Longhorn Network: time to pull the plug?

Discussion in 'On The Field' started by Zona Horn, Sep 9, 2011.

  1. Zona Horn

    Zona Horn 500+ Posts

    www.statesman.com/sports/longhorns/ut-independence-fraught-with-peril-1830666.html

    Money graph from the article above:

    "At this point, independence is looking like the end result. Why? Ego and power. Texas does not want to concede either. It doesn't want to give up its precious Longhorn Network, nor does it want its clout diminished by joining another established conference where it won't have as big a say. By clinging to their new toy — a valuable one, at that — and flaunting it, and insisting on uneven revenue sharing, the Longhorns have alienated the rest of the conference, created unrest and acrimony, and thrown their weight around so much that schools in their own league see them as a bully. Yes, they are the Joneses. But if this keeps up, how long is it before Texas becomes the most hated school in America?"

    Everything I read and hear makes clear that OU has its bags packed. They are sick of what's left of the Big 12, sick of UT, and ready to move on for the Pac 12. Once the aTm to SEC hurdle is cleared, they are gone (if the Pac 12 will take them). At that point, we will have to either accept folding the LHN network into the Pac 12 network, or go our own way (Indy or staying in a Big 12 that will basically be a mid-major, with MU the next to bolt).

    So far, UT's insistance on unequal revenue sharing, the Longhorn Network, and general "my way or the highway"-ism has resulted in:

    1. Driving away the only two most compelling teams from the Big 12 North (yes, CU has neen up and down, but they have a NC and Big 12 titles and are the only other north team with any national q-rating);

    2. Driving away UT oldest rival and only real in-state rival;

    3. Pissing OU off to the point they want out too and will shortly be leaving; and

    4. Leaving us in a no-win position unless we are willing to scrap it (or reform it dramatically).

    I could give a crap about the extra money the LHN brings -- its not like the fans get any of that money or ticket prices will go down. UT already has the richest sports program in the country, and one of the largest public school endowments as well. If every other Div 1 school can survive and make ends meet in equal revenue sharing conferences, we can too.

    What most fans care about is tradition, respect and compelling football. Losing your longest rivals and being relegated to a second-rate conference with a home slate of snoozers against glorified mid-majors while the rest of the country either ignores or laughs at you is not my idea of a great result. Who gives a crap about qualifying for the 4th BCS bowl against Rutgers if it means your season is a waste of time and you can't look yourself in the mirror?

    Dodds' Gollumn-like fetish with his precious LHN needs to come to an end. It threatens to destroy any chance we have to play in a respectable conference. No one likes the rich, arrogant a-hole that flaunts his toys in everyone else's face. If by some miracle he bluffs the Pac 12 or B1G into allowing us to keep the LHN, great, but that is not going to happen and trying it risks desolation.

    P.S. Replacing aTm, Nebraska and CU with BYU, UH and Air Force is not a solution. Its a glorified C-USA, and OU and MU aint going to sign up for that filth long-term. The time to save the Big 12 was two years ago, when Nebraska, CU and aTm were still in the conference. Its not worth saving anymore, and sure as hell not for some network that no one can even see.
     
  2. huisache

    huisache 2,500+ Posts

    Kirk Bohls wrote it. I can't read it. Wisdom of Chairman Bohls, the shortest book in any language.
     
  3. Zona Horn

    Zona Horn 500+ Posts

    Dismissing the substance of the article because you don't like the author (a/k/a ad hominem) is the loser's way out. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, and Bohls is right on in this article. If you disagree, argue the merits. This issue is too importnant to resort to the usual "Bohls = idiot" drivel.
     
  4. gdu

    gdu 1,000+ Posts

    I just hate everything going on really. Nobody cares about the fan. My favorite games as a kid were going to Texas-OU, Texas-A&M and Texas-Arkansas and we could be on the verge of not playing any of those teams. And for what? So Texas can bring in $80M a year over the closest competitor? And what good does that do? I'm still paying $7,000 a year for seats in the endzone and the best home game next year is Mizzou?!?
     
  5. Zona Horn

    Zona Horn 500+ Posts

    Don't worry GDU. Mizzou wants out too. Next time around they will be replaced by UH or Air Force. Oh, and it will cost you $9000.

    Meanwhile, those "stupid" Aggies -- who don't even have their own network!!! -- will be playing Alabama, LSU, Florida, Georgia, etc etc.

    By the way, for the first time in recent memory, I have friends that are having a hard time selling their UT tickets, even for the "good" games like BYU tomorrow. I think we are on the verge of seeing a lot of empty seats several times a year. When there are no great home games to look forward to, it has the perverse effect of driving down attendance for the cupcake games even further.
     
  6. wadster

    wadster 5,000+ Posts

    totally agree. Either go to the PAC, or go to the BIG if we can keep an OOC game with OU. Either of those is fine with me. And F&^k the LHN. All it caused me was having to watch the Rice game on my PC. It's certainly not doing me any good. Aggs should have shown a little patience. I still think the LHN is DOA. No one is going to pay the prices ESPN is asking.
     
