re: Pac 12 rejected $30 million offer from ESPN, demanded $50 million

The Southwest Conference did this 27 years ago.

They had a lot of tradition over the 82 years they existed.

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Football, the premier sport from start to finish, produced seven national champions: SMU, 1935; TCU, 1938; Texas A&M, 1939; Arkansas, 1964; and Texas, 1963, 1969 and 1970. Those three UT national titles were the gems of Darrell Royal's 20 years as Longhorns coach, a career which saw him post the SWC's best winning percentage of .774 (167-47-5).

D.X. Bible, who hired Royal to restore UT's football glory just before he retired as the school's athletic director, also earned a unique place in SWC history. He was the only man who served as head coach at A&M and UT, the league's fiercest rivals. Bible was 72-19-9 in 11 years at A&M (1917, 1919-28) and returned to the SWC after eight years at Nebraska to coach Texas to a 63-31-3 record in 10 years, 1937-46. Bible's 21-year SWC coaching record was .716.

The Heisman Trophy, awarded annually to the nation's outstanding offensive player, was won by five SWC stars: TCU's Davey O'Brien, 1938; SMU's Doak Walker, 1948; A&M's John David Crow, 1957; Texas' Earl Campbell, 1977; and Houston's Andre Ware, 1989. The league also produced five winners of the Outland Trophy, which salutes the nation's outstanding lineman: Arkansas' Bud Brooks, 1954; Texas' Scott Appleton, 1963; Texas' Tommy Nobis, 1965; Arkansas' Loyd Phillips, 1966; and Texas' Brad Shearer, 1977.

In other sports, SWC schools won a total of 55 national championships. Most notable were Texas' winning the NCAA College World Series four times (1949, 1950, 1975, 1983) and two outstanding women's basketball champions: Texas (34-0) in 1986 and Texas Tech, led by Player of the Year Sheryl Swoopes, in 1993.

The SWC boasted more than 350 first-team all-America athletes in football, basketball and baseball alone.

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Texas Almanac

When Texas, A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor left for the Big 8 in 1996, after Arkansas had left for the SEC in 1992, Houston, Rice, SMU and TCU got left behind. I remember people said the only reason the Big 8 took Baylor was because Ann Richards was governor then.