AM Officially Files For Divorce

The news release is posted on tamu.edu as well. See link below.

http://www.tamu.edu/athletics/conferenceChange.html

Okie dokie.

CoverSports.com, a gambling website, has already set TAMU’s expected 2012 win total at 5 games.

and the flood gates for aggy trolls has been opened….can wait for a_i_t’s clit rubbing in 5,4,3….

So is the SMU-aggy game a Big 12 tryout for SMU? And, has SMU ever had so many fans?!?!

*can’t wait

I wonder what the Marching Owl Band will have to say about this Saturday night…

yes, but i’m reading elsewhere verbiage to the point that leaving the 12 is contingent on being accepted elsewhere. i don’t like the sound of that. that’s a face-saving out if they don’t get picked up.

Hooray, sick of hearing them cry, not that this will stop that.

Good luck A&M. I’ll undoubtedly continue to root for you whenever you’re not playing Texas.

also, i thought the sec was requiring them to exit the 12 before they would consider officially. just saying they want to make application is not exiting, so wouldn’t that leave the sec in harm’s way?

by ‘exiting’ i mean formal declaration of departure, not looking while married.

jc is speechless.

Yawn…

buh-bye

They’ll finally have something to brag about in football….

NO silly, not the Fighting Texas Aggies.

The vicarious winning traditions supplied through the SEC! SEC! SEC!

Have fun with that consolation

Great, provided that (a) we didn’t let them off any of the break-up fees, and (b) we didn’t make promises to Baylor and Tech that we’ll keep them at the tit going forward. If we caved on either of these, then I’m less happy, but still glad to see aggie gone.

So long, Aggies. You will be remembered with great fondness… which is NOT the same thing as saying you’ll be missed. Thanks for the memories.

Hopefully they shove it all the way in Aggie, Wethorn.

Oh, and by the way, aggie, I faked every orgasm.

This is going to end poorly for them I’m afraid. I’ll be watching intently regardless.

The funny part about all of this is how quickly Texas got Baylor to stand down. I wonder what the enticements were. I’m efforting to get that answer.

I am a little confused here. Earler today, they said it was on hold for a few days because Sherm was afraid it would be a distraction and now they are going through with it. It sounds a little bit like the Aggies are having trouble getting all the pieces to fit. I think they need 9 SEC votes and 3 are opposed so they dont have any wiggle room. Maybe some of the schools were threatening to vote no to extract some goodies. Or maybe it was the Baylor legal situation. I guess we will hear in coming days

As Coach Royal says, “Fuck ’em and hard luck to ’em!”

I feel like my parents are putting my annoying ass 17 year old little brother up for adoption and tricking some rich couple into taking him

They stumble into some really dumb luck and witness the entire SEC-West blow apart on recruiting violations and step into the void. Not likely though. More likely that those programs continue to get who they want, in the manner of USC. Or, if there would happen to be some negative recruiting fall-out, Texas steps in and says thank you very much. Wouldn’t that be a bitch, A&M?

I truly am sad. The Texas vs. A&M game was the big one while I was in school 1992-1997. I remember beating them in 1995 and the campus going wild.

But. They made their decision and I think it’s time for a clean break for ALL sports for a minimum of 10 years but by no means a maximum.

And. I don’t wish them well. I actually hope the SEC doesn’t accept them and leaves them stranded. That would be the greatest Aggie joke EVAR!. It won’t happen but it would be funny.

I think A&M will continue on about the same pace as in the Big12. They will become another Arkansas with maybe just a bit more upside, maybe.

It’s time for them to rewrite their traditions including fight song. Ours still works actually. “And it’s goodbye to A&M”… Forever.

Maybe they stumble into some really dumb luck and witness the entire SEC-West blow apart on recruiting violations and step into the void. Not likely though. More likely that those programs continue to get who they want, in the manner of USC. Or, if there would happen to be some negative recruiting fall-out, Texas steps in and says thank you very much for the OOS recruits. Wouldn’t that be a bitch, A&M?

Good riddance. And I hope we let the MOB play at halftime. The minor league baseball refugees running UT events have taken to relegating them to pregame recently.

Well, damn. Count me in the sad camp. I’m going to miss the Aggies a bit. They were characters at a minimum.

Not what I was hoping either ded.

Regardless of the reasons, pushing them out feels bad to me.

The aggies made a decision that is 100% in keeping with their whole outlook on life. They knew they weren’t going to be able to compete against us or OU in the Big 12. They are not getting better, despite fluke years like the last one.

So joining the SEC is a good move for them. It definitely gets them more money, but I think the most important aspect for the denizens of College Station is the vicarious bragging rights.

“So what if we only won 3 games this year? We’re in the SEC, the most greatest footbal conference ever, and LSU/UF/Auburn/Ala just won the MNC! We aggies are so COOL!”

Dovetails very nicely into the current aggie worldview.

It’s good though. When you realize that you’re never going to win a championship, maximizing your revenue makes good sense.

Why? They want to go, so go. Just don’t forget the $28 million.

As if it already hasn’t been, this will be very, very interesting to see how things change going forward from here over the next couple of years.

—understatement de jour

Maybe I find myself in the minority, but I’ve yet to see any argument that convinces me this is good for us. The Big XII’s gameday locations are already pathetic, and no matter what you think of Kyle Field, this makes it even worse than it already is.

Lots of talk from people who don’t know shit about Notre Dame and BYU and Arkansas and Pittsburgh, again, from people who don’t know shit.

Basically, we’re talking, and Aggie’s walking. And you can pontificate that they are walking to their doom, but don’t tell me you wouldn’t be excited if we were heading to the SEC. All you academic, nose-up-in-the-air blowhards can kiss my ass, too.

So we get to sit on our ass an wait until 2015 to see the “master plan?” Bullshit. There is no master plan. The next three years in this toilet bowl of a conference will suck ass.

And if I haven’t spelled it out……I think Texas fucked up and handled this situation horribly. The spin coming out of talking heads doesn’t impress in the least.

And now I can’t even watch the Rice game.

Fuck.

What happens if the Sine-Education Conference says “no”?

Wow…it took aggie leaving to draw TWIYTC out of the woodwork…

now that it’s official, how much pressure will there be for us to continue the “lone star showdown” in every sport? i’m certain a&m will want to maintain it even as sec members, since competing with us is the basis for about 70-90% of their existance (and overall bottom line).

we’ve had a century long relationship with them. i find it hard to believe that we’ll all just walk away from that entirely (especially in football). any thoughts?

From what I’ve read, it really doesn’t provide them to much more if any money. In fact, when you factor in the little going away present that they are going to have to give to us, the payback is not really that substantial if at all. I see this as more about stability for them and ego. Finally, finally, the really get to stick it to Texas. I’m not sure that they feel that is one of the reasons, but I’m sure that it plays a significant part.

“too” instead of “to”

Arite… now that that’s done, lets go bust some owl ass.
I’d wager a guess the SMU fanbase just quadrupled for Sundays game.

Orangeblood79 - I tend to agree with you on the idea that we are probably not really better off, but I disagree with you as to wanting to be in the SEC, and it really has nothing to do with the competition. I do believe that the culture at UT is not the same as the culture of the SEC schools. I really do see us matching up more from a cultural standpoint with the PAC 12 or even in the Big 10.

I will miss hearing

“two, four, six, eight, ten, aggie women look like men”

Oh, aggie. tear

Sue their asses, then kick them out of the league.

BTW, my Big Cigar sources at ou tell me they are working closely with UT on several scenarios

We’ve already scheduled BYU & Notre Dame multiple times for the next 9 years…
BYU: 2011-2013-2014
Notre Dame: 2015-2016-2019-2020
might as well send em an official invite.

OB79: Agree with you on LHN. Having 16 people who get to see the Rice game on some goofy ‘network’ alienates the millions of alumni who don’t live in Austin. Dodds screwed this one up.

It’s a sad day. It’s tough to see a school turn their back on 117 (Tex) and 107 (Baylor) game rivalries. Amazing, actually, for a school that proclaims to be all about “tradition”

I think they get 12 votes from the SEC, b/c Slive issues orders like a general. A&M probably will like following orders and doing what’s good for the cause (SEC $).

I could see Ole Miss, MSU, and Vandy being against the move. It moves them further down the pecking order. 12 team SEC as it exists is very stable. Adding teams could be a good or bad thing for this.

Exiled…the payback won’t happen this year. The payback will happen in a year or two when SEC expands further, and/or contracts get renegotiated. Then the payments per team will blow every other conference $$ awards out of the water.

On top of all the other benefits, its also nice to get a seat in the most valuable conference and the most stable …when everyone knows that Super-conferences are coming, and the uncertainty that will come along with that. (uncertainties in Geographic, political, academic, financial, etc).

Even if the Exit Fees were $50 million, it would still be a cheap price to pay.

…BTW, if A&M just sings the first verse of the fight song, would that make everyone happy? That aspect seems to have a ton of people fired up on this site. Will this force Texas to re-wriet theirs too? Will this require a Legislative hearing and an Economic Impact study?

Re yeh: “yes, but i’m reading elsewhere verbiage to the point that leaving the 12 is contingent on being accepted elsewhere. i don’t like the sound of that. that’s a face-saving out if they don’t get picked up.”

Reading the quote again, "I have determined it is in the best interest of Texas A&M to make application to join another athletic conference," unless applying to join another conference and maintaining membership in the current one are mutually exclusive, it sounds like this could still hold the possibility of being a face saving move.

Dr UCLA….

actually, i was thinking we would not play in football for the near future, but continue to play in the other sports. all other sports are much easier to work out as non-conf scheduling.

I’m sure A&M, in general, will say they want to continue to play Texas in football, but i’m not so sure its in either parties best interest, at least not in the short term.

Personally, I enjoyed knowing the collar was on the Ags as far as playing by the same set of rules. They could most likely get worse as a program with regards to winning percentage, but they can probably keep everyone who depends on Texas recruiting from getting better as well. Just enough to fuck it up for everyone is what I’m predicting. Hello 1980s sans the Aggie championships. Especially, if they are recruiting by SEC admittance standards and everyone else is recruiting by PAC 12 standards.

More accurate headline:

Jan Brady Runs Away From Home

kick them out of the league

nolo fecal materialo.

i mean, really, they can’t recover from this, even if they are using this contingency to gracefully back down. they’ve burned their britches here.

wherever they go they have to do it. if they balk we need to firmly position our spit-shined jump boot against their expansive posterior in a vigorous manner.

ded -
 
That’s really my only concern. The SEC generally does what takes to get it done on the recruiting trail and the SEC West represents their very worst actors - LSU, Bama, Auburn, Ole Miss. A&M is now in that mix. Will they revert to the behaviors of their last extended period of success?
 
