Kirk Bohls tweeted that the big-12 commish will be meeting big-12 athletic directors to discuss handling of institutional networks. So, now, lets suppose the NCAA says its perfectly legal for the LHN to carry HS football games (which it rightly should), but the Big-12 says no. then what? I think thus far the LHN people have been far to nice and polite giving Big-12 schools veto power of what programming it can carry. Big mistake. The LHN should go ahead and carry any programming it deems suitable, then let the NCAA step in and say no, at which point the NCAA should be taken to court for overstepping its jurisdiction. Other Big-12 schools can cry and scream all they want, the LHN should just ignore the cry babies and tell them to get their own networks, if a "level playing field" is what they so desperately think they want.
I agree with your post. Go get your own networks other schools..... if you can. Independance may or may not be a bad thing.
If the NCAA says its OK, then the brass in the big 12-2 should not have a problem with it. Texas isnt doing anything any other school wouldnt do if they had the chance.
Notre Dame has had their own nationwide package with a major network for years. And yes, that gave them a national recruiting advantage. They've also made a series of bone headed coaching moves that have nullified that advantage. With the expansion of cable, and ever cheapening broadcasting and streaming, high school football games are going to get broadcast in increasing numbers in many venues. It is going to be ridiculous to try to ascribe someone's getting a recruiting advantage every time a game is broadcast. These are going to become common place and just part of the landscape. They just need to accept that you can't restrict broadcast of these public events (this is free speech!).
ESPN is the operator and part-owner of the Longhorn Network. The NCAA or Big 12 can't tell ESPN what to do. The Big 12 got a new deal with ESPN after the announced departure of Colorado & Nebraska last summer, so they should be happy with that and let ESPN & Texas put together the LHN as they see fit.
"What if Big-12 rules against LHN...." Won't happen. More likely that the AMA will decide french fries are health food. After the near collapse of the Big 12 last year, and Texas opting out of the Pac 16, in part because of the LHN, the Big 12 can't risk it. I guarantee you the Big 12's ear is being bent by ESPN, who has an agreement with the Big 12. Big 12 won't ruin the deal. I guarantee you the NCAA's ear is being bent by ESPN, and remember that the NCAA said schools could only have 2 games/year on TV in the name of fairness...until they saw Dollar signs. Expect there will be some "face saving" concessions from the LHN for the Big 12/NCAA, but it will go forward.
I just cant escape the scene from Superman and Deloss saying to Bebee Kneel before Dodds Of course that makes us the villain in all this but thats the way it goes.
Texas saved this conference, and Texas can destroy it just as easily. We have a better deal in place than Notre Dame. I think we'd call the Big XII's bluff. Because we can.
Will the Pac-12 Network give UCLA and USC a recruiting advantage over San Diego State if the PAC-12 Network telecasts SoCal high school games? Should the NCAA prevent this? Hell no.
To you guys talking about how ND has their own network and how much of an advantage it is, they arent trying to show high school football games. The BIG 10 isnt trying to broadcast high school football games. ESPN said they would broadcast high school games and named texas commits, even going out of state to show a commits game. You cant even show a recruits face on the jumbotron at a football game. What makes you think you can broadcast the whole game on your own network? You guys are the only ones trying to do high school games. Now, it may become legal to do, who knows. I doubt it though. If ESPN wants to show high school games, they can do it on another network of theirs, but to do it on the LHN should be against the rules, no matter how dumb texas tries to play about its not their choice. It may not be, but it is your brand on it, so its yours. But, we will see.
Cheating should be against the rules too. Wait it is yet that does not stop the Sooners from relying on it. This issue personifies the magnitude of envy and fear our rivals have for the Horns.
Once again. Does anybody besides me think its ironic that the 2 biggest criminals in the NCAA are doing all the whinning!
Agsuck, not true. You will anger Bama fans. In football it is Bama, OU and then the Aggies in that order. Thing is that the Ags cannot win it all even when cheating, a lot.
I think Texas has played this well by going public early and allowing reaction. The main problem PR-wise is the off-hand statements made about high-school games. It sounded too related to Texas recruiting. Had the guy just said, "We'll show top teams and players from the state of Texas and maybe even a few out of state games," the reaction would not be as strong. I doubt this is much of a recruiting advantage for Texas beyond what having your own network already provided. I don't think we should steamroll the other members of the Big XII. Those ADs have to play politics with their angry fan bases as well as try to determine what's fair. The Aggie AD has to play to the absurd narrative some Aggies believe about all of this: you know, the good guy versus bully inanity. I don't mind if we concede something small to appease those idiots and still get what we want. I don't really desire independence for Texas. I like some of our conference games, particularly OU and the old SWC schools.
Also, I think a lot of it is just sour grapes and envy at the fact that Texas is getting an $15-20 million a year which it does not have to share with the conference. I am sure that aggy and sooner nations would like nothing more than to see the LHN just shot down completely. Its "if I cant have it, I dont want anyone else to have it either" mentality. The NCAA has no business telling braodcast networks what they can broadcast. And will be opening a huge can or worms if it tries to do that. The most it can do is warn Texas to keep an arms length relationship with the LHN and not to influence programming on it. Anything beyond that and the NCAA oversteps its authority big time and I fully expect a legal battle to follow, the outcome of which could be much worse than just the LHN carrying HS football games.
What is the point of being in a conference if you are not going to abide by conference rules? Should Nebraska just have gone ahead and went with the NCAA's rule on partial qualifiers and told the Big XII to EABOD?
And just what conference rule is Texas violating? The one which says it should let cry babies set the rules?
ESPN can simply put Texas HS games including Jerry Gray on ESPN2, or ESPN Classic, or any other ESPN channel and then put their Florida, bama and Georgia HS games on LHN. Same number of hours as previously planned to fill the week but no NCAA conflict...
The Big 12-2 won't under the current rules. There's no specific rule prohibiting it, so they really cannot "rule against" the LHN unless they promulgate a new rule to get there.
This one's fairly simple. DeLoss looks at them, pulls his glasses down, and says "That's not an option here. We're keeping the network, and we're not going along with ex-post-facto rules. We can stay, or we can go - that's up to you. I'll be looking forward to hearing from you. Gentlemen, Ladies... Good day to you." Can we find another "conference" to play with? Can we go it alone? Maybe. Maybe not. Ain't but one way to find out, is there?
The fact is...there was no Big 12 network. So we took the initiative. If other teams want to follow suit feel free. You wouldnt see Texas fans whining if OU had their own network. Every team who signed on to the new Big 12 knew this was going to happen. Only now are the Aggies and Sooners bitching. All the other teams are fine with it because Texas basically saved their programs from ruin. Texas is what it is, and it always will be the flagship program in the state. I do think the ESPN should be fair in their administration of the new channel, and I wouldnt be surprised to see alot of other non-Longhorn content on the site.
Every team knew about the network, true, but not every team knew you were going to showcase commits on it. If ESPN decides to showcase it on ESPN 2 then fine, but if they decide to show it on your network, then not so good. ESPN wont do that as much because then they will be seen as catering to one school, even more so than they already cater to the SEC. Like I said, no way will you be able to show a recruit on the network when you cant even show a pic of him in a program or talk about him by name until the LOI is signed.
The issue isn't (nor was it ever) about UT having its own network--even though that's the talking point/urban legend that now seems to direct this conversation among Longhorn fans. Capitalism is a very good thing. To my knowledge, no one has said ESPN/UT should not be permitted to operate the LHN. The issue is whether broadcasting high school football games on the Longhorn Network should be allowed.
