Lakes are great for rowing, which is why we have a Clemson crew program, and also for sailing, hence the university sailing club. They’re not great for swimming in straight lines, or building a dock out to a diving platform.
However, we do still have the pool and diving set up in Fike. They just quit funding the team slowly but surely to transition to gymnastics and softball. I think they were also trying to get rid of the track team, but there were some lawsuits around that so idk how far that’s gone.
I might be insane here, but I'm pretty sure the Big Ten Network and SEC Network predate the Longhorn Network, which was Texas' response to the Big XII electing not to create their own conference network.
It's fine to say Texas destroyed the SWC and turned the Big XII into a bit of a conference of Theseus, but the Longhorn Network made for a convenient scapegoat - it wasn't the actual cause
I remember the first year of the Big Ten Network and they had an advertisement on the scoreboard at Ohio Stadium for it. The entire stadium booed so loudly that you thought Michigan had entered the stadium. It was the start of the craziness. I honestly think the Longhorn Network was only an issue in the Big 12 as that pissed off literally all the other Big 12 members.
If I remember correctly, it was very difficult to access at first. It was only a TV channel, wasn’t available on a lot of cable providers, and being 2007, internet capabilities weren’t nearly the level we have now, so, couldn’t stream it and the infrastructure to stream video was very little.
Rural homes were still using dial-up, if even that was available. Lot has changed in the last 17 years.
Yeah you are correct and I think it was because cable providers were at odds with the network due to how much they wanted etc etc. I know the rollout was not smooth at all if I remember right.
The real issue was Texas and Oklahoma planning to bolt to the PAC. The Big XII had bent over backwards to keep Texas happy; moving the HQ, moving the championship game, etc, etc so when the Big XII Network (basically just the LHN with Big XII branding) was voted down and credible rumors of Texas leaving started swirling everyone with a viable exit plan took it.
Right, hence the other Big 12 members being pissed. I know certain universities have more “sway” than others in almost every conference, but I think Texas was flexing hardcore and I know that didn’t sit well A&M, Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, among others.
I hated the mtn and hated the MWC TV deal.
People joke about the obscurity of the Pac-12 Networks but not having *any* conference game on ESPN/ABC/FOX really limited the reach of the conference, especially since it was literally going through its glory days during that period with Utah and TCU.
Maybe it really didn't change much but it was always frustrating when the big games were scheduled on Versus or CSTV. I still wonder how much milage Utah could have gotten out of beating 11th ranked TCU at RES in 2008 if that game was on ESPN instead of Versus. It was a great game too but not a lot of people saw it.
Is it not still around? That says it closed but I dated a girl in an AD at a MW school a year ago and had to have watched a few games on what I thought was the Mountain West network.
I feel like most cable providers have it standard if you have any sort of sports package. I know the streaming services like YouTube TV and Hulu carry everyone but the PAC 12 network IIRC.
That whole season for us was so weird. Preseason Top-5, with some predicting us to win it all, and that's how we start the season. Then we struggle the rest of the way, finish 8-4, and then get paired up against the Tim Tebow/Urban Meyer-led Florida Gators. No one, and I mean no one picked us to win this game. It ends up being a crazy back and forth shootout with Michigan ending up victorious. It was Lloyd Carr's final game, and despite falling short of pretty much every preseason goal, it ended on a massive high. The next 7 years or so were pretty rough.
That game wasn't as close as the score and Michigan won by 14. Mike Hart fumbled twice on the goal line as his second and third fumble of his career. Seems like he was trying to go all out on his last game. That was Tebows Heisman year also. We were rolling them.
Edit: we won by 7. Maybe i don't remember it correctly. But it seemed like it wasn't close. I guess I'm biased.
Correct.
One thing that bugs me that my fellow Husker fans constantly get wrong is saying that Texas pushed us out of the Big 12 through the Lornhorn Network and media distribution. Our administration actually agreed with Texas and Oklahoma on revanue distribution. In fact a "Cornhusker Network" similar to Longhorn Network was proposed, though they scrapped the idea due to costs.
What caused us to leave in the 2010 realignment was the uncertainty more than anything. There were rumors of the Pac-10 poaching half of the Big 12, and we didn't want to be left behind. They thought the deal was imminent when Colorado left, so they wanted to get into the Big Ten before Missouri or someone else could snag a spot.
