by requiring some schools to restart rivalry games if they compete in a conference without three or more of their top ten most played opponents. This concept is only triggered if rights are pooled. So, first of all, that last sentence is important. This concept is only triggered if rights are pooled. So, this would have to be everybody pools to broadcast rights. But then they're trying to, again, encourage regional games being played. So they're saying here, and I misread this at first. So I will apologize for my stupidity earlier. Again, communications degree from a state school. I misread this. What it is saying is if you're in a conference and you have less than three of your top 10 most played opponents all time in your league, you're gonna have to go find some of those rivalries to play to fulfill that quota. All right. That's what it is. And what that unfortunately does not mean is that Oklahoma would be forced to then go back to Oklahoma State. What that unfortunately does not mean is that Texas would have to play Texas Tech or TCU or Baylor. I'll explain the technicality on that coming up. But what we could still get is like Kansas, Missouri. You guys, if you've watched the channel for a while, know how much I love the Kansas-Missouri rivalry. Complete bitter hatred goes back to the Civil War, right? That's the undertone of it. That's college sports, baby. That's what we love. West Virginia Pitt, backyard brawl. I know that's not a big tenor at SEC school being forced to play one of these rivalries, but that still could get us the backyard brawl every single year, which who is complaining about that? Again, bitter, bitter hatred, man. ESP. Like, that's absolute hatred out there. And that's that's great for college sports. That's what we love. Nebraska, Colorado. Give my goodness, give me Nebraska, Colorado back on Black Friday. I need that in my life. Like, we need that game back. Nebraska, K-State, Missoula K-State, all these teams that played each other for over 100 years. Here's a great chart uh to show what we could actually be getting here out of this. So here you go. These are all the teams, the teams that you see under the team category. Those are teams that would fall under this, where they are not right now, currently playing in a league with at least three of their 10 most played opponents all time. And you can see West Virginia, which I mean, it makes sense. West Virginia is playing zero teams in the Big 12 that sit among the 10 most played opponents of all time. So they'd have to go figure some of that out. Obviously, Pitt makes a ton of sense there. Go get me West Virginia Pitt every single year. It's crazy that that is not being played this year. If you look at the Big 12 teams there, Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, UCF, they all fall under that umbrella. It was pointed out by somebody here that one of the senators that is on this, I think it's Eric Schmidt is his name from Missouri. Well, Missouri is one of the schools that falls under this, where Missouri would suddenly have to go back and find somebody else to play because Oklahoma is the only team in the SEC that sits among top 10 most played opponents of all time. And yes, college sports would be better if Missouri would have to go play Kansas, if Missouri would have to then pick someone from Iowa State, K-State, Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma State. Let's go find in that group to play. Yes. That would be infinitely better. Hell, even if it's Illinois, even if it's Illinois, give us that rivalry. This would be a great thing. I love this part of it. Uh now, Nebraska. You see Nebraska in there too. Minnesota and Iowa are the only two schools in their conference that sit among the top 10. Look at all the schools. How about Nebraska, Oklahoma? We can go Big Ten SEC with it. That's fine. Nebraska, Oklahoma. It's a damn shame that that game is not played every single year. That should be being played every single year. All right. So these I love the message that this sends about where everybody who's involved with this legislation is coming from. They're coming from a place of like legitimately trying to pardon what Cody Campbell has already trademarked theoretically, save college sports. Like they're trying to save what makes everything great about this sport. Kind of what I've been railing against, and everybody who doesn't really, on principle, like the 2014 playoff, is we're just napalming the things that make college sports awesome. Okay. So we don't get bedlam. As you can see here, Oklahoma is not quite on this list. And I found it