Nor do I underestimate the power of SEC football broadcast statewide consistently. Given a choice between Georgia-LSU and Kansas St-Oklahoma St, I know what I’m probably watching.

So if A&M is only applying to join another conference and not actually leaving today, am I correct in assuming that the drop dead date (Sept 1) to leave without additional penalties is still in play?

Not really arguing the competitive strength of SEC ball vs. the B12, Scip, but to compare apples to apples, but if you were choosing between KSU-Ok St and, say, UK-Georgia, that might make the decision a little harder. Something like Georgia-LSU gets prime exposure.

MMAD: That’s the A&M theory, anyway. I don’t see anything in the bylaws that makes the distinction they’re trying to make.

SEC football is already broadcast statewide on CBS and ESPN at least 3 times a week. I don’t see how A&M playing in that conference exposes the state to any more SEC football. It will expose us to more A&M football, most likely.

This may or may not be good for ATM but it isnt good for Texas.

Since last year we turned down an invite to the Pac 10, now have a dying conference that has lost Nebraska, Colorado, and ATM and replaced that with a mythical TV network that doesnt have any viewership.

A lot of good things could and probably will happen to Texas, but the immediate future is pretty subpar. A mediocre team in a dying conference is the reality. We will be fine eventually but there isnt a lot of sex appeal out there for the next couple years barring a big change.

As for ATM, I have no doubt they are totally amenable to playing by SEC rules. Recruiting in Texas is about to get dirty again and that never helps us. Never.

Even with that it is extremely difficult for me to picture ATM ever winning the SEC. They havent proven they can sustain excellence unless they are in the top decile of cheaters. That is a statistical and financial impossibility in the SEC.

I do think its funny they still want to play Texas given that everything about ATM is anti-Texas. Be gone already.

Not really arguing the competitive strength of SEC ball vs. the B12, Scip, but to compare apples to apples, but if you were choosing between KSU-Ok St and, say, UK-Georgia, that might make the decision a little harder. Something like Georgia-LSU gets prime exposure.
 
Except that I picked parallel teams with nearly identical records (Georgia 6-7, KSU 7-6, LSU and OSU both 11-2) and identical conference performance, which is exactly the point. Even struggling SEC brands like Tennessee and Georgia are major TV draws.

People talk about tradition. Most Texans can tell you that the longhorns were playing the Aggies 100 years before some of these students were born. Sometimes I wonder what all those Aggies who are dead and gone, would say to the Aggies in charge today.

Seems like such a waste.

We already have SEC opponents on our schedules for 2012-2015. Do we really want to add another one?

As I’ve written many times, two years ago I would have been saddened that the Aggies were leaving. Now, their worst fans (it’s a big group) have made me sick of them and their absurd jihad against the Great Satan tu, and their even more absurd belief in their own nobility.

Their better fans are just fine. On the one hand, I feel sorry for them because I don’t think their prospects in the SEC are better than they were in the Big 12. On the other hand, maybe these saner minds can hold sway and dump some of the idiocy known as “old army.”

Yeah, but that’s like comparing Texas with Oregon State. Overall, Georgia is a top draw but they had a bad year last year. If Georgia went 6-7 on average for 10 years nobody would want to watch them.

I would be curious to hear how SEC gets more exposure in Texas now. It probably happens just in the minds of recruits because A&M is in the SEC but it’s not like SEC games were being blacked out here in Texas last year.

Bullzak, I hope A&M gets dirty again. Texas is in much better shape now to respond to it. If Texas treatment of Lyles was any indication, there will be hell to pay. Letting LSU cheat is one thing. Letting your next door neighbor cheat is another.

One last question, if anyone knows. Why has Texas worked to appease Baylor? Why does Texas want A&M to have an easier time leaving? The obvious answer is that Texas wants the Big12 to crumble. But part of me has a hard time believing that.

Why isn’t Aggy required to take Tech and/or Baylor? If we convinced Baylor to back down and let Aggy go then clearly we aren’t about to go anywhere without Baylor and we already have a “Tech problem.” Why do we have a Tech problem but Aggy doesn’t?

I don’t care what Aggy does but it seems that we are in a rough spot (to the extent we migrate to the Pac or the B1G) if our mobility is limited by Tech and Baylor tagging along.

The #2 football program in the state now with lower standards, bribes, getting to play in the SEC in front of mama. Recruiting in the state of Texas is about to undergo a paradigm shift. Sucky.

“The #2 football program in the state ….”

TCU’s leaving too?

People talk about tradition. Most Texans can tell you that the longhorns were playing the Aggies 100 years before some of these students were born. Sometimes I wonder what all those Aggies who are dead and gone, would say to the Aggies in charge today.

A&M has publicly stated they’d like to continue the rivalry, whether or not it continues remains to be seen.

This is going to end poorly for them I’m afraid. I’ll be watching intently regardless.

The funny part about all of this is how quickly Texas got Baylor to stand down. I wonder what the enticements were. I’m efforting to get that answer.

I think it’ll be a good move in the long run but we’ll all be waiting to see how it plays out.

I’m curious on the Baylor aspect as well, while Texas may have made some sort of concession in the Big 12 as it stands currently, the stability of the league long term is certainly in doubt. If and when Texas/OU/Mizzou make a move for greener pastures Baylor may very well be the odd man out.

Aggies leave the big 12 and enter the SEC. Result: both conferences average SAT scores go up.

I was forward looking on that one, ST. Georgia this year looks like a 9- or 10-win team.

Do we have numbers on something like that? I’m just curious as to how bad it would be.

I remember stumbling upon UAB-Tennessee last year, which went to OT. I watched because it was close, not because it was the Vols.

exactly, make mine a double. (double wide?)

i don’t think notifying an intent to apply qualifies for beating the drop dead date unless we want it to, and that’s a scary precedent to set.

i hope our immediate conference response is that that does not satisfy and that if they don’t formally set in motion the move from the conference today that they are considered liable.

that puts them in the position of having to go or to stay and deciding today.

yeh, I totally agree. I don’t want the Big12 to do anything desperate but I don’t want them to give them a free ride either. We need to step up the pressure and dictate the time table.

I think bullzack and some others have a point. I was pretty pissed last summer that the TV execs swooped in to save Beebe and the Big 12. I wanted to go to the Pac or B1G, primarily because I didn’t think that a Big 12 Lite would remain relevant. I can very easily forsee an undefeated UT/OU/BYU getting passed over for MNC game for a one loss B1G or SEC team in the near future.

If there was one positive after last summer, it was getting the remaining 10 teams to publicly pledge their intent to stay, giving the league some much-needed stability. Well, we’ve just seen how hollow those promises were, and it’s deeply ironic that this breakup has been caused by a network EVERYONE knew was coming, but that apparently… ha friggin ha, NOBODY will get to see.

I reserve the right to call myself an idiot if we somehow sway ND into signing onto this abortion of a conference. But up to this point, I’m disappointed in the long-term vision I see coming out of Bellmont, and I think Beebe should be fired right now.

Monahorns -

 The point is that the SEC ALWAYS has a traditional superpower on the ropes recycling through a new rebirth. Four years ago, it was Alabama. They were still Alabama. Before that, Florida. And so on.
 
The Big 12 has two Top 20 programs year in and year out. The SEC has 6.
 
They have a deeper bench. That means better, more appealing football at mid-level match-ups vis a vis the Big 12. Do you understand?

Monahorns said:

August 31st, 2011 at 10:43 am

Yeah, but that’s like comparing Texas with Oregon State.

Excellent point.

Why has Texas worked to appease Baylor? Why does Texas want A&M to have an easier time leaving? The obvious answer is that Texas wants the Big12 to crumble. But part of me has a hard time believing that.

ITA. The LHN is UT’s baby. Only the Big 12 allows UT to keep its baby (I still have a hard time believing the Pac-12 would allow the LHN to just slide into its regional networks framework). AND only the Big 12 allows UT to call all the shots.

Making an announcement soon that BYU will be replacing A&M is the only way to salvage the Big 12’s situation. Although I’ve stated before that adding BYU would be a bigger plus than keeping A&M, I don’t like the idea of our guys competing against 25 year olds.

The #2 football program in the state now with lower standards, bribes, getting to play in the SEC in front of mama. Recruiting in the state of Texas is about to undergo a paradigm shift.

Read Monahorns’ post again. If the Aggies fire up the FedEx truck, Texas’ response will make Charles Robinson look like Inspector Clouseau, and A&M would hear from a very disgruntled NCAA in very short order.

I wouldn’t worry too much about an undefeated team getting left out of the mix, regardless of conference affiliation (e.g. Auburn, 2004). I certainly wouldn’t worry about an undefeated Texas or OU getting left out assuming a reasonable SoS.

Furthermore, the quorum of Texas, BYU, ND, and OU (yes, OU) should also be able to enlist like-minded institutions that should help stem the tide of questionable recruiting.

Hook ’em!

Don’t let the barn door hit you in the ass, Nazis! If I was DeLoss Dodds, I wouldn’t schedule the Hitler Youth in any athletic event, unless of course it was on LHN. Bring on the Momos to take their place, and let’s get all those Domer games scheduled for Thanksgiving! The Aggies can start a new rivalry with their buddies from Starkville—-the Outback Toilet Bowl. Winner gets the Golden Chicken Coop.

I have always felt like, along with the rest of you, that A&M has wanted to beat us a hell of a lot worse than we wanted to beat them. I hope that changes this year. How they mocked Colt McCoy as Cart was intolerable and very low class. I say goodbye and good riddance. They are now officially dead to me. I have deleted every connection to their websites and no longer care what they think. I grow tired of how they blame us as they walk out the door; all the while taking the money greedily from Colorado and Nebraska, promising to stay long term in the Big 12, destroying long held rivalries, and probably screwing Baylor and maybe Tech in the process. Their sanctimonious bullshit has officially gotten old. I want to keep the Big 12 together long enough for them to have to pay the full exit fee. Then I want a mass exodus to the Pac 12.

Publicly pledge their intent to stay? You mean like Texas did while they were negotiating a 6 team exit stage left to the PAC?

Burton just had an interesting post on 247 that jived pretty well with what Scipio and others have said, especially in relation to the LHN article the WW posted the other day.

