Big Ten Network Contract Remains a Mystery

In the midst of an article about an Indiana University Trustee impotently complaining about the Big Ten Network stalemate, there's an interesting little nugget. Few people at the Big Ten schools actually have seen or read the contract with the Big Ten Network.

Eskew said he's also concerned that a year and a half after the contract between the Big Ten Conference and Fox was announced, not enough people know the details. He said he believes nobody at IU has read it other than Adam Herbert, IU's president in 2006. Eskew wonders if IU could get out of the deal if the cable issue isn't resolved.
...

[Neil] Theobald[, IU's vice president and chief financial officer,] said because IU has already used the money to issue $45 million in bonds for athletic facilities, there won't be any desire to pull out of the contract. School spokesman Larry MacIntyre agreed, saying that would be tantamount to pulling out of the Big Ten.

As for the Big Ten Network contract, Theobald said it's at the conference office in Park Ridge, Ill. He said he hasn't seen it, but that trustees "have access to it if they choose to read it."

In response to a public records request by The Star, MacIntyre said nobody at the school has the contract or a "definitive" description of its contents. But he said current school president Michael McRobbie and athletic director Rick Greenspan have been "intimately briefed on every detail."

And yes, they also checked to see if Purdue had a copy.
Purdue had nothing too interesting either.

The Big Ten Network and the Big Ten Conference, as private entities based in other states, naturally had no interest in sharing a copy of the Big Ten Network contract with the media. All but one member of the Big Ten are public institutions, subject to varying degrees of state public records requests.

It seems fair to assume that no school is keeping a copy of the actual contract, and that it was a deliberate decision to do so. Instead, those who are allowed to look at the contract have to go to it. Of course, it seems they aren't that eager to make sure those who can have access know they have access.