devastating uh to read that Oklahoma's 10th most played opponent all time is Texas AM. Which means they qualify for number three on that list. They meet the three-team quota because AM is just barely sneaking in there as the 10th most played opponent of all time. Texas and Missouri are the other two on Oklahoma's list there of teams that are in the SEC. You're that close, Oklahoma State fans. Had Texas AM and Oklahoma just not played a couple more times, one spot below, we could be getting Bedlam back. But unfortunately, Oklahoma has skirted it. And now we will not get to watch that game being played. I would love to see Drew Mestemaker go up against Brent Benable's defense this year. Who's not signing up for that? Go play that game at night and Boon Picking Stadium at the end of the year. Yeah. Like these are the games we should we all deserve and we should have, and it's what the sport is built on. Same deal with Texas. Uh Texas has three teams in the SEC that qualify. I think it's four. I was four. Texas has four of its top ten most played all-time in the SEC. Obviously, Oklahoma and Texas AM are a big part of that. Uh Arkansas, I believe. And then what would the other one be? I'm trying to think out loud here. Anyway, Texas meets the quota too, so you wouldn't have that. Uh could have had Texas Texas Tech or Texas TCU or Texas Baylor. You know, especially the TCU and Baylor part of that, two teams that gave Texas quite a bit of trouble during their time in the Big 12. Anyway, I this this to me is emblematic of where it generally is, where the people are coming from who are making this, and I really like that. So if we do get some of these rivalry games back, which Big 12 stadiums would be the toughest to play in? I ranked them. Click here to find out where your school lands. That's for everybody watching the clip version. Uh, everybody who is here live, don't worry about it. Still going to be with you for another 10 minutes or so. May have to table some of the SEC breakaway talk for the next live show. And that's fine. It's been overshadowed here by this bill and what's happening. Just know, I mean, the SEC continues to talk about self-governance. Kirby Smart was the most vocal about it this week, um, which I know many people have emphasized. He's not gonna say something willy-nilly about that. He is the longest tenured, kind of the dean of SEC coaches right now. He's not gonna just speak out of turn on that. So it is something to keep your eye on for sure. I see Evil Badger has weighed back in here. Evil Badger on Wisconsin. Uh, but the Big Ten and SEC aren't able to expand, but the Big 12 and ACC are able to expand according to the bill. Well, I mean, okay, like what you the Big Ten and the SEC are a legitimate threat to the existence of college sports as a viable entity if they continue to expand, whereas the Big 12 and the ACC are not. I think we just need to use some logic. Like when I call it a save your save the Big Ten and SEC from themselves, Bill, and save college sports from itself, Bill. The way that you lose it is if the Big Ten and the SEC take, like, you know, four more teams and go play their own super league, and you've cut out so much of the country and so many massive fan bases, and the interest will dwindle and it will become more and more, especially being a Wisconsin guy. I mean, Tony Petiti wants this thing to be NFL light. How well have semi-professional football leagues done throughout history? Not well. When you start losing the charm of regional rivalries and a bunch of the country that suddenly doesn't care about college football, I don't think it's gonna go very well. The the interest, you might get a spike. This is my opinion now, but you might get a spike of casual interest in college football the first couple of years if you're getting huge brands playing each other all the time. But eventually, not all of those brands are gonna win games. Like you'll have big brands losing games a lot. It won't be as sexy, and and then it's will become more sterilized. It will be more like semi-professional football. And now you've already lost a bunch of your hardcore fans, and it's there will be diminishing returns, and there will be stuff that you can't turn back from, and eventually TV money on that's gonna dry up like the whole enterprise, and it will be too late. So that would be my argument there. Like the the Big 12 and ACC expanding are not a threat, like that's not a threat. Let's just let's use our logic here. You know, you you are operating from a position of power because you have the power. The Big 12 and the ACC do