Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, former University of Arkansas football player and big-time power broker in the world of professional and now college athletics, is the driving force behind a potential move that would make the Big 12 the most compelling conference in the history of college football.
Jones, according to a source familiar with his thinking, wants his alma mater to return to where it belongs, in a league with former Southwest Conference rivals Texas and Texas A&M. A visionary, Jones sees the Big 12 expanding with Arkansas and Notre Dame. Such a conference alignment turns on televisions across America and sends cash gushing out of Big 12 faucets everywhere.
Since moving to the SEC, Arkansas football, once a national power, has faded to the brink of irrelevance. Lack of SEC television exposure in Texas, at least until the past couple of years, has eroded what used to be the Razorbacks’ primary recruiting base.
But the decline of the status of Arkansas’ football program runs deeper than the talent that takes the field every Saturday. The Hogs haven’t developed rivalries as intense with their SEC brethren since the football team began participating in the league in 1992 as they had in the SWC.
Not that SEC rivalries don’t exist at all for Arkansas; it’s just that they don’t match those the Hogs had with Texas and Texas A&M. The Golden Boot, a 24-karat gold trophy in the shape of Arkansas and Louisiana, is awarded to the winner of the LSU game, but that’s only been in existence since 1996. Arkansas first played Ole Miss in 1908 and the rivalry featured a seven-overtime game in 2001. Rich history there. Houston Nutt, forced to resign from Arkansas in 2007 jumped immediately to Ole Miss, so that adds spice to the rivalry, but more from the Rebels’ side than the Hogs’.
When Jones throws his money and influence behind an idea, it tends to work for all parties, especially himself. He purchased the Dallas Cowboys for $150 million in 1989. Forbes.com estimates the franchise’s value at $1.65 billion and puts Jones’ net worth at $1.2 billion.
Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, would make a nice permanent home for the Big 12 football championship game, just as the Sprint Center would for the Big 12 basketball tourney.
Beyond motivations based on giving his alma mater a stronger position, Jones certainly wants the best possible Big 12 since the title game is at his stadium. It first was played there in 2009 and will be there in 2010 as well.
It’s more difficult to read Notre Dame’s willingness to join the Big 12 because the school’s officials don’t get involved in doing business publicly. For all the hits Notre Dame takes as a so-called “hype machine,” the school deserves credit for conducting itself with class.
Conspiracy theorists wonder whether the Big Ten, long lusting after Notre Dame, will try to lure the Fighting Irish by recruiting a few Big East schools, blowing up that conference and leaving ND with nowhere else to turn. Ole Notre Dame would not reinforce such evil tactics and could find a more profitable home by joining hands with Texas and the other 10 institutions, including Arkansas, to form a Big 12 TV network that would blow away the hugely successful Big Ten Network.