  7. Basketball Jones

    Basketball Jones 500+ Posts

    Thank you. I have been wondering for some time if it's really worth pissing off everyone else and destroying the rivalries for money that really isn't going to make us better. Yeah, it's nice to have, but we already have great facilities, etc.
     
  8. Dogbert

    Dogbert 500+ Posts

    Kirk has been promoting the "Texas is doing things the wrong way" angle for the past three decades. That the "uppity Longhorns think they are better than everyone else." Before long he will be calling us tea-sippers.
     
  9. Zona Horn

    Zona Horn 500+ Posts

    Dogbert -- That isn't true. Bohls is just like most home town collumnists (see e.g. Justice in Houston, Hansen in Tucson, etc) -- he is generally supportive of the program and its coaches, players, etc, and he wants to see them do well and reflect well upon the school and the town. However, he reserves the right to be critical when the do poorly, make mistakes or go in a wrong direction.

    That is as it should be. A 100% sunshine-pumping homer is not what you want in a home town collumnist. They are boring, they are not worth reading, and they don't serve the corrective purpose when things need fixing or changing.

    Read some other papers and you will see that every town has a Kirk Bohls. He is right in the middle of the bell curve in terms of how critical he is of the home team. He aint perfect, and I disagree with him often, but he is better than most people on this board give him credit for.

    Regardless, I agree with him on THIS article, and could have written the same thing myself. If you disagree with that position, please explain why, and why you think the Longhorn Network is worth ending up independant or in a second-rate conference.
     
  10. general35

    general35 5,000+ Posts

    We are like Rome. What happened to them again?
     
  11. reyhorn

    reyhorn 100+ Posts

    I keep thinking this whole thing was concocted to see how dumb Aggie group-think really is by seeing if they would leave.

    Maybe the Longhorn Network was never really meant to exist and we are all witness to perhaps the greatest Aggie joke of all time.

    Kind of like how I'm still convinced last season was just one last big practical joke on Nebraska.
     
  12. MirrOlure

    MirrOlure 500+ Posts

    We are barely 3 weeks into a 20 year deal.

    And nobody's going from the Big XII to the Pac 12.

    Aggy will go to the SEC. BYU will replace them in the Big XII.

    The Big XII will get feedback from ABC/ESPN on its "Tier 1" contract, and then decide whether to stand pat, or seek 2 more teams.

    Not as much drama as hacks like Bohls and his ilk would prefer.........but that's what's going to happen.
     
  13. goredho

    goredho 100+ Posts

    The Joneses? I'm afraid we might be college football's Citizen Kane.
     
  14. non_sequitur

    non_sequitur 250+ Posts

    This whole standoff is making my head hurt. Someone do something already. I just want all of this to be resolved one way or the other
     
  15. Zona Horn

    Zona Horn 500+ Posts

    Reyhorn --

    I get as much of a kick out of Aggie bashing as the next guy, but once that wears off after a few weeks, if we are left in a second rate conference importing a bunch of mid-majors to replace them (and CU and Neb), its probably not going to be that funny anymore. I have yet to hear a plausible set of replacements for those schools that come anywhere close to making up for what we have lost. And none of them will replace the hype, hate, anger, etc of beating Aggie, much less Nebraska or CU. And I work with a lot of Aggie grads and enjoy hazing them before and after the game. I'm not sue I've ever met anyone from Air Force, and I don't even know a UH grad that is actually a UH fan. They are all either aTm or UT fans, if they even care about sports.

    The "GTFO" stuff for Aggie is only funny if we wind up in the Big 10 or Pac 12, which aint happening with the LHN. If we are still in the Big 12 in a year or two, the joke will be on US.
     
  16. MirrOlure

    MirrOlure 500+ Posts

    The conference signed a $1 Billion 13 year TV deal with Fox.............for its Tier 2 games, AFTER Nebraska and Colorado left.

    More money. Fewer schools. So (a) how, exactly, did NU and CU leaving hurt? And (b), why, exactly, would they need to be replaced?

    Swapping out BYU for A&M actually makes the conference MORE attractive for negotiations with ABC/ESPN when that contract runs out in 3 or 4 years.
     
  17. Zona Horn

    Zona Horn 500+ Posts


     
  18. Horn_in_Toronto

    Horn_in_Toronto 250+ Posts

    Personally, I'd sooner see Texas go independent, than give up the LHN. It's interesting how we are making other school's issues our problem.
    If A&M and OU want to throw a hissy fit and go elsewhere, let them. Texas will be fine, and will survive quite nicely with the LHN intact.
    Its such a shame to see Longhorn fans turn against the LHN simply because its having some teething pains. Guys have some patience, at least give it a change. Its only 3 weeks old!
     
  19. MirrOlure

    MirrOlure 500+ Posts


     
  20. 2222Horn

    2222Horn 100+ Posts

    I agree Zona. If the LHN is a hard sell in Texas, there's no bloody chance that Comcast is going to pick it up on the West Coast. The money is great but if you're reduced to one or two good games a year (OU and ??) then your brand will suffer.
     
