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ESPN Launches Counterattack at Bob Bowlsby

A day after launching a series of accusations at his league's biggest television partner, ESPN's president fired back.
John E. Hoover|
ESPN Launches Counterattack at Bob Bowlsby
ESPN Launches Counterattack at Bob Bowlsby

The Big 12 commissioner is not having a good week.

Bob Bowlsby was the subject of a counterattack on Thursday from ESPN, which was replying to Bowlsby's accusations of "tortious inteference" and high level "deception" on the part of the network as well as Big 12 member institutions Oklahoma and Texas.

After Bowlsby sent the network a cease and desist letter, he told several media outlets Wednesday that ESPN had essentially conspired with another conference (it was later anonymously identified as the American Athletic Conference) to pick off remaining Big 12 members.

ESPN president Burke Magnus released a statement Friday defending the network.

“The accusations you have made are entirely without merit,” Magnus wrote. “Apart from a single vague allegation that ESPN has been ‘actively engaged in discussions with at least one other’ unnamed conference, which ESPN disputes, your letter consists entirely of unsubstantiated speculation and legal conclusions. To be clear, ESPN has engaged in no wrongful conduct and, thus, there is nothing to ‘cease and desist.’

“We trust this will put the matter to rest.”

Bowlsby's bad week officially started on Monday when the Big 12's two biggest properties, the Sooners and Longhorns, told him they didn't intend to extend their television rights agreements with the league, and got worse on Tuesday when they formally applied for membership in the Southeastern Conference.

SEC presidents and chancellors are expected to approve OU and Texas' membership in the SEC during an emergency meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Both OU and Texas have scheduled emergency meetings of their respective boards of regents on Friday. 

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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