Since LHN isn't carrying high school games this year anyway, it's sort of irrelevant right now. It will eventually be carried by all the cable providers in Texas - ESPN may just have to lower their asking price. If LHN isn't available on a majority of carriers by Saturday, that will clearly be a failure. If they move the BYU game from national TV to LHN and it's still not carried by many providers, that will be a bigger failure. But it will certainly be available by 2012. And at that point, it would be a potential recruiting advantage.
I am really looking forward to watching the Aggies play in the SEC. I always watch the SEC games, but I really didn't have a team I was pulling for, except I always want the Hogs to lose. Now I will be rooting for the Aggies, although I didn't go to A&M, I will root for the team from the state of Texas to beat the other SEC teams.
I posed a real non-confrontational question too about my beloved Red Raiders, and the bitter, hallowed, entertaining rivalry that they have had with the Fighting Aggies. You won't answer it. Why not?
SEC Football in Texas, its gonna be a blast. I'll be pulling for UH if they get the Big 12 nod. As a fan of college football, I'm super excited.
It will be great to have a Texas representative in the SEC. Those games always seem to be on national TV, and it will be easier to root for the Ags over there. More interesting football is good for everybody. Plus it should pump some money into the Houston economy.
Suckers, I think it's safe to say both sides have hurt feelings. That is why there is a 60 page thread on some basketball forum. Aggie is not insignificant, they are important and, as a longhorn alum, I care and worry about them like a lil brother. I think aggie moving to SEC is good, and as a result, UT should cut ties with them. Change is good. In the end, what it comes down to is: Money for some, Winning for most others. Dodds has been pretty quiet through all of this and I think in July 2012, the alleged date for the great SECession, he will have UT in a better position.
Fine ill dance... although I asked first... but in the words of Chad Johnson "They are a non *****ING factor homie" We are sitting at the grown up table and you are talking about a school that nobody cares about. And I would bet that TAMU might play tech in a few years maybe not unlike they are doing with ARK right now. I would have no problem with that, as long as we are not playing UT as well. But bottom line is this with us playing in the SEC there are only so many non conference games to go around unfortunately there is just so little time. Have fun wherever you wash up. One day you bozos will realize it is not about words like wins, losses, compete. It's about words like, money, value, worth.
Uh...every game with a ranked team from a BCS conference is pretty much already on national TV as is. Well, other than the ones on LHN. Hoenstly though I don't think a Texas or Oklahoma game has been not televised in NYC the last 7 years. Maybe the occasional game vs. SHSU or something.
Well, I'll do you the same courtesy, I assume the university of Texas regards Texas A&M in largely the same way as Texas A&M would regard a Texas Tech game...doesn't provide it with any addiitonal national exposure, gives a little brother a chance to notch marquee win . . . just not a lot of upside. I expect (and future schedules bear this out) that Texas will look around the country for more higher profile interregional match-ups against traditional powers rather than yet another backyard brawl in the drab confines of East Texas.
I dont see what all the hate is about geez. - UT takes control of the big12 looking out for itself with the LHN - A&M realizes if UT is going to look out for itself and not the conference as a whole then we need to go somewhere else - A&M then extends an offer to continue playing UT to keep the tradition - UT refuses My question then becomes how is A&M at fault for anything? They are simply looking out for themselves like UT has(in which no one has faulted them) throughout this entire process and are still willing to play UT to keep the tradition.
The time lapse between step 1 and 2 of your chronology is about 14 months. At a minimum, they look very slow on the uptake because nothing changed (that was not expected to change) in the interim.