Basically said ND joining the Big 12 is a pipe dream and will never happen, that he has talked with sources in South Bend and heard that it is an absolute non-starter and there are no discussions going on. However, UT and ND have had serious discussions about setting up an annual or semi-annual game. He further said if you look at the realities of the LHN, that the UT and OU regents are attached at the hip and moving in lock-step, and how the UT admin has approached realignment last year, it is a safe assumption to believe UT to the PAC is only a matter of time. He said there are plenty of sources stating that negotiations between Scott and UT/OU have been ongoing.

Just thought it was interesting that this follows much of the logic that has been laid out here.

I would be curious to hear how SEC gets more exposure in Texas now.

Third tier rights — the SEC will be on a lot more regionally in Texas. And if I am A&M I make a deal with Fox (much like Florida has with the Sun Sports Network) like tomorrow, for a “network” in this area.

Anyone know where I can watch the Rice game Saturday? I can’t seem to find it on TV anywhere…

The wording on the Aggie press release is the exact same wording NU used when they applied to the B1G.

“I can’t seem to find it on TV anywhere…”

You aggies should be pretty used to that by now

The Aggies have always been delusional. Now they think they can compete in the SEC. I see them in football beating Vanderbilt (maybe) and Kentucky . 2 wins — and to think this misery of losing that is about to be bestowed upon the delusional ones is all attributable to - PENIS ENVY! Bevo has a TV network and Reveille doesn’t — Wahhhhhhhhh. Adios Mojos.

"The #2 football program in the state …."

TCU’s leaving too?

Maybe he means TECH. I think you can make that argument

Skeebo, you’re a troll. The Big 12 may release you guys from liability, but other than Texas having your backs (for reasons I assume benefit Texas), there’s no reason Baylor, ISU, KU, KSU, Mizz, and TT should do the same. You fraudulently conned them into signing their portions of the NU/CU exit fees over, then made off anyway. And even if all those teams AND the Big 12 release liability, FOX has NO incentive not to come after your cheating asses for tortious interference and fraud. So enjoy the ride, moron.

Oh, and can you tell me where Aggie’s fantake blog is? You seem to be spending a lot of time over here, is there something wrong with yours?

LHN is available on Fios. I’ll have the game up here in New Jersey, channel 320. The deal will get done for the rest of you back home. The stakes are too high otherwise.

Let the babies go to the SEC and remain a regional brand with moderate appeal in their home state. We’ve already become a national brand with fans everywhere, and many, many more are on the way. Their impact on statewide recruiting will be whatever it is - our impact on national recruiting will be significant, and soon.

It would such a glorious kick in the ass if the Big 12 strips aggy of its conference affiliation immediately, and then they somehow pull off the impossible and mathematically win the Big 12, but don’t get any credit for it (BCS or otherwise). Asterisk karma.

The flight tracker guys say OU has 4 different planes in the air right now. The one that flew to Columbia and College Station on Sunday night is currently headed to Hobby in Houston. Larry Scott’s plane is on the way to Pac 12 HQ. Not sure what all this means. Probably nothing, but it’s interesting to follow.

Short of cheating, the idea that the SEC will somehow make A&M a better football program still seems absurd to me. Alabama is good because Saban and that it’s ’Bama. Florida is good because of Spurrier and Meyer. Auburn is good because of their support of church rebuilding projects.

These dominant programs make the SEC the dominant football conference. Put Alabama in the ACC and they’d still be ‘Bama and still would have Saban- they’d still be a dominant football program. Put Urban Meyer or Steve Spurrier’s Florida (the jury’s still out on Boom) in the ACC and they still would have been dominant. Those are great football programs with great coaches.

A&M in the SEC doesn’t make their coaches any smarter. It doesn’t change their 100 years of mediocrity. It doesn’t make their current players big, strong, faster, or better. As far as future recruits go, do players go to Alabama for the SEC or to play at Alabama for Saban? What kind of recruits do UK, Vandy, Miss. St., or Ol’ Miss get?

Short of cheating, how many recruits does A&M get because of the SEC? Wouldn’t the stud player who values SEC! SEC! above all else (if such a player actually exists) have A&M 5th at best on their list of schools?

ssr50,

In terms of football, can you explain how? CBS already carries at least one SEC game a week. It seems like that the worst that will happen is that the normal SEC game will now be replaced by the A&M game. I really don’t see how there will be additional SEC football exposure in the state.

Even though the Aggies are leaving for the SEC. We will still be able to laugh at them for the rest of our lives. They will continue to say incredibly stupid things. They will still whine about UT whether we play them or not. UT will be fine without the Aggies. Maybe we won’t play them for a while but we will be in new exciting match-ups. DeLoss spends his entire life plotting to keep Ut in the flow. Schools want to play Texas. It is guaranteed money, national exposure and generally an exciting game. Good things are ahead whether it is “Pac umteen” or a new super conference, we will be in the mix. I welcome the future.

Damn Nick, did I hit a nerve? I would genuinely like to watch the Rice/Longhorn game on Saturday, though I admit that I do have a small bit of glee that the distribution for your channel seems to be having some trouble.

I’m sure you’ll get some better coverage after it is transitioned over to one of the regional networks for the PAC.

As far as A&M not being on TV as often, I admit it is annoying. However, that is soon to be a thing of the past as the SEC has every game available for live broadcast.

Regarding dirty recruiting, UT has already fired a shot across the bow. Ask Willie Lyles.

Expectations and pressure on the A&M football team has not been this high in a generation, or more. It’s going to be interesting to see how they respond. If they stumble and fall, it could get real ugly in CS (and the SEC board meetings) at the end of the season.

I know it sounds dramatic, but games #3 through #5 (OK State @ home, ARK in Dallas, and Tech in Lubbock) could decide the fate of A&M football for many years to come. Lose two of those and your’re borderline Top 25 with road games at KSTATE & OU and home games vs Missouri and Texas yet to play.

How many BCS bowls have they won in the BCS era? How many have they played in? How many bowl games have they won in the BCS era?

And they think they will compete in the SEC, because…because they will play in the SEC? Does this make any sense?

Even struggling SEC brands like Tennessee and Georgia are major TV draws.

I never understood why Georgia is always and perpetually on the verge of returning to glory. Then I watched a lot of Sasha Grey, and I understood. The verge makes for good content.

Texoz, you are absolutely correct on all points. I have to thank Texas for kicking off the next string of investigations that will make operating in the SEC without cheating a little easier, and losing 2 out of 3 of the OSU/Ark/TT games would be horrific to A&M’s long-term growth as a football program.

Skeebo, you’re right, I got personal, that wasn’t cool. Sincerest apologies. As for your point about “publicly pledging their intent to stay”, I think it was disingenuous of you to point at UT looking to take a group to the Pac10 when A&M was included in that group.

My baseline take on the Aggies is this: I love you guys, because you’re the gift that keeps on giving. I’d rather have you around, but if you want to go, I honor your right to do what you think is best for you, same as I’d expect you to honor UT’s right to do the same. I personally think moving to the SEC is better for the SEC than it is for Aggies. Yes, you’ll play against better competition from top to bottom, I grant you that. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean the Aggies’ record will be a GOOD one, but ok, if that’s what you want, fine. Second, Aggies are giving up preferential treatment in the Big 12, where they got a financial windfall from the NU/CU departures, relative the rest of the conference. So you’re giving up money, and you’re taking a harder path to major BCS games. (Personally, I’m sympathetic to these points, cause I’d like my Horns to play in a tougher league too).

And the whole reason you’re doing it is, 1). You’re bothered by the LHN, the same network you’re making fun of for having no subscribers and no impact, and 2). you can’t trust Texas, because Texas could leave anytime and break up the conference and… oh wait, that’s you guys. See my point?

My issue is not that you’re leaving, but that you didn’t do it last year, when it would have been the perfect excuse to get out of this crappy conference. And that anger is directed at Dodds, Beebe, ABC, and Fox, as much or more as it’s directed at A&M.

So seriously, I wish you guys well. I’d like to keep playing if possible, and if y’all prove me wrong, run the SEC table sometime in the next 50 years, I will gleefully announce I was wrong.

To all of those worried or snickering (Skeebo) about the LHN not being picked up quickly, the Big 10 Network went through almost identical gyrations a few years ago when it launched. I live in Big 10 country (groan), and the same tooth-gnashing went on here too. It’s prime negotiation time between the provider (ESPN) and the carriers. Much brinksmanship, that will be resolved fairly quickly. Let them posture, don’t take anything said at face value, and step back from the ledge. It’s all gonna be all right.

“One last question, if anyone knows. Why has Texas worked to appease Baylor? Why does Texas want A&M to have an easier time leaving? The obvious answer is that Texas wants the Big12 to crumble. But part of me has a hard time believing that.”

Personally, I don’t think that’s the obvious answer Monahorns. I’m sure we made it worth their while somehow for the near term. Also, Texas, Baylor and Tech can join forces to harass/hurt Aggy financially for many years to come. At worst, we can make their lives miserable every two years. At best, we can negatively affect their funding. Also, Texas will be seen by the Lege as the mediator who helped out Baylor and Tech. Finally, we not only don’t care if Aggy leaves, we’d rather they did. It sets us free politically for the future. Read WWM’s post from a few days back. I think you can also take it as a sign that the Big 12 already has at least one school lined up as the 10th team at a minimum. I can tell you that A&M’s initial move in this nor the impending culmination of it caught noone in the conference office off guard!

None of this makes anyone in the Big 12 suddenly in love with us. But the other schools are not happy that Aggy exited after last year taking money to stay, only to exit with the LHN as a smoke screen. Besides, we only really care what OU (and by defintion OSU) thinks at this point. I would not characterize our mindset so much as that we want the Big 12 to crumble—-but that we know it’s not going to singly with this and, in the future, if it suits our needs to move on, we don’t have to worry about any political fallout. We are now free to pursue any and all available future avenues, which include remaining in the Big 12 or some reasonable facsimile thereof.

I look forward to Part II of WMM’s series on the future and LHN.

Talked with an Aggie alum over the weekend & asked what his thoughts were. His response, “We’ll obviously have to start cheating again.”

honestly i’ve been so annoyed with them lately that im glad to see them go. i know alot of people are upset but i’m a young alumni and theyve been nothing but irritating since i started school at UT and it doesnt look like theyll change anytime soon. im fine with pawning them off on the SEC and watching them be mediocre for years to come. worst case scenario for Texas is we go independent (which is what we’re headed for anyway) and thats not such a bad thing in my eyes.

Nick, no need to apologize. While I would genuinely like to watch the game, but I was most definitively trolling.

I’m not particularly bothered by the LHN, nor really, regardless of what you hear is the A&M Administration, ’least not now that the NCAA ruled on the HS games.

