Big 12 Withholding Baylor Revenue: Bold Action Or Just Grandstanding?

Alleged details from the Baylor sexual assault scandal keep getting uglier. The Big 12 board decided to step in. The conference will withhold 25 percent of Baylor’s revenue distribution until a third-party ensures the Bears are conforming to conference bylaws and Title IX.

Based on last year’s distribution, 25 percent of the revenue would be about $7.8 million. Any future money will be held for Baylor in escrow.

Baylor is already under immense legal, financial, and public relations pressure on multiple fronts to fix matters. The Big 12 statement does not mention any specific standard of reform or accountability Baylor must meet. This is the sort of action that sounds bold but may not have any real teeth. It’s hard to see a reasonable scenario that leads to the Big 12 following through.

The situation resembles Penn State. There’s a natural impetus for athletic bodies to register their displeasure. But, the alleged actions are so heinous they go beyond sports and call into question why Baylor is even participating in them. Any punitive competitive or financial responses come off as trivial by comparison.

Baylor is now responsible for two of the three most abhorrent scandals in college athletics the past 15 years. Let us not forget Dave Bliss. Will the next one result in 50 percent of the revenue being withheld in an account?