ESPN Big 12 Blog

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

The most contentious battle between schools in the Big 12 has always been the discrepancy between television revenues. Unlike many conferences, most notably the Big Ten, the Big 12 does not pool all of its money for equal disbursements from television appearances.

Half of the Big 12's television money is divided equally. The rest goes into an appearance pool where those that are televised the most in football and men's non-conference basketball receive the most money.

Intrepid Omaha World Herald reporter Lee Barfknecht navigated through IRS filings for the 2006-'07 tax year to ascertain how much each school received. Texas leads the conference at $9.51 million, while Oklahoma State is last at $6.59 million.

And while Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe asked the league's chief financial officers to limit discussion of the differences, the $2.92 million difference between Texas and Oklahoma State would represent up to 10 percent of the annual budget at some Big 12 schools.

It's hard to believe that many of the "haves" -- schools like Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas A&M -- would ever agree to a change in the current method. And with a super-majority of nine votes required to change the rules, it seems doubtful that there will be much hope for equalized television payments in the immediate future.

"Many of us think that you ought to be rewarded for performance and participation," Nebraska chancellor and former Big 12 board of directors chairman Harvey Perlman said earlier this year. "There is an understanding that this is going to continue."