There are many more reasons for this move than the LHN or Texas or even football for that matter.

At its base this move is about doing what is best for A&M long term. That is all.

You want to academics are worse in the SEC… sorry, that argument went out the window when Nebraska and Colorado left. The SEC, right now, is about equal to the remnants of the Big12. With A&M it is better academically.

Athletically, the SEC is better than the Big12 top to bottom and less football A&M is the best all-around athletic department in the Big12.

Research, SEC schools are much more research focused which fits with A&M and its goals as a school.

Stability… don’t think much needs to be said here.

And as far as funding threats. They mean nothing. Texas has far more to lose than A&M does if the PUF is opened. Guarantee that if it gets opened for every dollar that A&M loses Texas will lose 1.25 to 1.75. All your allies that you’ll gather to break open the Fund will turn on you like jackals once it is done and your leaders know this.

Anyway, it is over and done with. Good luck with your network and your future PAC conference affiliation or Independence.

I’ll admit it, I’m pretty old. Been a Longhorn fan my whole life. Watched the big games with Arkansas in the 60’s, witnessed first hand ND beating us in the Cotton Bowl in Earl’s senior season and screamed at the TV during the best NC football game ever played. Been there thick and thin. During all those years I never felt that A&M was our biggest rival, even with all the tradition. To me it’s always been OU with slices of Arky or ND or someone else depending on the era. I personally don’t give a fuck about A&M and don’t care if they leave or stay. Texas will be fine no matter what happens. I liken it to Alabama or Florida or USC or the like being a free agent. We along with OU can call our shots. The sky is not falling.

Texas Fight!
Texas Fight
And it’s “Goodbye” and “Amen”!

but i’m a young alumni

The singular of alumni is alumnus (or alumna if you’re female).

Sorry, but it really bugs me when people, especially those who claim to be Texas Exes, get that wrong.

Maybe I missed something, but who’s talking about funding threats and opening up the Permanent Fund? I didn’t bring up academics, although I’d like to see some #‘s to back up what you’re saying about the Big 12 being equivalent to the SEC. I’ll spot you the point about football, but withhold agreement on athletics as a whole, cause I’m not sure the evidence is there.

The one point I’d make in response is your point about stability, and that is, A&M is the one introducing instability, by bailing out less than a year after pledging to remain. Nobody was talking about league instability prior to July 21st.

“the Big 10 Network went through almost identical gyrations a few years ago when it launched.”

Agreed. And for Skeebo (who’s appearing less narrow-minded by the post), I’ve got Texas-Rice on my FiOS schedule in Northern Virginia — that’s how it works when you move to become a national brand. The other similar options are the NBC Notre Dame home telecasts and, of course, Big10Net, so now LHN is playing at that level.

I believe that is what Deloss and the gang are looking for in the long term. Momentum (and coverage) will grow and soon Top 100 recruits across the nation will see the Longhorns and know their games can be seen. That has to further upgrade the talent pool and sell more Burnt Orange merchandise.

and less football A&M is the best all-around athletic department in the Big12.

This will be a big shot in the arm for meat judging competition in the SEC

You want to academics are worse in the SEC… sorry, that argument went out the window when Nebraska and Colorado left. The SEC, right now, is about equal to the remnants of the Big12. With A&M it is better academically.

Here’s the problem, Skeebo. People don’t think “Vanderbilt” when they think of the SEC. Rightly or wrongly, they see the SEC as southern football schools and binge drinking.

Severing itself from UT is not a net positive for A&M, academically. I say this as someone who has a lot of respect for A&M and its research and teaching mission.

Rich: First of all A&M won’t be on CBS all that much to begin with
 As I said, it is the third tier games that will get more coverage in Texas.

The SEC regional package will find it much easier to get station clearance in Texas.

Again, if A&M is smart, they will have a regional partner as well. The Aggies will have a much stronger media presence than they did in the Big 12

Scip:
“They have a deeper bench. That means better, more appealing football at mid-level match-ups vis a vis the Big 12. Do you understand?”

Of course I understand. I have never disagreed with that.

sorry joetx. didnt realize the sensitivity in that area. although i wasnt an english major, i am a Texas Ex. Im not just claiming to be. Im sure im not the only one who has made that mistake before.

Laid

Willie: part II, please.

You don’t have to be an English major to know that “alumni” is the plural form.

Dude, let it go.

you dont have to be a dickhead either

Give it a rest, Joe.

i just think its best to contribute something to the thread rather than give an English lesson. and honestly i wouldve let the comment go if you had simply said you dont like when Texas Exes get it wrong but it irked me a little when you said people who claim to be Texas Exes. as if i cant be a Texas Ex if i make a little mistake like that.

Let’s decline Texas A&M

Agricola

agricolae

Genitive

agricolae

agricolarum

Dative

-ae

-is

Accusative

-am

-as

Ablative
-a

-ae

Nick, funding threats have been brought up, not on this post but elsewhere… I’m blending conversations, sorry.

As far as academics, I was expanding the conversation away from just football to explore why A&M was making this move. A lot has been said about football and just how bad A&M will be in the SEC, and how we were just pissy about the LHN and I wanted to open the discussion a bit, b/c while A&M hasn’t been that great… good, over the last decade in football, we aren’t coached by Fran or RC any more and the talent and depth is reaching levels we haven’t seen since the 90’s.

As far as athletics as a whole, I meant to add the disclaimer, right now. Take a look at the Sears Cup rankings for the last 3-4 years. A&M Athletics isn’t what it was 10 years ago.

As far as stability… if you didn’t hear people talking about the instability then you weren’t venturing out very far from the Texas blogs. Not many, outside of Texas and maybe OU, look at the Big12 as anything more than a dead conference walking, a placeholder while Texas got its ducks in order for what it want to do. Hell, Geof Ketchum came out and said exactly this last summer.

But even if A&M hadn’t bolted now, with aggressive as ESPN has been to get higher tier content on the LHN, do you seriously think that the LHN will not affect the upcoming Tier1 rights negotiations?

parlin, nobody is making Texas server its dealings with A&M academically but Texas. But who do people think of when they think of the SEC? Florida? Georgia? Auburn? Alabama? Kentucky? Drop Vandy from the equation and compare the rankings and research dollars of those four schools with the remaining members of the Big12.

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities#

I believe that is what Deloss and the gang are looking for in the long term. Momentum (and coverage) will grow and soon Top 100 recruits across the nation will see the Longhorns and know their games can be seen. That has to further upgrade the talent pool and sell more Burnt Orange merchandise.

I think it’s going to be interesting to see this perception play out vs a whole lot of people that really don’t like Texas right now. (BTW, those SEC games can be seen everywhere too.)

The LHN picked just about the worst possible time to launch (following a 5-7) season and I think people are starting to realize that t-shirt fans aren’t exceptionally loyal. Texas will still have their fans but without wins you don’t pull nearly as many of the bandwaggoners needed to sustain a “national brand” (cause let’s face it, there’s only so many graduates).

I think this season is pretty critical to how Texas and the LHN do, if the winning doesn’t start soon I think the going could be tough.

Average IQs of the Big XII and SEC are about to go up.

SEC! SEC! SEC!

People who will miss playing the Aggies because of the tradition are like people who miss eating baby food. It’s time to grow up.

People who will miss playing the Aggies because of the tradition are like people who miss eating baby food. It’s time to grow up.

Yeah, you silly immature people who have spent dozens of Thanksgivings with family members of different school loyalties crowded around the tv set for an annual tradition that for some encompasses generations…time to grow up.

I missed the Pig people of Arkansas game for about three years, but have since forgotten about it.

Time heals all wounds.

I am UT fan, my son and money went to UT and got season tickets and all that….abd I think A&M is a great univeristy, but dang it all, those aggie people have always come off a little strange, fanatic, and just weird sometimes…..I will not miss playing them at all…but I have to admit….going into LSU stadium or Alabama stadium or Florida’s stadium will get their players and fans adrenalin going….kinda of envious of that experience, but I am sure the glamour will rub off after they go 5-7 .

I’m a younger fan, but grew up watching a rooting for Texas. And for some time ATM never felt like a true rivalry. True they hated us, but most I think would agree that we didn’t hate ATM like we hated OU. I know Aggies will say look at our record against you! but look at your season records. Getting up to play one team and only playing your best game against one team year in a year out has made it more of a tradition for one team.

The only time I could say I hated the aggies was when I would go to a game. Seeing their male cheerleaders and their obnoxious cheers would really bug me.

Skeebo said: Good luck with your network and your future PAC conference affiliation or Independence.

Yeah, okay, thanks. Now fuck off, ’k?

I wish we could get past all the “You guys were mean and forced us out and your LHN sucks”, and the “You guys are whiny and causing the problems and will get killed in the SEC” talk and discuss what’s going to happen going forward. In particular:

1) A&M still has to apply to the SEC and SEC has to vote them in. What is the likely timeframe for this? Days? weeks? months?
2) BYU has been rumored to have already accepted an invite supposedly contingent on A&M leaving. Since the wording of A&Ms departure is dependent on getting into another conference (SEC obviously), does the Big Algebra wait on that being official before announcing any additions or replacements? If so, based on question 1 then we may be waiting who knows how long for this to happen.
3) The mizzou President is supposedly in charge of the Big Algebra expansion committee (this was in a Yahoo article I could probably find again if anyone doubts it). Does this mean we have assurances from mizzou that they aren’t going anywhere, such as the SEC as a 14th team? Otherwise it would be kind of like putting Bowen in charge of our search committee.
4) What would it take for Texas and OU to pull the plug now on the Big Algebra? Would we still have to lose another team along with A&M?
5) Would that do it for sure or would they still try to get replacements and keep it together? 6) What if it’s just A&M but we can’t get a quality replacement; do we just carry on a few years with a foundering league or is that enough to pull the plug now?
7) Does the long term plan (i.e. going PAC-16 vs. Affiliation of Indepents) dictate that we can’t pull the plug now, or dictate when we pull the plug?
8) If so, what do our inside sources say is the preferred long term plan and what is the timing on that happening?
9) When I hear an Affiliation of Independents mentioned, what exactly does that mean? What aspects are affiliated and what aspects are independent? What are the advantages of this arrangement?

So many questions I’d love to hear answers to and less of the back and forth bitching about who gets LHN, who’s fault it is, and if aggy will be better or worse.

The singular of alumni is alumnus (or alumna if you’re female).

