The University of Texas has likely single-handedly put a halt to conference realignment by rejecting a membership invite from the Pac-10 and committing to the Big 12.

Larry Scott, commissioner of the Pac-10 Conference, confirmed to the Dallas Morning News that the Longhorns would not be joining the Pac-10, essentially saving the Big 12 (and setting off small parties in Lawrence; Manhattan, Kans.; Ames, Iowa; Waco, Tex.; and Columbia, Mo. in the process).

In a brief phone conversation with the Morning News, Scott said: "We've been informed by University of Texas president Bill Powers that Texas will stay with the Big 12. We have not received definitive details about this decision. It is our understanding that Texas was going to meet the terms that we have proposed."

The University released the following statement:

"The University of Texas' athletics programs will continue competing in the Big 12 Conference, the university announced today."

A news conference is being held Tuesday at 10 a.m. regarding the decision.

At least three schools considering defection - Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State - will follow Texas in whatever decision it makes.

The Morning News is also reporting that, under Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe's plan to save the conference, Texas A&M will also remain in the Big 12, negating recent serious flirtations with the SEC.

Beebe told the 10 remaining Big 12 schools that, upon the conference's renewal of its television contract in 2011, the schools will see an increase in revenue distribution from as little as $7 million per school to $17 million per school each year.

The new figure would equal the SEC's television contract revenue distribution, which has become staunchly established as the most lucrative deal in the country since its signing last year. The remaining schools would also divide the more than $20 million in buyout payments from Nebraska and Colorado.

The new plan would also allow schools to establish their own television networks, which is believed to have been a longtime desire for Texas.

With television money the largest motivating factor in conference realignment, it appears that Beebe - who has been much-maligned for his previously unsuccessful handling of the situation - has found the play that could salvage what is left of his conference.

"My plan is about what's best for the citizens in this part of the country and for the student-athletes and not having this section of the country with all its major institutions connected to conferences that aren't even here. We shouldn't be a fly-over zone," Beebe told Orangebloods.com on Sunday.

The plan also states that the conference would stay, for now at least, as a 10-team conference.

In football, everyone would play everyone every year -- a nine-game conference schedule instead of the current eight-game format. Also, the conference championship game would be dropped because the NCAA mandates that a conference must have 12 teams to hold a championship game.