This is why the Big-12 exit by Texas and Oklahoma is being handled the way it is - no one wants to get any where close to breeching a GOR.

1) Texas and Oklahoma said they would exit at the end of the coverage period.

2) Texas and Oklahoma obviously want to leave before that time arrives and have signaled they will pay the early out fee.

3) Texas and Oklahoma are hoping to reduce that exit fee from the equivalence of two full years of media payout - currently at 40.9 + 40.9 = 81.8 million each.

4) Texas and Oklahoma are very likely to only spend the current year - 2021 - in the Big 12 before starting play in the SEC on July 1 2022.

5) The Big-12 legal team is now working on a compromise to reduce the exit fee for compensation in the form of a new Media package from ESPN for post exit. ESPN has told Bolwsby that the current 40.9 per annum per member would be reduced 14 million as a result of the loss of Texas and Oklahoma to 26.9 per annum per member.

6) The Big-12 hopes that a new deal can be a bit higher - speculation & rumor - says 30 million for each current member and 20 million for each of four potential new members and a payout for a CCG which no one has placed any figure on that I know of. ESPN has supposedly said if the Big-12 grows from 12 to 16 it would only pay to increase the rights deal by 10 million for each new member.

All of this is being done to avoid breaking the GOR. Of all of the interested parties in keeping a GOR intact, ESPN has the most to lose if one breaks. They base their long term media rights deals on conference membership stability, with exceptions for "worthy" additions.

In the above projection based on 2021 dollars, the Big-12 expansion pay out would be 30 per annum per existing member = 240 million. Plus 80 million for four members = 320 million and 40 million for new members from 13 to 16 = 360 million. This would hand the Big-12 a per annum per member pay out of only 22.5 million. This is roughly half what the current media pay is and would be a hard pill to swallow, but honestly what choice does the NBig-12 have?