Thanks for pointing that out. I was going to, but the grammar nazi thing bugs me… still, I agree with you that it’s a pisser to see/hear people doing this and similar dumbass stuff. Takes me back to “Sicks munce ago i cuddent evin spele agy now i are won.”

Nobody gives a shit about the Sears Cup. Please.

This is about football. Football brings in the money. Take all that other stuff to the womens field hockey blog.

Academics is a very distant second.

A little ironic is that one very big reason the Big XII brand was weakened is that a potential power football program like ATM sucked out loud for almost all of the conference’s existence.

One thing we can all agree on is that ATM is moving up in weight class. The good news is you dont have to play Texas anymore. The bad news is that on any given year you will play five Texas-caliber teams at least. Even perennial heavyweights like Texas and OU would have trouble with that.

I dont see ATM winning the SEC in the next decade. But good luck with that whole Sears Cup thing.

If yous - sorry, y’all - think you’re still hearing whining from agy right now (they wanted us to be wailing that we didn’t think they’d really leave and making fearful noises about the future… unfortunately for them, we are in fact in mildly celebratory mode, albeit tinted with a bit of nostalgia on the part of the near-sighted), just wait until the inevitable questionable calls lead to an unforeseen loss or two for them in the next couple of months, and the complaints about XII referees being against them begin to spool up to Force Five Plus… quick, somebody make a loop out of the Nebraska receiver being manually sodomized by the agy defender and the resulting 30-yard penalty against… Nebraska.

Payback’s a bitch, agys.

Look! I’m not going to lie. I’m jealous of the potential match ups that Texas would have if they were instead headed to the SEC. Strictly speaking of football only. Other than that the SEC doesn’t really have much to offer. I get that football is enormous and the only REAL impetus for conference realignment, but there is something kind of icky (or is it hick-y) about the SEC.

Wait till you show Auburn your Sears cup.

“The LHN picked just about the worst possible time to launch (following a 5-7) season and I think people are starting to realize that t-shirt fans aren’t exceptionally loyal. Texas will still have their fans but without wins you don’t pull nearly as many of the bandwaggoners needed to sustain a "national brand" (cause let’s face it, there’s only so many graduates).”

What company owns LHN? Disney
Which Disney/ABC/ESPN have trouble finding carriage? _____________
Which brand is #1 in royalties the past 6 years? Texas
What was the highest rated A&M game last year? The game against 5-6 Texas

If this somehow leverages AM up a notch or two on the field, then great for them, great for Texas as a college football state… and hence great for UT. I could see both parties benefiting from this, assuming Texas and AM remain willing to play a rivalry game at the end of the year. Oklahoma’s a great rivalry, too, but no one really remembers it come Thanksgiving. You need something in the limelight at the end of the season, and UT/AM as an inter-conference tilt (like Florida State-UF) seems to have more juice than just another Big 12 match-up. Plus, in essence the State U System gets paid for the state TV markets twice, via two different conference contracts.

Why does there have to be a single winner in this?

does the Big Algebra wait on that (agy leaving) being official before announcing any additions or replacements?

The problem is, if the wording of the agy exit letter is as-reported, it’s somewhat similar to telling your boss that you’re giving him two weeks’ notice, but that’s only IF you get the new job you applied for. Unfortunately, we hear that the new employer won’t make an offer until after you resign. Cart? Horse?

We all know what happens to anyone who does that in the business world… so, question for WW or wunna you other lawyer types, is there some verbiage that allows the XII to contend that the letter is not acceptable as an actual resignation, so the timeline-based exit fee is still running? Would love to send them East with not a penny of XII money ever again, and a pending bill for the balance (can we garnish their $EC buckage?).

I like the divorce analogy someone (maybe several someones) pointed out already… This is like filing for a divorce, but contingent on getting a marriage proposal from Milkman Dan first. But Milkman Dan already said he ain’t askin’ until you get outta that marriage you’re in now…

Damn, the more I think about this, the agyer it gets.

You gotta admit, though, it’s surer’n hell entertaining. Like many others, I can’t find it in my heart to hate agy - they’re just too fucking pathetic. On the other hand, they’re not PC-protected like retards - I mean, special people - so we can - and certainly do - laugh at them when they see how fast they can rock that Ferris Wheel seat, and fall on their asses…

Other than that the SEC doesn’t really have much to offer.

I take it you haven’t watched the CWS much?

TDiddle, ags are not likely to say “look at the record” unless first specifying a cutoff date of 3 years. Take a look for yourself and let me know what you see…

What company owns LHN? Disney
Which Disney/ABC/ESPN have trouble finding carriage? _____________
Which brand is #1 in royalties the past 6 years? Texas
What was the highest rated A&M game last year? The game against 5-6 Texas

No argument on any of those points (although the answer to #2 as of this moment is “the LHN”).

Texas the past 5-6 years has a national title and another appearance and had the LHN launched after one of those seasons I think it would be on most major carriers. But it didn’t, and Texas now has to prove themselves.

I’m not necessarily saying they won’t, but I think those thinking that Texas currently has the same reputation they’ve always had haven’t been talking to people who aren’t wearing orange.

Any chance we can make aggie take ESPN’s David Ubben with them?

If we go the Pac route our dance card is punched.
But If we go indie, our schedule might change from year to year. My guess of what a typical year might look like until the Super Conferences all form would be something like - Rice, Wyoming, USC, Ark, BYU, Okie lite, OU, Tech, Baylor, ND, Mizzou, and Pitt.
If we could pull off ND on T-Day I don’t think there would be too many who would be missing playing the Ags.

I’m not necessarily saying they won’t, but I think those thinking that Texas currently has the same reputation they’ve always had haven’t been talking to people who aren’t wearing orange.

AG96 - touche. And with that logic we still see aggy as class average.

“A&M has publicly stated they’d like to continue the rivalry, whether or not it continues remains to be seen.”

Texas played a&m for 100-year because we were in the same conference. What’s the point now? Hell, I’d rather fill our Thanksgiving slot with a badass home game every year against a different Top Ten team.

We can either be a national player that takes on the best or a backwater that mainly plays the locals.

I swear to God, I’ve never heard of the Sears Cup before today, but I guess if Aggs want to be proud of something, that’s cool.

As one of the lawyer types, I think people are making too much of the contingent language in A&M’s release. They know where they’re going, and they know whether they’ll be accepted. Otherwise that letter never gets sent. And it’s not going to save them a dime on the exit fee. The real question is, if they have to take 28 mil off the table for this year, and the SEC only paid an average of 18 mil and some change per member, how is this a financial winner for them?

“never understood why Georgia is always and perpetually on the verge of returning to glory. Then I watched a lot of Sasha Grey, and I understood. "

Underrated

"A&M has publicly stated they’d like to continue the rivalry, whether or not it continues remains to be seen."

Of course they would. It’s been their biggest of big deals forever. I grew up in Austin, a whole lot longer ago than I care to think about most days, and in all that time, the main thing, if not the only thing that made the game special to most Texas fans was that it was Thanksgiving… that it was A&M was never really the point. The last time it was THE rivalry was probably right after WW2 - since then, not so much. In the SWC days, 0u and Arkansas were far bigger deals to Horns. Since XII days, 0u and Nebby. Beating agy has been more about avoiding embarrassment (see below) and slapping the whiny bitch in the ear-hole.

One of the things that agy don’t get, is that damn near every game Texas plays is against someone who would consider their season a success if they could beat us, even if they lost all their other games… agy is in that group, and for some reason it just doesn’t sink into their bony little brain-pans that the reverse is not true… our enthusiasm for most games is based on winning for the sake of winning, and to avoid the embarrassment of losing to cockroaches.

So, like most of the others, no doubt at all that agy all want to keep the game going, because a win in that one makes their whole season. It’s a one way street, agy.

For my part, we can play agy, or not… frankly, I’d much, much rather play someone that we can get up for, someone you can be proud of beating - you know, ND, USC, Bama, someone like that. Kicking ass on a whiny little bitch is only mildly more satisfying than not losing to her. That’s why the game’s done - I sincerely hope.

From $Bill Byrne’s Wednesday Weekly:

“Three or four years ago we talked about doing a joint flagship channel. I liked the idea, but our fans should know me better than to think I would pass on a $150 million deal for Texas A&M. That never happened.”

Did it happen or not? He said “we talked about doing a joint flagship channel” but then said “That never happened.” Are my English comprehension skills that bad?

http://www.aggieathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=27300&ATCLID=205264518

Underrated

?Sasha or Georgia? If the former, I knew a redheaded nurse by that first name, in Charleston, who demonstrated that kind of enthusiasm. Her company was extraordinarily pleasant, but thanks to modern hygiene, not infectious. I never did figure out when she slept - I only got to when she had to go to work. Lasted a week, and rode off into the sunset before the blisters popped and my kidneys ceased to function at all. Nymphomania is overrated, imo.

EmptyHorn,

Sounds like $Bill passed on discussions of a TV channel because he didn’t think anyone would be interested. Comping from the aggy point of view, that makes sense.

Texas had the foresight and the willingness to take a risk. Such is the way things go in a market economy.

Did it happen or not? He said "we talked about doing a joint flagship channel" but then said "That never happened." Are my English comprehension skills that bad?

Badly phrased, but I’m assuming what he meant is that it wasn’t a $300m deal when he passed on it.

For my part, we can play agy, or not… frankly, I’d much, much rather play someone that we can get up for, someone you can be proud of beating – you know, ND, USC, Bama, someone like that. Kicking ass on a whiny little bitch is only mildly more satisfying than not losing to her. That’s why the game’s done – I sincerely hope.

Really? There’s a whole lot of annual smack talk for a game you guys don’t get up for then. (BTW, beating Notre Dame hasn’t been much of an accomplishment to be proud of recently.)

I won’t argue that the game doesn’t mean more to Aggies because it very well may, but to dismiss it as just another game does a disservice to one of the longest running rivalries in college football.

Texas had the foresight and the willingness to take a risk. Such is the way things go in a market economy.

And said foresight may yet bite you in the ass :-)

emptyhorn:
“Did it happen or not? He said "we talked about doing a joint flagship channel" but then said "That never happened." Are my English comprehension skills that bad?”

My reading is he knows he has to admit that discussions did happen, it can be proven if he denies it. He’s trying, however, to say it wasn’t the same as the LHN. In other words, he’s saying yeah, we talked, but they never told me it was worth that much money or I wouldn’t have passed on it. He had a lack of foresight to believe it was worth so much so he turned it down, now that he knows what it’s worth he’s trying to save his hide by parsing language and giving the fans what they’ve been wanting for a year now, a shot at that buck toothed vixen, the SEC.

a g69, consider me one of the disservicers.