  21. Zona Horn

    Zona Horn 500+ Posts

    MirrOlure -- You don't get it. Neither you or I or any other fan get any of that money. What we DO get is crappy games against mid-major teams, loss of national respect, laughing looks from our SEC/Pac 12/Big 10 friends, dimished shots at MNC nods because we are now in a Big East-ish joke of a conference, etc.

    I want good, compelling football against high quality opponents on a weekly basis, and high-charged conference chases with multiple competitive teams that generate national hype and Herbstreit praise. I could give a crap about (even more) money. We print money already.

    Greed and Pride are two of the seven deadly sins for a reason.
     
  22. Tommy_Grand

    Tommy_Grand 500+ Posts

    Texas will go west and the LHN will survive in some (likely diminished) form. I could see us inking a deal to pay each PAC-16 program 300 grand per year out of our espn money...unless and until the recipient school creates its own network.

    Can you imagine the TV deal that conference could get with primo position in media markets of LA, SF, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Austin, Oklahoma City, San Antone, Seattle, Denver, Portland...

    I'd expect something like 4.4 BILLION over 15 years

    Freaking california is bankrupt anyway. How could they turn it down?
     
  23. Hu_Fan

    Hu_Fan Guest

    Interesting view that came out of a speaking engagement at UT, from an ESPN exec.
    Tweet from Burnt Orange Nation

    @BFLT_at_BON
    Austin Pace
    ESPN exec speaking at McCombs says UT only school considered for a network.
    ESPN has no plans to partner w/ another school. LHN is unique.
     
  24. horn4jc

    horn4jc 1,000+ Posts

    I don't know if it's time to pull the plug. But I think that DeLoss and the BOR will need to start giving a little. Otherwise, they've turned the LHN into a god to be worshipped and if they don't come to their senses, they could destroy what was good about UT and the LHN will be showing marquee games with Tx State and Sam Houston.

    Will it be an embarrassment if we pull the plug and A&M declaring victory over the LHN. We can always wipe the egg off our face for cancelling it but we can never replace the nose that we cut off to spite our face if we stick with it.
     
  25. Zona Horn

    Zona Horn 500+ Posts


     
  26. WabashCannon

    WabashCannon 250+ Posts

    I'm more concerned that Kirk Bohls has some 'corrective' power over UT!!!

    Too soon to pull the plug on LHN. Based on the investment made by UT and ESPN, the plug won't be pulled. LHN may adapt to become a regional or conference network if UT decides to joins naother conference. Or it may remain purely UT as the Big 12 stays intact and other schools start their own networks.

    NU and CU leaving had nothing to do with LHN. If it was because of revenue sharing, then that's a crock. UT is one vote out of what was 12 and now is 10 schools. If the other schools agreed to it, that's their problem. If they want to renegotiate, then they should bring it up for discussion and a new vote in conference meetings.

    It's not time to panic yet. There will be more to come and when the dust settles I'm confident that Dodds and Powers will put UT in the best position for the future (or they will do what Kirk Bohls tells them to)
     
  27. OrangeChipper

    OrangeChipper 1,000+ Posts

    HAVE PATIENCE! I REPEAT. HAVE PATIENCE.

    ESPNU which is probably a channel we all have now, was started on March 4th, 2005. It wasn't available one Comcast until 2009. It wasn't available on Directv as a normal tier channel until 2009.
    seeThe Link

    These things take time. Same thing was said of the Big ten network.

    Read this article. The Link

    Everyone was wondering if the BTN would be profitable. Only a couple carriers accepted it at first. (SOUND FAMILIAR??) But now its a huge booming success. It took about a year for the BTN.

    Some of you are already giving up on the LHN and its been roughly a month. COME ON!
     
  28. Gone To Texas

    Gone To Texas 500+ Posts


     
  29. Zona Horn

    Zona Horn 500+ Posts

    OrangeChipper --

    Patience is not the issue. Let's assume the following: The LHN will eventually be available on most networks, and will eventually allow Espn to break even so they don;t walk the deal. Lets say that takes 5 years, as your other examples did.

    If in the meantime our fetish with ensuring the viability of the LHN has forced us to go Indy or has relegated us to a "Big 12" full of glorified mid-majors, who gives a crap? You would trade tradition, rivalries, national respect, shots at MNCs, compelling weekly games all for a stupid network?

    Count me out.
     
  30. MirrOlure

    MirrOlure 500+ Posts

    Zona.......you need to lay off the caffeine. "Viable" is rooted from the Latin "vita", meaning "life."

    Not a single conference has lost, or even come close to loosing its AQ status.....regardless of how many talking-heads and message board wonks piss and moan about the Big East and ACC.

    The Big 10 and Pac 10 have been just as, if not more, top heavy than the current version of the Big XII projects to be over the next few years.

    No conference is ever going to challenge the SEC for its "toughest football conference" status. That may cause your panties to get all tangled up, but I don't give two flips........history has shown that if Texas, OU....or hell, even Tech and OSU take care of their business, good things will come. Just as is the case with any top team from any other conference.....including the SEC.
     

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