Tulsa World: Q&A with Dan Beebe

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Q&A with Dan Beebe

By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
Published: 7/29/2009 2:24 AM
Last Modified: 7/29/2009 4:58 AM

Big 12 commissioner

Dan Beebe hosted a press conference from Cowboys Stadium, site of this year's Big 12 championship, Tuesday evening. A sample from the 20-minute session:

Do you anticipate any change to the procedure used to break three-way ties atop a division?

The football coaches were presented with what we do and what others do and what other possible options there might be, and they decided to stay where we were. The athletic directors took that recommendation and haven't made any changes, but still want to look carefully at whether there might be options for the future.

Do you think there is any traction for a future college football playoff?

Since I'm not a playoff advocate, I'm a little biased in that regard. But I don't see that coming up. ... We have a different way of having a championship. It's controversial. It's not the most popular right now. But I happen to think it's of great value, and the greatest value it provides is to the regular season. ... The NFL has a playoff. I think we'd become indistinguishable. I came from 14 years of playoff football (as former commissioner of the Ohio Valley Conference) and I saw the grind it put those kids through. They're not professionals. And then I think of that grind at our level, where the intensity is ratcheted up, where every week the media is descending on them and they might have classes or other activities, and they've played since August. We have to be very, very careful.

Will there be any consideration for making Dallas as a permanent Big 12 football championship host?

I think that'll be under serious consideration. We've got the football championships here this year and next year, and then the basketball tournament in Kansas City the next two years. After the championship this year, we'll experience what it's like here, how Dallas does. The Cowboys have been tremendous. We need to experience them hosting a game. And then we'll submit requests for proposals for future championships.

Will the Big 12 support the Cotton Bowl's interest in becoming a BCS bowl?

If there's going to be an expansion of the number of games in the BCS, certainly we're going to be adamant about having that include a bowl in our region. This would be highly attractive, with the kind of facility we have here. The Cotton Bowl is our tier-one partner. We have a great partnership with them. That's their desire. So we would be very interested in trying to accommodate that if we can.

Do you anticipate following the Big Ten and SEC in forming a Big 12 television network?

Since my hiring two years ago, I've been committed to not just waiting for our next negotiation, but fully exploring what the media landscape is and how we can position ourselves best to take advantage of it. There's obviously great competition with the infiltration of Big Ten programming and SEC programming in our part of the country. We can't deny that. We're going to have to try to find out what ways we can address it. By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer

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