@ EmptyHorn - Thank you for the link. I’ve asked before for citations to the claim that A&M was invited to join in on a Lonestar Network but declined, but no one was able to give a credible source other than Joe Schmoe Fan said so.

For someone who isn’t an alumnus of A&M, Byrne sure is an aggie. To paraphrase, “Yeah, we talked about it. But they never told me they could get $300 million for it.” Nevermind that, b/c everything was in the planning stages, no one knew how much a network would pay for it.

Bill Byrne, per the link provided by EmptyHorn:

“Our understanding from day one was that every conference school would have the rights to one football game a year, and a handful of basketball games, which has been our longstanding agreement in the Big 12.”

That’s B.S. As I understand it, ABC/ESPN has rights to the 1st tier of Big 12 games, while Fox has rights to the 2nd tier. The individual schools retain rights to their 3rd tier games. Why would anyone choose not to maximize their 3rd-tier rights??? That’s the whole point of the Big 12 rule allowing schools to have their own network deals!

"Yeah, we talked about it. But they never told me they could get $300 million for it." Nevermind that, b/c everything was in the planning stages, no one knew how much a network would pay for it.

That’s why they need to go to the SEC, where someone who knows what they’re doing can tell them what to do. They apparently have no business sense at all other than to be able to look at the money presently on the table. Since it’s no longer Texas leading the way, they may actually be fine with listening and going along with the advice.

For the love of everything that is holy, will some of you develop basic reading comprehension skills? I cannot believe how many of you STILL bring up the LHN/cable stuff despite being told over and over and over and over again by those in the know how this plays out.

It also amazes me that the ags still think Texas is somehow at a huge disadvantage because of all of the SEC crap. And it amazes me how Texas fans don’t think that a&m will get a boost from going to the SEC.

The LHN won’t sink Texas. It will make it better. UT has too much money and brainpower (including ESPNs brainpower) going into the network for it to falter. It also looks, so far, like the programming is attractive and slick. Most people won’t hate UT for having the network. And regardless of what people say, all those “little” shows are usually the ones that end up being incredibly interesting. It will succeed. And Texas will end up in a good position, no matter how the conference realignment stuff plays out, regardless of what happens with the LHN. Ags need to take off their maroon-colored glasses and actually view the LHN from a non-biased viewpoint.

Further, as Scip pointed out, 5-7 was the best thing to happen to Texas at this time point. Ags need to acknowledge that there is too much talent, money, and (finally!) good coaching at Texas for it to remain down.

And a&m will get a boost from going to the SEC. Will that negatively effect Texas? I don’t think so. How much of a boost? Who the heck knows? If they think it is good for them, then go. But they do need to stop all this blaming of Texas. The ags are FINALLY doing what Texas has, rightfully, been doing all along - looking out for their best interests. So far, Texas has had the Midas touch. Will this move be the same for a&m? Again, who knows? But at least they are trying.

It seems like these threads are good for about the first 40 posts, then it just devolves into “hahaha! the LHN doesn’t have carriers!” and “oh yeah? well you’ll be a punching bag in the SEC!”

There. Off my soap-box.

“….but I think those thinking that Texas currently has the same reputation they’ve always had haven’t been talking to people who aren’t wearing orange.”
I will use your words, “same reputation they’ve always had…” One losing season does not change the brand of a school that is one of the top five brands. When was it that UT last played for the MNC? My guess is that last years record has very little to do with the pissing match that is going on between ESPN and the carriers.

And said foresight may yet bite you in the ass :-)

When? In 20 years after the contract runs out? Right now, the SEC schools will have to increase their revenues to $35MM just to stay even with UT. It doesn’t really matter the product (see ND) that is put on the field.

From an on-the-field perspective, UT is in the same position it always is, hire a coach and try to win. If UT hires poorly after Mack, it’s still getting minimum $15MM a year. You have hit on the frustration of A&M (and, to fair other schools).

The network has very little chance of “biting UT in the ass.” Poor coaching hires on the other hand…

I can’t wait till, say…15 years down the road, and all that the LHN is showing is reality shows about Rattlesnake Rustlers, a year in the life of a set of Texas high school football players and reality shows that have staged an Aggie, a Longhorn, a Baylor Bear, a Sooner, a Cowboy and a Red Raider all having to live with each other in a posh condo for a summer in South Padre, hi-jinx ensue. We will all say, “remember when the Longhorn Network used to show Texas sports?”

If the ags thought playing Texas hold with Deloss was gonna be walk in the park, wait till the get their hat handed to em after they go " all in"….
oops, they just did and here’s your hat and oh, by the way “here’s your sign”

Team dirty leg: folks like you said the same thing about ESPN and later again about the Speed channel….. so good luck with your thinking which is definitely biased in addition to flawed

I think I love you Sasha the Longhorn Dog.

S-E-C! S-E-C! Va-Se-Line!

Parting is such sweet sorrow. Those of you who think Sherman will start recruity dirty when we go to the SEC don’t really understand the man. The SEC move should help somewhat in recruiting for guys who live in Texas and want to play in the SEC. It gives us something unique to sell to recruits. That plus new weight room and other facilities underway should be an attractive package to show recruits. Does this mean we will suddenly win all head to heads with Mack? Of course not, but we might start winning a few. Especially if you underperform this year. I know Heyseuss says the big cigar thinks you’ll win 10 games this year but I don’t see it. You have a lot of good players but several significant gaps that have been enumerated by Scipio and others.

“Basically, we’re talking, and Aggie’s walking. And you can pontificate that they are walking to their doom, but don’t tell me you wouldn’t be excited if we were heading to the SEC. All you academic, nose-up-in-the-air blowhards can kiss my ass, too.

So we get to sit on our ass an wait until 2015 to see the "master plan?" Bullshit. There is no master plan. The next three years in this toilet bowl of a conference will suck ass.

And if I haven’t spelled it out……I think Texas fucked up and handled this situation horribly. The spin coming out of talking heads doesn’t impress in the least. "

Well said. Strategic Imperative Number 1 was to keep the SEC from getting a foothold in Texas. Dodds and co blew it. If envy is the aggies sin, greed is Bellmont’s.

Cut the PUF funding for the aggies, pretty simple really. Yet not one person has suggested it?

“Those of you who think Sherman will start recruity dirty when we go to the SEC don’t really understand the man.”

It’s not Sherman you have to worry about, or the staff. It’s the alumni who are really really enthusiastic about helping A&M hit the ground running in the new conference. As long as they know there’s a code of ethics in the lack of ethics in SEC recruiting, I don’t foresee much fallout, though.

Awww! Thanks, BigFunny, for the compliment!

Can’t say I’m inclined to watch Georgia take on LSU very often. Just not that interesting to me. Maybe if Georgia raises their level of play. Still, if some bright coaching minds that don’t happen to be SEC employed currently are putting on a show in the same timeslot, I’m more likely to be tuning in there.

ag96: "Texas the past 5-6 years has a national title and another appearance and had the LHN launched after one of those seasons I think it would be on most major carriers. But it didn’t, and Texas now has to prove themselves."

You’re just off-base here. A shortsighted view of the football team isn’t a sticking point. The negotiations involve things such as carrier fees and tier placement, and those details matter regardless of record.

Cut the PUF funding for the aggies, pretty simple really. Yet not one person has suggested it?

Because there isn’t a valid reason to do so.

Dittoing CJD here. My grand-uncle is a cigar-chomping Aggy booster and I’ve gone to games with him and his booster buddies. My guess is any one of them would buy a recruit a Gulfstream if they thought they could get away with it. Given it’s the SEC, Sherman’s gonna have to not only keep his own operation under wraps but make sure the booster class is reined in.

And Sasha’s right. All the Aggy caterwauling about equity issues is not valid and is more of a rallying cry than a real point. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some damn fine reasons for Aggy to leave. The move is for boosting fan excitement and validation of worth and resolving uncertainty and joining the highest level of competition. I do think it’s a risky move, but it’s a risky move with lots of upside.

And Texas will be just fine in any case.

JET….what in the hell you are talking about.

It will be much less than 28 million

Aggies -
Good luck in the SEC. Now, go away we don’t care what you think about us. Hopefully after this year, we will have to listen to less and less of your whining. Go find some other team you want to imagine is your rival - like Mississippi State.

quote:

The individual schools retain rights to their 3rd tier games. Why would anyone choose not to maximize their 3rd-tier rights??? That’s the whole point of the Big 12 rule allowing schools to have their own network deals!
======

Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the LHN, by its nature, significantly de-value the 3rd tier rights of all the other schools in the conference.

Great post by Sasha. This is not football- only decision by a&M, and this is certainly A&M looking out for themselves and maximizing their value the best they can. (The large dollar amount and the corporate sponsorship of the LHN is just the final straw that splashed enough cold water on their face, to see the competitive realities of the B12.)

A&M will not win the SEC conference in 2012, but they will be competitive, they will have a natural rival with LSU, and they will spend the next 2 years and beyond maximizing their SEC in Texas angle, to grow the program.

The fact that A&M will be instant conference title contenders in Hoops and Baseball will simply strengthen those programs and provide further publicity and exposure for the football programs growth.

quote from Joetx:

For someone who isn’t an alumnus of A&M, Byrne sure is an aggie. To paraphrase, "Yeah, we talked about it. But they never told me they could get $300 million for it." Nevermind that, b/c everything was in the planning stages, no one knew how much a network would pay for it.

===========

This is bullsh!t. what Deloss offered was for A&M to do 50% of the work and get a 25% of the profit. And ESPN wasn’t even remotely involved at the time. The concept looked more like KState’s POS “hulu” network.

Now, in absolutre terms, one could argue that the 25% of profit would now look like a decent deal…but Deloss has NEVER offered an equal partnership, and that has always been the basis for doing any business.

Equality is also the key reason for A&M moving to the SEC.

Deloss assumed the Ags would fold, just like all the other times…and now Deloss is the one that got his bluff called.

So now he has to save face and leak stupid sh!t like the Notre Dame rumors…

Being from the panhandle, i would be all for making TT the Thanksgiving day feast.

A&M didnt and doesnt deserve equal. UT got $300 mill by themselves. A&M canNOT get a network worth even $100mill right now. Maybe they get $400 mill with both UT and Aggies maybe not but even if they do, Aggies dont deserve more than 25%.

Football is king, and like Arkansas when they left, Aggies will not with the SEC in the near future. There is someone sitting around called Kentucky so Aggies have not shot to win the basketball. They have a shot a baseball and track and thats about it and not just 2012, 2012 - 20XX.

