Longhorn Network

Lot of folks thought the Big 10 Network would fail too.

 

This is just going to be another "statue" or flatscreens in the locker room thing - just another thing for colleges to gain revenue and/or help recruit. It's not like there is a deadline to start a cable network.

 

I know some of these schools are already under conference-wide networks, but these are the schools that I think might have the interest to have their own network.

Notre Dame
Michigan
Ohio State
Texas
USC
Florida
Alabama

Maybe: Oklahoma, LSU, Tennessee...

 

Notre Dame is probably the only one. It has enough of a national fan base to pull it off, and it has Comcast in its corner.

And the SEC is doing very well with its ESPN deal. ESPNU has basically become the SEC Network.

 

I don't think you need a national fan base to pull it off. I think if you had a strong regional fan base and a good solid track record of being on national TV a lot and whatnot, it could be worth it.

Nebraska only has 1.8 million people in the state, but they have enough fans in other places that I could imagine a Cornhuskers Network. Obviously, it won't happen with them going to the Big 10.

 

Dunno about the ACC. They have had more football games broadcast than ever, thanks to ESPNU (chime in with bad football joke here). And between ESPN and Fox Sports, there were plenty of men's basketball telecasts and more than just a couple of women's games.

Besides ... if John Swofford saw a chance to inflate his legacy and his $1.1M paycheck, don't you think he would take a shot?

 

$48 million down the drain later, I still don't see it. Damn, ESPN could have hired me as a consultant for a tenth of what they've blown.

UT's decline drags Longhorn Network with it

 

Here is a non-paywalled version:
In its first five years, Longhorn Network isn't the success that ESPN had hoped for

Cord-cutting being what it is, I think profitability might be farther away than ESPN realizes.

 

Over that time span, the Big XII went from a major league to the new incarnation of C-USA.

While Texas was trying to maintain its stranglehold on the league, the league went down the pisser.

 

According to an article I read in the Austin Business Journal profitability is projected this year. But I wonder how long the conference networks will last if they continue to offer unattractive games. The BTN shows a lot of Maryland, Rutgers and Indiana games when ESPN or the network has the marque match up. I don't think the Pac 12 Network has done as well as expected.

I also expect the ACC and Big 12 football powers to eventually merge. A merger would set up a conference championship game and pretty guarantee one of the four spots for the national championship. You could have the four Texas schools and the two Oklahoma schools in the western division and Miami, Florida State, Clemson, Georgia Tech and two other schools in the east. Maybe Kansas replaces a Texas school or the conference goes to 14 but I think some form of alignment would be more profitable than the existing arrangements. Schools like Iowa State and Wake Forest could be booted and the big schools could be make more.

 

I actually watched the LHN for the first time ever when I was in Texas visiting my dad over the holidays. They had a pretty cool documentary about the 1963 national champs.

But yeah, I didn't see then and I don't see now how building a network around one team could work. Maybe Notre Dame.

 

What the hell are you talking about? You really expect the ACC to cut itself in half, especially when it's been the one conference to achieve a level of parity in football?
The Big 12 has courted Florida State and might pick off a member or two. It is not taking half of the ACC's membership in one swoop.

What I've always been interested in seeing -- and now that the Big 12 has stabilized itself it seems less likely -- is four 16-team super conferences. You'd get two rounds of conference playoffs, then the four-team national playoff, which would have the same effect as an eight-team national playoff. As a side benefit, you'd end up with a more balanced schedule over the long haul than any of the leagues other than the Big 12 have now.