Welcome to Tuesday Takes, where I give you three takes from the Big 12. It was a jam-packed week full of exciting news, but several things caught my attention over the last few days.
The Monster Flop
With the Big 12 and Monster striking a $20 million deal, it certainly got my attention last week at Media Days. I know some of you out there are excited, and you like Monster drinks, but I am not one of those people.
When the details came out, I realized the deal isn’t as great as it sounds. By the time the conference takes its cut, each school will get around $800k. And that includes a space on the jersey of each school’s football, men’s and women’s basketball teams on top of a space on the field/court.
To me, that seems like a great deal for Monster and not so much one for the Big 12. That kind of real estate should fetch millions of dollars per school. But instead, it felt like the conference was too focused on the sponsor’s name rather than the amount.
Cincinnati Knew Something
I hate to keep bringing up Brendan Sorsby, but when the NCAA opened up an inquiry into Sorsby’s time at Cincinnati, it made me very curious. After all, the one thing Texas Tech fans would fire back at was “Why isn’t anyone mad at Cincinnati?” Well, we may just get our answer.
Of course, Brett Yormark didn’t comment on Brendan Sorsby, but I think it was a fair question to ask him. I mean, why isn’t anyone talking about Cincinnati? Sorsby spent time there and gambled, and you are telling me nobody knew about it? I have a feeling that at least one person knew about it. And if that’s true, then this is going to open up a can of worms that college football may not be ready for.
The Big 12 Had an Epic MLB Draft
In case you live under a rock or don’t like baseball (I feel sorry for you), the MLB had its annual draft this past weekend. A total of 56 players from the conference were selected, which tied a record for the third most in Big 12 history.
Even better was seeing that all 14 programs had at least two players selected. The Big 12 had 16 picks on Saturday in rounds 1-4, followed by 40 on Sunday in rounds 5-20. The 16 picks in the first four rounds are the most in Conference history.
I know people love to talk about football and basketball, but keep in mind that the Big 12 is also one of the best baseball conferences in the country. There is no shortage of talent here, and it’s nice to see that more MLB teams are starting to realize that.
