(l-r) Gary Forsee, Brady Deaton and Mike Alden

(l-r) Gary Forsee, Brady Deaton and Mike Alden

It was a grand celebration, but more like a big exhale from University of Missouri president Gary Forsee, Chancellor Brady Deaton, and Athletic Director Mike Alden as they spoke publicly for the first time since it was announced the Big 12 had survived.

What I gathered from yesterday’s 45 minute press conference was that the three were willing to stick to the Big 12’s company line that they always have been and always were big supporters of the conference. Many of the rumors that spurred Missouri’s move to the Big Ten had to do with Missouri’s dissatisfaction with the league’s plan for revenue sharing which favors teams who receive more nationally televised games. With the new ten team conference, that gap between top tier and bottom schools will be even further, but Alden said, it’s now on Missouri to make the best of it.

Mike Alden post press conference comments (14:35 mp3)

The other big topic that came up and was clarified by Missouri had to do with the penalties Colorado and Nebraska must pay. Earlier in the day, Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe stated that Missouri would be one of the school’s who would by-pass distrubution of CU and NU’s penalties and give those to Texas, Oklahoma, and A & M, but Alden said he was aware of no such deal, saying there are “no concessions.” Later the Big 12 clarified their statement by saying that all ten schools will share in the withdrawal fees, which could total as much as $20 million. The talk of uneven distribution of the penalty was termed as “a good faith offer.”

Gary Forsee, Brady Deaton, Mike Alden Press Conference (43:16 mp3)