Pac 10: "Getting our own network is inevitable."

It’s not just the increased revenue stream that is important for the SEC. They are now the crown jewel in the WWL brand for college athletics. Get used to being inundated with promos for "The SEC on ESPN,"

Will USC be sad?

Maybe, in the spirit of conference unity, UT will share some of its facilities, programming, and revenue streams with the rest of the Big 12?

Maybe, in the spirit of conference unity, UT will share some of its facilities, programming, and revenue streams with the rest of the Big 12?

Sure.

About the same time Mike Leach starts running the Wishbone.

How much does the Big 12 get from its non-ABC contract? Per the linked story, CU got $5.7 million last year from football, and $2 million from basketball. They said the Big 12 distributed $113 million overall. How does that compare to the Big 10’s contracts- their ABC cut, and their $66 million from their network? Basically, I’m asking where the conference is with respect to its peers.

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_9352442

This would be a good time for the Pac Ten to realize how much more marketable their conference would be if they cannibalized the biggest schools in the big 12 south and cut some of their lesser lights.

With all this money potentially floating around, how about we just drop all the talk about comparable peer institutions and just go and join the SEC, along with OU and A&M, and turn that conference into the first super conference, a conference with no more gimme games.

Either that or UT could isolate itself and attempt to steer as much of the Big12 money it generates back to itself, as it is doing now, but, in the near future, it maybe doing so in a conference which maybe on its last legs and which may come to lack the ability to generate true fan interest in the coming new age of media saturated, overhyped college ball.

The other options don’t seem to be much better. Both the B10 and the PAC10 are just too damn far away and in the B10’s case, it is also too damn cold and it’s girls are, in general, too damn ugly for it to be conference I’d ever want to be apart of. If I want to go see ugly ass, masculine looking cheerleaders who look like the type of girls who don’t bother to shave their armpits, then I can just go home to the wife, or go hang out near a philosophy department on some campus. I sure as hell on don’t need to be seeing any of them while I’m sitting back, attempting to relax, and trying to enjoy my favorite past time in the fall. Compared to the kind of cheerleaders typical of the B10, I’d almost rather see Aggie milk men yell leaders. At least they always manage to give me a chuckle or two.

I’m trying to figure out where the value is in UT Bevo-D broadcasting that the Big 12 wouldn’t own if they set up their own network. If a Big 12 network were started, wouldn’t they automatically own UT girls volleyball games, for example?

Does UT own the broadcasts of pre-Big 12 games?

I’m trying to figure out where the value is in UT Bevo-D broadcasting that the Big 12 wouldn’t own if they set up their own network. If a Big 12 network were started, wouldn’t they automatically own UT girls volleyball games, for example?

The idea of a Big 12 Network isn’t getting off the ground right now. The Big 10 had the strongest base of any conference (in terms of potential sets of eyes in front of the television)and they had a very hard time getting clearances to begin with. They are doing fine now, but the Big 12 would have an even tougher time getting cable system clearances out of market.

I don’t know if there is anything written in the Big 12 bylaws about ownership of games when it comes to a regional network. I do know that Texas has done its homework, and they believe that they are one of a handful of schools that could make a school channel viable.

In order to work it would have to be offered on a basic tier and would have to be at about the price of BEVO-D (with a ceiling probably of $9.95 a month).

Obviously the number of live events in football would be next to nothing — but the school would have replay rights with our current vendors.

Basketball is a little different. ESPN essentially controls the Big 12 broadcast rights, and they get to pick a total of 95 games over the year to control

The basic breakdown is:
ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, CBS 43 games
  ESPNU, ESPN360.com 20 games
  Big 12 Network 32 games

Each Big 12 school retains the media rights to all men’s basketball games not selected for telecast by ESPN. These are already marketed through ESPN but could easily be taken over by the school. They could be packaged with the coaches’ shows as well as internet and radio rights for a multi-tier sponsorship.

UT obviously would have a deeper selection for baseball and women’s basketball.

I think that the concept behind a Longhorn Channel would be built around a few live events from the major sports, various live events from the other sports, and then a boatload of “insider” material — coaches’ shows, features on players, repeats from the archive of great games in the past, etc.

The key of course is keeping the price point at a reasonable rate for a first tier cable or satellite system.

Terrific ideas. I always carry out your suggestions and implement them.