Playing Texas Tech on Thanksgiving could give Tech’s program a big recruiting boost at the expense of A&M. Notre Dame vs Texas should draw big ratings on any weekend.

So what does it mean- Aggies to SEC! Texas will become a more national brand; geography will be less important! The fall of the SWC was the beginning of the true end of provincialism. Texas and Oklahoma will find their communion- attract and rebuild or leave and join an expanded Pac #. If the Texas, Texas Tech, A&M, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma had come as a package- one scenario. Now, there is only Texas and Oklahoma! I have always thought of losing to the Aggies as a fluke and losing to Oklahoma as a shot at the soul. Who is the real rival- Texas-Oklahoma!
Come to the Pac 12, 14, 16, 18, 20!

Speaking of a load of crap:

hotdam said:

August 31st, 2011 at 6:38 pm

“This is bullsh!t. what Deloss offered was for A&M to do 50% of the work and get a 25% of the profit. And ESPN wasn’t even remotely involved at the time. The concept looked more like KState’s POS "hulu" network.

Now, in absolutre terms, one could argue that the 25% of profit would now look like a decent deal…but Deloss has NEVER offered an equal partnership, and that has always been the basis for doing any business.

Equality is also the key reason for A&M moving to the SEC.

Deloss assumed the Ags would fold, just like all the other times…and now Deloss is the one that got his bluff called.

So now he has to save face and leak stupid sh!t like the Notre Dame rumors…"
************************************************************************************************

If this was even halfway true, which it isn’t, it is made out like UT would get the other 75%. Hello IMG and ESPN. I do believe they want a cut. Let me guess where the above info came from: TexAgs.

Jesus,

The best song from the greatest band of my youth! God bless you and as the saying went when I was in school, “OU Sucks but A&M Swallows!”

Moo…

C’mon, surely one of you Aggie trolls can answer this question. Aggie is going to play Big 12 this year, and essentially forfeit all conference revenues (and since the projected revenue is about 20 Mil, that’s true whether the exit fee is 14 or 28 mil, or something in between). So you’re essentially playing for almost nothing for one year, then going to a conference that paid out about 18.5 Mil per member. Even if the contract gets renegotiated for SEC, you won’t start seeing a “profit” until you’ve made up everything that was lost in 2011. So hownis this a financial winner?

So hotdam is 10th Mouthbreather from the Big East expansion board. Same bs story and bogus percentages.

TexanNice, Aggies dont always understand logic. They want away from Big Brother at any cost. What they dont fully understand about the sec is that the sec will come to Texas and take a few kids A&M would have gotten but A&M will not get too many players Lsu, Arky or Alabama wants from the SEC states. They will lose in the sec. Aggies record in Big 12 play was 61-59!! They will be happy to have that record in the $SEC!

Slab, you missed the point…ESPN and IMG were not in the picture at the time of the offer. …so yeah, that 75% revenue proposal would go straight to UT.

A&M was interested in a Texas state-branded network, right up until the point that Texas demanded a 75/25 split.

Of course you are not going to hear about this on any Longhorn networks, because it makes Texas look like the shitty business partner that they really are.

What you don’t get, or choose to ignore, is the Texas “secret” negotiations with ESPN completely killed everyone else’s hopes and plans of a Big 12 Network. with ESPN association, Big 12 network has no chance now.

from another website’s poster’s analogy:
Texas did a side deal with one of their vendors and secretly cut out their biggest partner for their profit base. Intentional or not, doesn’t matter.

if your business associate did that to you, would you stick around and do any more favors?

I know your wall’s are up at this point, so i bid you adieu…you guys are like the b!tch throwing shoes at someone walking out the door. “its not you, honey, its me.”

Hotdam,

You really believe we were negotiating percentages with Aggie prior to having a distributor? This is not factual. Unfortunately, I didn’t get this from TLN since like most of the world I don’t get it. All it takes is common sense. Why would Byrne mention 150 million today (hint half of 300 million) if the offer was 25 percent? Again, link me to where you got this info. I bet texags is in the URL.

People - please stop calling it TLN.

hotdam: Unless you have a link I haven’t seen, nobody knows what Dodds offered Byrne. But if he offered less than 50-50, there are two points:

1) Most important, on what basis would you determine that A&M should have been offered a half-interest? That is, are A&M’s third-tier rights as valuable as Texas’s?
2) Why do Aggies claim that Dodds would demand that A&M pay half the cost?

My belief is that at the time, A&M had no money to front for anything other than what I guess you might brick and mortar — actual programs. This would have been either around or just prior to the time that the athletic department borrowed money from the general fund.

Byrne is covering his tracks. He said last year that the LHN wasn’t viable. Of course it wasn’t a $300 mil deal then. That was a true joint venture, with every bit of risk that implies. Was it wise to conserve cash on a potential money pit? Yeah, maybe. But if he’d gone for the deal, not only would A&M still be in the league, but they’d be co-defendants with the Longhorns in the fairness trial being held in the court of public opinion.

Serious question: Should Byrne have pursued the deal?

Nunna, a lot of good ?s.

Here are the most likely scenarios (in no particular order):
(by no means is this meant to be perfect):

A)Texas goes Independent and is free to schedule all over the country and keep their rivalries intact(Ou, OSU, Baylor, TT, Rice) while scheduling fun OOC matchups with ND, BYU, and 1 team from SEC, PAC, BIG10, etc.

-Hard for not football sports. If there are superconferences, you want to be in one!
+football can schedule without a problem, LHN, in-state games for travel and national presence.

B) PAC-16:
Coastal: California, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Southern Cal, UCLA, Washington, Washington State (the old Pac-8)

Continental: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, TT

+very nice path to the Pac title game., BCS. Fun cities. Easy to travel(LA,SF,PHX,Seattle). Great academics. We fit there. Bc of population increase in most of these states there will be a lot of TV sets=$, we still have Ou and TT in our conf.
-LHN, Far. cant drive to most games(same as current big 12), location of CCG?, game timings(though i doubt UT will ever play later than 8pmCST). What happens to Baylor?

C) BIG TEN:
West: Texas, Ou, Mizzou, Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern
East: Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin
, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Notre Dame (at this point ND will be forced to go in a conference).

+Great academics. Historically good football powers. Not too hard to get to CCG.
-would Big 10 allow Ou? Cold. Small cities, so wont be as easy to travel. Far. Not fun cities always. do we play many of the same sports? location of CCG?

D) ACC

Water: Boston College, Florida State, Connecticut, Maryland, Miami, Duke, UNC, (Syracuse or Pitt)
Land: Texas, Ou, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Wake Forest, NC State

+Great academics. Nice cities and easy to travel to(ATL, Boston, Miami, DC). Good path to CCG. great for non football sports also. tv sets! LHN?
-will any of the schools leave for sec or big 10 b4 this move is made? location of CCG?

E)An All Over America Conference: Here’s a hypothetical pod structure
In this scenario, UT would play all 3 teams in its pod and 2 in each of the other pods and the 2 OOC games.
TX Pod: TX, Tech, Baylor, TCU

OU Pod: OU, Okie St, Kansas, Mizzou

ND Pod: ND, Navy, Pitt, Boston College

BYU Pod: BYU, Air Force, Boise State, San Diego State?

+Baylor and TT solved. OU’s Osu problem solved. Few in-state games a year for travel and national presence. not the hardest road to CCG. Decent academics. should provide a lot of TV sets. the 2 winningest programs of all time in same conf. Should work for most sports.
-some small, difficult road cities(like we have now). location of CCG? being able to get 2-4 Big East/ACC teams.

If they can’t cut PUF to the aggies (mentioned here ad nausium) then the legislature has no power and all the hand wringing about keeping Baylor and tech around us bc of back lash was a bunch of bull. We got caught w out pants down again.

Go Texas Long Horns!

Slab, you missed the point…ESPN and IMG were not in the picture at the time of the offer. …so yeah, that 75% revenue proposal would go straight to UT.

IMG was always in play — Texas was never interested in selling the network or taking all the risk. And if ESPN wasn’t in the picture, Fox was. BTW when Dodds went to Byrne the idea that any kind of regional partnership would generate more than $3-5 million a year was nowhere to be found. So maybe Byrne thought the effort wasn’t worth $1.5 to 2.5 million.

Texas did a side deal with one of their vendors and secretly cut out their biggest partner for their profit base. Intentional or not, doesn’t matter.

Bullshit.

It was only after the Big 12 voted down the idea of a conference network, and it was only after A&M turned down Deloss that ESPN came in and made their out-of-this world offer. That’s what ESPN does, they go in and throw a lot of money at the situation (Monday Night Football, the BCS) more than any network would think of doing. ESPN believes that they can make it back with subscription and advertising.

Byne didn’t believe the association was worth a couple of million. When it became much more than that it was too late.

I will use your words, "same reputation they’ve always had…" One losing season does not change the brand of a school that is one of the top five brands. When was it that UT last played for the MNC? My guess is that last years record has very little to do with the pissing match that is going on between ESPN and the carriers.

True in part, I didn’t elaborate enough to frame my point well.

My point was more that if Texas were a contending program this season there’d be much more interest in acquisition of the network from the casual fan and as such more carrier pressure to get it picked up both locally and regionally/nationally. I agree that the hold up is largely financial at this point but there’s also not much interest in the LHN outside of the diehard UT fans. Right now the average college football fan is seeing a ridiculous amount of LHN commercials and ESPN Texas coverage that seems a bit undeserved at best and is probably a bit pissed off by all of it at this point (based on things I’ve read on boards from a number of different schools).

A losing season, massive overexposure, and perceived arrogance can certainly affect the perception of a brand.

When? In 20 years after the contract runs out? Right now, the SEC schools will have to increase their revenues to $35MM just to stay even with UT. It doesn’t really matter the product (see ND) that is put on the field.

From an on-the-field perspective, UT is in the same position it always is, hire a coach and try to win. If UT hires poorly after Mack, it’s still getting minimum $15MM a year. You have hit on the frustration of A&M (and, to fair other schools).

The network has very little chance of "biting UT in the ass." Poor coaching hires on the other hand…

Haven’t argued the revenue aspect of it at all, that’s an obvious benefit and I doubt any other schools will have a chance to match it (though I do think an SEC network could be quite interesting financially).

I think you’re more confident in the long term success of the LHN than I am, and in the short term it’s going to be rather embarrassing if there’s almost zero viewers for the Rice game. Personally I think the “they think they’re better than everyone else” aspect of it is currently damaging Texas’ reputation more than it’s helping it. I also see it as a bit of an albatross when it comes to conference negotiations in future, I can see a lot of schools not liking the idea of a very unequal advantage like that with another conference member.