http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1258695 What's next for the Big 12? After looking around to make sure all nine members are still in the room, the league must decide if it will grow by one school or by three. "It depends who's available," one Big 12 administrator said today. There is a five-member Big 12 expansion committee being headed by Missouri's chancellor and includes Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione and Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds. The two names I keep hearing at the moment are BYU and Pittsburgh. BYU makes sense because ESPN has the Cougars' television contract, and ABC/ESPN is also the Tier 1 rights holder in the Big 12. But BYU may be perfect as an independent because of its ties to the Church of Latter-day Saints and its policies prohibiting the Cougars from athletic competition on Sundays. Two sources told me today Pittsburgh continues to move up as a Big 12 target, and may even be moving into the lead. Pitt AD Steve Pederson is sending out signals the Panthers are content in the Big East. But Pittsburgh would bring football and basketball tradition to the Big 12 as well as a large television market in the northeast. Considering Pitt makes about $8 million per year currently in TV revenue, the Panthers would probably love the upgrade in pay in the Big 12 (to between $17 million and $20 million) starting next year - as long as the Big 12 is still together at that point. The Big East has a television contract renegotiation coming up in the next year and already has plans to add TCU. But the Big East could become vulnerable if the SEC starts to look elsewhere to add more schools (more on that in a minute). BIG 12 DOWN TO NINE: Let's talk about the Big 12's vulnerability first. The Big 12 could be ready to come apart because it nearly came apart last summer, and now the league is down to nine schools. There were deep conversations between six members of the Big 12 (Texas, Texas Tech, OU, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Colorado) and Pac-12 last year. CU is already in the Pac-12, and there were fan bases of the other Big 12 schools involved in that courtship who all but had their bags packed while hoping that migration west would happen. Anyone who thinks Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott is sitting on his hands, watching this all go by, is crazy. Scott could plunk down a regional network in the state of Oklahoma in a heartbeat and try to entice OU and Oklahoma State to be the Pac-12's 13th and 14th members. Oklahoma is working on its own TV network, and there have been mixed reports about how the Sooners' search for a media partner is going. If the Sooners are having trouble finding a media partner, Scott could solve that for them by creating a regional network for OU and Oklahoma State's third-tier rights and call it a day. Then, Bob Stoops would be playing football against his brother, Mike, at Arizona, and the road trips for football would be to Scottsdale, Tucson, Los Angeles, Palo Alto and Seattle instead of Manhattan and Ames. Would bringing in a school like Pitt or BYU be enough for OU to stick around in the Big 12 with Texas currently collecting $15 million per year more than any other school in the league thanks to ESPN/Longhorn Network? And whatever OU does, Oklahoma State is likely to do because of that state's legislature. Or not? And would Texas ever be willing to allow the Longhorn Network to be turned into a regional network in the Pac-12? One source close to the situation said, "That would mean turning off the Longhorn Network almost before it got started. I'm not sure if that's Texas' style." THE SEC'S NEXT MOVE: Much of what's about to happen to the landscape of college athletics is predicated on the Southeastern Conference's next move. According to my sources, the SEC and Virginia Tech are starting to get to know each other to see if that could be a good marriage in the SEC East. If Virginia Tech were to come out of the Atlantic Coast Conference as the SEC's 14th team, what would happen to the ACC? My sources say the SEC is VERY interested in North Carolina. So far, UNC has indicated the Tar Heels are not interested. But if the ACC started getting picked apart by the SEC, the ACC will undoubtedly turn to the Big East for schools to add. If the ACC went after schools like UConn, Syracuse and Rutgers, the Big East would then be reeling. And if the Big East comes apart, the biggest independent dominoe of all could be back in play - Notre Dame. If ND doesn't have a home for its other sports (currently the Big East), the Irish will be back in discussion about where to put those teams. Everyone assumes it would be the Big Ten. But as I've reported previously, ND is working on its own television network (separate from its NBC contract), and the Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC don't allow schools to have their own networks. The Big 12 does. If Pitt is already in the Big 12 at that point, who knows if Notre Dame might look favorably to the Big 12. And if Notre Dame and Pitt were to end up in the Big 12, the sources I've talked to said don't count out Arkansas as a third school to get the league back to 12 teams. It's a long shot, a long shot. But administrators at the highest level of the Big 12 are the ones mulling these scenarios. They did so Saturday on a conference call in which BYU, Pitt, Notre Dame and