Bowlsby feels good about Big 12’s future

FRISCO, Texas — Bob Bowlsby never bought into the negative perceptions some have about the Big 12, and these days the commissioner has plenty of reasons to feel bullish about his league.

Even more money is coming into the Big 12, the smallest of the Power Five conferences with only 10 schools, and there are fewer contentious issues around the league.

Three-time defending league champion and preseason favorite Oklahoma went the College Football Playoff for the second time in three years last season. The Big 12 was the only league this past year to have teams in the CFP, along with the NCAA Final Four in men’s basketball, the College World Series and the Women’s College World Series.

“I thought it was a perception previously, and things have gone well for us,” Bowlsby said Monday at Big 12 football media days, the seventh for the former Stanford athletic director since taking the Big 12 job in 2012. “I couldn’t be any more excited about the future.”

Bowlsby touted the overall health of the league, even without specifically mentioning the record $365 million in revenue generated for the 2017-18 academic year. The average distribution per school trailed the SEC and Big Ten, but was more than the Pac-12 and ACC. It was the 12th consecutive increase for the Big 12, and it will grow even more in the upcoming year.

The Big 12 remains the only Power Five league to play a round-robin schedule in football, and last year resurrected its championship game and matched the top two finishers in the league standings.

“We think the Big 12 path to the end of the season is not only the most challenging but the highest quality,” Bowlsby said. “Nobody is going to win the Big 12 by who they don’t play. It’s a difficult path but I think it’s one that will serve us well.”

After a six-year hiatus, the Big 12 championship game returned last year. Oklahoma beat TCU for the second time in a four-week span in a game at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys that drew about 63,000 fans and was termed “an unqualified success” by Bowlsby.