IRVING, Texas - This year, there were no cancelled press conferences or dramatic, hasty escapes in elevators from the commissioner.
The Big 12 has come a long way from the madness of 2010 to the placid atmosphere engulfing 2014's annual meetings.
The Big 12's presidents and chancellors weren't scheduled to conclude their final day of meetings until noon Friday, but at 9:45 a.m., commissioner Bob Bowlsby and Oklahoma State president strolled into the media room to offer a briefing on Friday's proceedings.
"The fact we're done a couple hours early is indicative of the fact that we feel good about what's going on in our conference," Bowlsby said. "We're like-minded on a lot of issues."
Friday's meeting went less than two hours and mostly centered around issues the conference's CEOs discussed earlier in the week: Future governance and structure in the face of college sports' changing landscape.
The Big 12 will be part of it, and can prepare for the future without any doubts about its own congregation.
"Having walked through the valley of the shadow of death in conference realignment, I think we all understand the importance of a collaborative body," Hargis said. "What survived all of that were the people who wanted to be together."
Cashing checks
The Big 12's eight remaining founding members will receive about $23 million in annual revenue from the conference. TCU and West Virginia will receive shares of just under $14 million, per their agreement to join the conference.
Read more about the Big 12's record cash flow here.
Budgeting for litigation
Bowlsby referenced operating "within a litigious environment" earlier this week, and with the NCAA under siege from numerous lawsuits from individuals seeking compensation, the Big 12 is staying prepared.
The league is reserving a budget of about $1.5 million for legal fees this year. That's up from just over $400,000 last year.
Bowlsby warned that the number was not based on any "empirical computation" but rather an estimate based on input from the legal team. That budget will grow in the future, Bowlsby said.
"There's hardly any way to budget it. The amount you end up spending is really out of your control. There's so many forces can cause more or less activity. Judges, other lawyers, subpoenas, depositions. There's a myriad of things that can affect that, so budgeting legal fees is an imperfect process."
