Big 12 leader steps down amid turmoil

The Big 12 dumped its embattled commissioner Thursday and said nine schools had pledged to give their TV rights to the conference for the next six years, a step intended to preserve a fractured league that has lost two members in the last year and is expected to lose another by next summer.

“The bottom line is we achieved substantial reforms,” Oklahoma President David Boren said after school presidents met by telephone for more than an hour. “We feel extremely good.”

No contracts had been signed yet, in part because some schools must get the approval of their governing boards, league spokesman Bob Burda said.

Commissioner Dan Beebe is gone after five up-and-down years that included securing a 13-year, $1.2-billion contract with Fox Sports but sharp criticism for failing to keep Nebraska (Big Ten) and Colorado (Pacific 12) from leaving over the summer. Texas A&M plans to leave by July for the Southeastern Conference.

“I put all my effort into doing what was best for the Big 12. With great fondness, I wish the Big 12 Conference a long and prosperous future,” Beebe said in a statement released by the Big 12.

Former Big Eight commissioner Chuck Neinas will serve as interim commissioner. Boren said Neinas will not be a candidate to take the job permanently.

Revenue sharing and a change of leadership were considered by some schools, notably Oklahoma, as the top issues to address to save the league in the latest round of conference realignment.

The Big 12 splits revenue from its Fox Sports contract evenly, but only half of the money from its top-tier deal with ABC goes into equal shares. The rest is weighted toward the programs that play on the network more frequently.

Boren said all nine remaining schools — all except for Texas A&M — “agreed” to give a six-year grant of their first- and second-tier television rights to the Big 12. That means that all revenue from the top television games — shown currently on networks owned by ABC/ESPN and Fox — would continue to go to the Big 12 even if a school bolts to another league.

HOCKEY

Flyers’ Shelley suspended by NHL

Philadelphia Flyers forward Jody Shelley was suspended for the remainder of the preseason and the first five games of the regular season for his hit on Toronto’s Darryl Boyce.

Shelley received a five-minute boarding penalty for hitting Boyce when Boyce was facing the end boards. Immediately after the hit, Toronto’s Jay Rosehill and Shelley engaged in a lengthy fight. Both players received fighting majors, and Shelley was also given a game misconduct.

The Carolina Hurricanes have given team President and General Manager Jim Rutherford a four-year contract extension.

ETC.

Catchings chosen as MVP of WNBA

Tamika Catchings of the Indiana Fever was selected the WNBA’s most valuable player for the first time.

The versatile 32-year-old forward, who was MVP runner-up in 2009 and 2010, averaged 15.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals this season.

Randal Lewis became the oldest winner of the U.S. Mid-Amateur championship, defeating Kenny Cook, 3 and 2, in the final match at Richmond, Texas.

Lewis, 54, a financial planner from Alma, Mich., earns an automatic bid to the 2012 Masters by capturing the national championship for amateurs 25 years and older.

Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated French qualifier Mathieu Rodrigues, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Moselle Open at Metz, France.

He’ll face Nicolas Mahut, who outlasted 2003 champion Arnaud Clement, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, in an all-French encounter.

Richard Gasquet Olivier Rochus Gilles Muller

Ian Thorpe Libby Trickett