It’ll be quite a while before we really know the longer term outcome, one of us can tell the other we’re wrong in 2015 or so.

Cut the PUF funding for the aggies, pretty simple really. Yet not one person has suggested it?

Because that’s all up to Texas? Simply cutting funding is much easier said than done, particularly without cause other than “we don’t like what you did”.

C’mon, surely one of you Aggie trolls can answer this question. Aggie is going to play Big 12 this year, and essentially forfeit all conference revenues (and since the projected revenue is about 20 Mil, that’s true whether the exit fee is 14 or 28 mil, or something in between). So you’re essentially playing for almost nothing for one year, then going to a conference that paid out about 18.5 Mil per member. Even if the contract gets renegotiated for SEC, you won’t start seeing a "profit" until you’ve made up everything that was lost in 2011. So hownis this a financial winner?

I agree, chances are there will be some loss in tv/conference revenue initially. I’d think that a bit longer term we’ll see increased tv revenues, merchandising revenues, alumni donations, and season ticket sales. A&M has recently hired a merchandise/marketing director with, oddly enough, an extensive SEC resume.

I agree that the hold up is largely financial at this point but there’s also not much interest in the LHN outside of the diehard UT fans.

I’ve thought this from Day 1. But there are a lot of UT diehards.

Look, I thought $15 mil/yr was a lot to pay. I think 40 cents is a lot to ask. More experienced broadcast minds than me came up with those numbers. Who’s to say they won’t get it, or something real close?

Now that it’s becoming very clear that aggy is leaving, I hope Texas thinks through its options extremely carefully.

However, if these reports that Texas asked Baylor to “stand down” with reference to aggy leaving are true, then I am afraid Texas is extremely confused.

The idea that Texas has “to look after” Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Baylor is preposterous. This is all DeLoss Dodds foolishness.

A&M up and leaves, looking out for its best interest, but Texas is married to these other schools for some reason?

Unless Texas decouples itself from the other schools, this situation is going to end badly for Texas.

The most realistic options are the desert division of the PAC10: Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Utah, Arizona, Arizona State, and Colorado.

Or the central America division of the B10: Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, or Iowa.

To me, there are so many obvious reasons why the B10 is the much better option. It looks like were bound and determined stick with a lightweight PAC10 desert division, however, because we get to play 2 games a year against the orignal PAC8 clubs (only one game on the West Coast), and because we somehow feel we “owe” something to OU, TT, and OSU.

Worst of all, please don’t let us wind up trying to rebuild a totally broken B12 unless Notre Dame joins the B12, which is never going to happen.

In the end, our little brother aggy is going to come out of this so much better than Texas will. The SEC is far better than the desert division of the PAC10. Or remaining in the smashed B12.

Christ, this sucks. It sucks because we’re going to come out of this with some unfortunate marriage with all these old B12 schools because Dodds has to play savior.

The Central America division of the Big 10? I’ve heard the fans from El Salvador State can be rough to out-of-town visitors.

ag96,

The fans you claim that are pissed at UT overexposure and Texas’s “better than everyone” attitude are inconsequential as those are just a minority “Die Hard” fan base you yourself use as an example for LN (Did I Acronym Correctly [DIAC] ?) interest.

Remember the dual revenue stream ESPN has. They don’t necessarily need a lot of eyes on sets if it’s part of the basic cable packages.

So what would make LN a failure in the future in your eyes? Do you think they will need eyes on sets (the 2nd revenue stream) to break even financially?

Let’s get to the biggest question at hand…why the fuck are all of the aggies trolling Texas blogs. I mean seriously…wtf? I have never once visited another team’s forum or blog…ever. I simply don’t give a shit what they have to say or what they think. This all speaks volumes about the world’s largest case of penis envy ever recorded. We get it ags…you want to be us and we don’t blame you…being you sucks. But please, for the love of all that is good in the world, leave Barking Carnival immediately and never return. If I say you guys are going to do great in the SEC and that I’m jealous that you’ll get to wear ties to games and stuff, will that get you to leave…forever? Just tell me what I have to do to actually rid myself of you whiny assholes. Please…I’m begging.

hotdam - if A&M’s going to the SEC because of the LHN - I mean if that’s the ACTUAL reason, and not simply “waving the red shirt” to get fan support for the move - then the Aggy brass has an awful selective memory. Or at least you certainly do.

1) IMG is ALWAYS part of the contract. They own licensing rights to the brand. No third party programmer can use the name “Longhorns” or use the logo without shelling IMG College some cash.

2) A&M’s inclusion in a state-branded network would drag down ratings and advertiser appeal. UT draws roughly double the ratings audience and has enough brand appeal to support a decent subscriber base even in distant Top 5 markets like NYC. A&M has zero ratings footprint outside state lines. If UT splits network time with A&M and replaces the Longhorn brand with a generic state brand and the network becomes a sub-regional gig at best. Nothing like 300 mil. Which is why Byrne thumbed his nose at the original deal. And if UT would have wanted to give A&M a part of the new LHN deal, that’s why ESPN wouldn’t have allowed it. Brand strength matters.

3) To me, a sh*tty business partner is someone who demands to eat more than he sows. A big part of UT’s appeal today is directly due to A&M’s mismanagement of the success they had in the 80’s and 90’s. We’re not the ones who turned the Wrecking Crew into a multi-game losing streak to Baylor. We’re not the ones who taught a whole generation of young Texan kids that A&M was a second-rate mediocrity in football. We’re not the ones who made your athletic department borrow 18 mil in emergency funds from the academic side during a time of football sellouts and stagnant state funding for academics. On the heels of that kind of mismanagement, and combined with your limited brand appeal (again, mostly your fault) it’s pretty easy to see why UT wouldn’t want to give you equal say or equal profit in any joint business venture.

4) Knowledge of the LHN negotiations was hardly "secret ". Remember? We were hashing through all of this in the summer of 2010, with the Pac 10 negotiations and all. Back then, you agreed to stay in conference for a 20 mil TV money guarantee, and you green-lighted the LHN in the process.

But then the terms of the LHN deal were announced in January 2011 and y’all got your panties in a cinch. Because y’all had only looked at the numbers for a “flagship network” without realizing a Longhorn-only network would be vastly more profitable for UT and create a much bigger revenue gap than any 75/25 “flagship” split could have. A&M had the chance to keep UT in spitting distance in terms of TV revenue, if it would have accepted a split that was totally reasonable from an opportunity cost point-of-view. But you didn’t, because Aggy execs didn’t size up the situation right.

And if you expect anyone to pass up 300 million out of “fairness”, well, you don’t understand college football. Here’s the SEC’s brand of fairness: in total, Florida athletics makes 120 million a year, Bama and Georgia about 100 million, LSU and Auburn 90 million, A&M 70 million, and on down to Vandy at 35 million. You’re going from a clear third to a clear sixth, and the five teams above you make more on average than Oklahoma for reasons that go way beyond TV revenue sharing. Enjoy that “fairness”.

5) Moving to the SEC could be very good for A&M’s visibility but it isn’t guaranteed to do a dad-blasted thing to fix either A&M’s revenue problems or the UT-A&M revenue gap. A&M’s TV revenue will only be a couple million higher despite bringing the Houston market into SEC waters (dang commie profit-sharing). And that’s only if the SEC’s TV partners decide to be generous and pro-rate the contract upward. Meanwhile, the LHN still exists, as will UT’s immense financial advantage. Which, incidentally, has existed for decades and not just since January.

I think the SEC is a good risk for A&M, for reasons that have nothing to do with Texas. But if it’s REALLY all about Texas you’ll just end up frustrated. So get over your little-brother syndrome and start measuring yourself by your own successes and failures. It’d give you a much clearer picture of the what just happened and what lies ahead.

Excellent summary, Dagga.

Just as A&M didn’t really understand the Longhorn Network value, it doesn’t really understand that the SEC is going for this deal right now. They’re buying low — because A&M can’t wait to get out — and going to suck cash and recruits out of Texas that the Aggies aren’t prepared to tap.

The fans you claim that are pissed at UT overexposure and Texas’s "better than everyone" attitude are inconsequential as those are just a minority "Die Hard" fan base you yourself use as an example for LN (Did I Acronym Correctly [DIAC] ?) interest.

Remember the dual revenue stream ESPN has. They don’t necessarily need a lot of eyes on sets if it’s part of the basic cable packages.

So what would make LN a failure in the future in your eyes? Do you think they will need eyes on sets (the 2nd revenue stream) to break even financially?

Possibly true on your first point, tough to know what the populace outside of those voicing their opinions online really feel. I think the feeling is more widespread than you might think though, there’s a lot of fairly casual fans being bombarded with commercials and other advertising.

Very true that ESPN doesn’t need a big revenue stream from theLHN (although I doubt they really want a $300m loss), it doesn’t necessarily have to turn a huge profit. There’s a lot of variables right now that we don’t know, assuming it does get picked up by a major carrier I’m very curious to see if we ever hear what the 40 cents per subscriber number actually ends up at as that seems very high based on other network values. At that price I don’t know that it gets picked up anywhere outside of a demographic where there’s very high demand.

What makes it a failure? The obvious would be if it ceases to exist or if it only achieves minimal coverage with major providers. I think you’d also have to question it’s success if it became a sticking point in future conference negotiations or if it’s existence starts to negatively affect the Texas brand . Assuming things stay the current course it’s a financial windfall either way.

The ‘hate’ factor might work as a positive financially speaking, a la Notre Dame where people want to watch to see them lose. No publicity is bad publicity…right?…

The best way to ensure coverage is winning, and although this year is important I think the next 3 are crucial to get the LN off and running. Personally I could care less about it being much of a success, I just want high quality content available, and it will be no matter where I am, I just might have to shell a bit extra if it’s not on the basic package. That’s why minimal basic coverage (as long as there is some option) wouldn’t be a ‘failure’ to me and I think that’s what most non-UT people don’t get.

You have a point about how it will be taken in future negotiations. Depends on what ones priorities are though: easy road to the Natty (cruddy regional conference?), stable conference (PAC?), high quality matchups (independence?). I’d personally like the PAC and it seems like it may fit in with their regional networking concept but not their financial structure.

As for the brand, losing is really the only way Texas’s brands gets affected negatively enough to be considered of consequence, imo.

You could definitely see your enthusiasm in the paintings you write. The arena hopes for even more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid to mention how they believe. At all times go after your heart.