not. Now, look, frankly, if they wanted to just cap it for everybody and say, yeah, freeze the conferences for now from expanding, you can't do that. If you guys want to go back to what it used to be, that's fine. But you can't expand. Like, I mean, maybe that's a concession. I'd sign on to that. I don't really care. I'm not, you know, the Big 12 or ACC expanding is not really going to solve anything. So I to me, it doesn't even really matter that much. And if you want to do that, then fine. Fine. I don't, I'm not sitting here like, oh, well, the Big 12 has, I mean, look, we can have the debate about UConn, but I don't think Yukon is saving the Big 12. So, okay, fine. Nobody expands. We just, but keep as much of the toothpaste in the tube as you can right now. You know, you cannot get toothpaste back in a tube. And I would say right now, you got like a half squeezed toothpaste uh bottle. You do not let any more of that come out. And that that I think is what a lot of this is designed to do. So that's that's that's my thought there. All right. Stop the presses. Paul Feinbaum is a Big 12 guy now. Yes, I don't know if you've heard. Big 12 guy. He loves him, some Texas Tech Red Raiders, at least for a day. Uh, yes, it is true. Paul Feinbaum finally stood up for a Big 12 team and something that's in the best interest of the Big 12, legitimately. It happened, it happened, and you're gonna hear it. Uh, remember, this is the same Paul Feinbaum that totally took out Iowa State in 2021, said he never wanted to hear about Iowa State again. That was after they had the really hyped season coming back off of the Fiesta Bowl in 2020. Brees Hall, Brock Purdy, a couple of NFL tight ends, like all those guys on that team. And uh and didn't face plan, but went seven and six. You know, it was not a great year. Paul Feynmob said he never wanted to hear from Iowa State again. He then took a huge shot at BYU recently. He was talking about the Indiana National Championship and how much of a surprise it was. And he said everybody yawned, quote unquote, everybody yawned when BYU won the 1984 title. This is not a guy who is finding himself standing up for the Big 12 or the Big 12's interest or anybody in the Big 12's self-interest most times. He is a big SEC wonk who I'm sure I have not really heard him weigh in on the with his opinion about this bill. I can only imagine what he thinks about that. Though it's not everybody at SEC country, Josh Pate, for instance, very much in favor of what's happening in this bill. So those of you that are the Pate haters out there might need to reevaluate a little bit. He seems to be pretty behind this, which I do think does more good for the Big 12 than bad. Anyway, Paul Feinbaum's taking shots at the NCAA at Texas Tech in the Big 12's benefit, not Texas Tech and the Big 12's expense, which is a rarity. Please do subscribe to the channel if you have not one click. It's very easy. Helps a lot. Many of you watch, but don't subscribe. It really does help if you subscribe to the channel. Uh, we know about Brendan Sorsby, right? That's one thing I haven't totally dove into this show just because of everything else going on. But the NCAA did deny Brendan Sorsby's request for reinstatement to be eligible after uh he completed treatment in a gambling facility 35 days. And uh Texas Tech was pushing to get him reinstated, in spite of the fact that he bet thousands of times, which you can't do, and he bet on his own team, which is a massive, massive no-no. Now we wait for a June 1st temporary injunction hearing, uh, where Soresby and Texas Tech hope that eventually leads to some final ruling that isn't you're totally ineligible, and they hope it's some final ruling that comes before June 22nd, which is the deadline for the supplemental draft. Anyway, the news there is the NCAA said no. No, no, no, no, no, no. Denied. Your request for reinstatement is denied. And that is what Paul Feinbaum is responding to here. All right. Paul Feinbaum is about to stick up for Texas Tech in the Big 12's best interest, ladies and gentlemen. Here you go.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

I think he should have been suspended for a couple of games, but to keep him out from the whole season, I think is wrong. And while what he did on paper, Greeny, is terrible. We're talking about the NCAA, the most hypocritical organization in the history of mankind, coming down on somebody for gambling while they have their own side gambling deals and while gambling is pervasive everywhere. So three-game suspension, perhaps, keeping him out for the whole season is wrong.