Arkansas were all discussed, according to sources. The bottom line is, we appear to be on the verge of a tipping point that could lead to super conferences in college athletics, just like we were last summer. In fact, I was told by a source with intimate knowledge of the situation the SEC will not take Missouri because the SEC doesn't want to be responsible for the collapse of the Big 12. But my sources at Texas A&M continue to say the SEC will ultimately end up at 16 teams. They repeated that to me today. If that's true, there are three more schools that will be leaving their current homes to join the SEC. Those moves may not all happen immediately. But the fear of such moves will be enough to send conferences scrambling for members to secure their borders. We are back in the world of uncertainty as it pertains to college realignment. Where everyone is looking at everyone else and wondering if they are telling the truth. AGGIES MOVING ON: Texas A&M has officially notified the Big 12 it plans to apply for membership to another conference. In perhaps the most bizarre line of the official release from the Aggies, it says, "Should this application be accepted, Texas A&M will end its membership in the Big 12 Conference effective June 30, 2012." Other members of the Big 12 read that as if to say that A&M wanted its withdrawal from the conference to be contingent upon the Aggies' acceptance to the SEC. And what if the ultimate Aggie joke occurred, and A&M didn't have at least 9 of the 12 votes required among SEC presidents for expansion? "We can't be waiting around for this process to play out before deciding what we're going to do," said one Big 12 administrator. That administrator and others in the Big 12 question if SEC commissioner Mike Slive has the votes to bring in Texas A&M. Sources close to Texas A&M say they've been assured the votes are there (the Aggies need at least 9 of 12 to be admitted). A&M sources expect some movement by the SEC on their application by the end of next week. Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe made it clear A&M's withdrawal is unconditional. "Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin has notified the conference of his decision to withdraw the university from the Big 12 effective June 30, 2012. "The presidents and chancellors of the nine remaining member institutions are steadfast in their commitment to the Big 12. As previously stated, the Conference will move forward aggresively exploring its membership options." Sources say the Big 12 will withhold all of Texas A&M's remaining revenue for the 2011-12 school year, totaling between $15 million and $18 million, as the Aggies' exit fee. The maximum payout would have been between $28 million and $31 million, sources said. Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds said, "As we stated last summer, we are strong supporters and members of the Big 12 Conference. Recent events have not altered our confidence in the league. "A Big 12 committee is in place to look at all options, shaping the future of the conference so it will continue to be one of the top leagues in the country." Mack Brown said he would hate to see the Texas-Texas A&M football game come to an end because it has 100 years of tradition and is a great showcase game for Texas high school football players. But sources say the Longhorns' brass may not be in the mood to continue that game and may look at replacing the Aggies with Notre Dame on Thanksgiving night going foward. Stay tuned.
Baseballa has already pointed out why UT may not want to play it, and it does not benefit both teams equally. One team has it's own network and can schedule any money maker they choose. The other doesn't. UT can have just as many folks tune into the game without A&M being in it. Can the Aggies say the same? There is no need to increase exposure for the Aggies. The exposure for UT won't die by picking another Thanksgiving day opponent. They will own the TX market regardless. The only reason the Thanksgiving game is relevant is because of it's historical value. You can't say I don't mind seperating and ruining the historical value, yet I still want to play the game and keep the historical value. It's always been an instate rivalry because the schools have been linked. They are no longer linked. Much like it isn't in UT's best interests to keep playing the game. At least not until their older alumni with the $$ demand it, as Major has pointed out. About as much as the switch has to do with A&M not wanting to be a stepchild any longer.
Smart move on the part of the Big12 to include Mizzou and OU on the expansion board. That makes it harder for them to leave, and those are really the two schools with the potential to blow up the conference. This would be interesting. I'm curious who is on the Pac12's list for the future. If OU/OSU are acceptable academically, I'd make this offer now if I were the Pac12 and try to get to 14. No idea if the Oklahoma schools would go, but it has to be tempting. And if the Big12 implodes, that gives the Pac12 more leverage to get Texas on their terms unless Texas is willing to go independent.
At least from this thread and what I've been reading, there haven't been too many passionate posts about folks wanting A&M to stay. There have been tons of posts with folks offering their opinion on why they think A&M is messing up. That, and folks saying stop flirting and just do it. Just my opinion.