SPEAKER_01 42:16

Paul Feinbaum, I'm not gonna lie, I saw that come across the timeline today, and I was like, yo, not what I expected to hear from Mr. Paul Feinbaum today. Now, I guess it makes sense that he wouldn't be crazy about the NCAA. I mean, first of all, it's a very uh easy target, the NCAA. It's some low-hanging fruit to go after them. But to say just a three-game suspension for gambling on your own team, I mean, look, he makes some valid points about the NCAA, as I said. Like they have certainly been a hypocritical institution. They are the reason that we're in this mess that we are in right now in college sports, because they just refused the entire time to ever allow somebody to have a bagel with cream cheese and not have that be an NCAA violation. And now we're here where, you know, just total uncapped money coming in like crazy. NCAA has been very hypocritical. It deserves plenty of criticism. And you could maybe, like, if Paul wanted to talk to me here about, like, hey, let's talk what the suspension should actually be here when he says everybody's making money off gambling. The NCAA, whether directly or indirectly, is certainly making money off of gambling because the gambling companies are everywhere, they're all in the sports media space. Any college football show out there just about is taking money from like a sports gambling company. Like it is driving more interest theoretically in the sport. And even if the NCAA is not directly, directly endorsing that, many of their partners, their TV partners, certainly. ESPN's got ESPN bet stuff flying around last season. Like it's we all know that the NCAA is making money off of that. And it is a little hypocritical to come crush somebody like that. But the but for me is this isn't just him betting on Turkish basketball, which was something that happened. This isn't just him betting on the Nathan's hot dog eating contest, which is something that happened. It's Brendan Soresby betting on his own team at Indiana. And there's plenty of literature out there that is distributed to these guys. There are plenty of warnings given to these players about the fact that they cannot do that. They all know that it's a massive no-no. We had the huge case with Hunter Deckers in Iowa State where that happened to him and he got deemed permanently ineligible. I think there's been ample warning, and there is a huge uh competitive, like the sanctity of competition at stake here. Like that part of it is really, really important. So you have to protect that. The NCAA has plenty of reason to feel they need to protect that at all costs. I'll back the NCAA on this one. If Paul wanted to come at me and say, hey, can we talk about maybe like a half season suspension? I'd be like, ah, I mean, okay, like maybe, maybe we can listen to this. Maybe we can listen to this. I can't, three games, man. I can't do that. Paul's the guy that would be sitting there criticizing Texas Tech's non-con schedule. I know the Houston game would be a part of the three games, but two of those three are the tech non-con schedule. You can say just a three-game suspension. I can't get behind that, man. It's got to be more than that. You need to, you need to have people actually legitimately scared. You can't have people feeling like they can do it and just pick up a minor suspension and move on. You gotta bring the hammer down. I can't rock with you fully on this, Paul, except if this is just turning over a new leaf and you're gonna be in favor of what's best for Texas Tech and the Big 12, by the way, because whether you agree with it or like the Texas Tech domination or not, they're the team people are most interested in nationally in the Big 12. And if their quarterback isn't playing, that's a bad thing for national interest in the league. So if Brendan Soresby plays, that's gonna get more eyeballs on the league. You want your best players to play. Uh, it's not good that this has happened for the overall health of the Big 12. And if Paul Feinbaum wants to just turn to supporting anything that helps the Big 12 now, Paul, we welcome you with open arms, my friend. You can come on the show. You want a guest host sometime? I'll let you, my friend. If you just start embracing it, I'll take you on a tour. I'll take you to Morgantown. I'll take you to Provo. I'll take you to Lubbock, I'll take you to Manhattan, Ames, wherever it is you want to go, my friend. I'll take you around. Paul, if you're a changed man, you just let me know. The DMs are open, we'll make it happen. Okay. So that's my hope from all of this. I think we all know we can't trust this because Paul just took a huge shot at BYU. And if you want to hear that whole diatribe, click here. That's for everybody who is watching the clip version of the show. Those of you hanging out live, do not worry about it. Uh B-U-S-A-F. John, remember the schools are the NCAA. Okay, well, I mean, tell Paul. I'm just I'm just emphasizing Paul Feinbaum's argument here. Paul Feinbaum is the one saying, hey, the NCAA is the most hypocritical organization uh ever. Yeah, man. Look, the schools, they're all a part of the problem that got us here of being way too stringent and not allowing for the student athletes to benefit at all until we're here and it's just like a total circus and out of control. I'm not absolving the schools of any blame. I was I was just piggybacking off of what Feinbaum was saying there. But yes, fair enough. Fair enough, fair enough. Uh okay. That's gonna do it for me, guys. I appreciate you hanging out. This is a big day, this is a big show, a lot going on. Uh, make sure that you are subscribed. If you are not, sign up for the Open for Business Big 12 newsletter at OFBnews.com. Um, you can follow me on Twitter at JL Kurtz if you want uh a little bit more of the uh the day to day. I genuinely appreciate you all being here. Thank you for giving me this platform. Uh, thank you for tuning in and listening. I hope you have a great rest of your week, and I will talk to you all very soon.