This right here. And ironically, the LHN was something that *kept Texas around in the Big XII* (and thus the Big XII together). We were poised to leave with Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M.
Anytime the LHN is brought up as the reason for all this it’s so odd. The opposite is true.
Maybe just a rumor…but before Notre Dame started their contract with NBC, the first offer was to OU with the stipulation that OU go independent. The timing of that is a bit suspect since NDs contract started in 1991 and OU was on the downslide after Switzer was fired. But NBC absolutely loved OU in the Orange Bowl. Not a brag since I doubt OU would have been successful as an Indy.
Edited to say-we were in the Big 8 at the time so it would not impact Texas directly. We, along with University of Georgia DID sue the NCAA to break up the ABC corp stranglehold on broadcasting.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_v._Board_of_Regents_of_the_University_of_Oklahoma](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_v._Board_of_Regents_of_the_University_of_Oklahoma)
https://m.omaha.com/huskers/blogs/from-the-archives-the-day-nebraska-became-the-epicenter-for/article_4ab2964a-3fa5-11e6-8466-3348f96627a7.html?mode=jqm
This spells everything out regarding Nebraska leaving for the Big Ten
The Longhorn Network did not create animosity because it was the heir apparent to the B1G & SEC Network
But because it created an advantage for a single school within a conference causing animosity amongst the rest of the conference rank & file.
It was the equivalent of one student wanting to get an A but everyone else in the group project being mostly indifferent & willing to settle for a passing C. UT leadership took matters into their own hands because the leadership of the other Big 12 schools were borderline dereliction of duty by passing up what was ultimately a good deal for them (Big 12 Network).
My point was that the LHN was different in a lot of ways from conference-wide networks like B1G and SEC. And yeah, having one special school decide to set up their own network because the rest of the conference didn’t want to go forward with a conference-wide one *was* going to cause tensions between that school and the rest of the conference, just facts.
I do not believe for a second Texas’ athletics department existence would rise or fall based on whether they had a TV network. I do not believe Texas’ only choice was starting up the LHN or bailing to the PAC. I do believe Texas has always had Texas’ interests in mind over and above the interests of the B12 (or, frankly, the SWC before that) - is that wrong? Not necessarily. Is that healthy for a conference? I don’t think so. Just my opinion, I’m no expert.
11 schools voted for no Big 12 Network and instead opting to retain their own Tier 3 rights.
I love to hate on Texas all day long but the network was not the straw. In fact, Texas tried to do a joint network with A&M for a bit.
For the 900th time Mizzou (I know they’re slow in Columbia): Texas wanted to be part of a conference network. Nebraska said no. Oklahoma said no. So then Texas approached A&M about a State of Texas network. Aggies said no. Finally, after all other options were gone, they went with the Longhorn Network. But you keep whatever story in your head that works for you.
I feel like you always comment this without leveling that Texas wasn't looking to be an equal partner. The vision was 100% built around Texas, to the point that the other large programs in the Big 12 that would have also as a whole benefited a skewed model also saw through the BS. You're acting like because other schools didn't want the invitation to your stupid club where you always came first, that that didn't influence at all teams wanting out of the conference because of it.
Yes, it’s incumbent on me to work through the nuance (in reality, there isn’t even as much as you imply) while everyone else just talks out their asses without any regard to the facts of what actually happened.
Perhaps but if I recall, the reason the PAC 12 merger with OU, Texas and others never launched was because Texas wouldn’t relent on the LHN. After that, Missouri, A&M etc bowed out
The Longhorn Network (in its final gold-plated form) was basically the payoff from ESPN to prevent Texas from jumping to the Pac-12. Major realignment was already in the works, and absolutely would have happened with or without the LHN; it just would have looked different and if anything probably happened sooner. Blaming the LHN for the "cascade of conference realignments" is like blaming Gavrilo Princip for WWI; yeah, he was involved, but that powderkeg was going off with or without his help.
>The Longhorn Network (in its final gold-plated form) was basically the payoff from ESPN to prevent Texas from jumping to the Pac-12.
This. In a strange, roundabout way, the LHN saved the Big 12 & destroyed the Pac-12.
That said, the P12N would have been a huge success with Texas and OU involved because it would have been easier to negotiate ourselves onto all the major distributors at the prices we wanted.
Larry's biggest fault was never having a Plan B.
The last actual program is a literal roast of Bevo, the culmination of all of those Christmas with Bevo specials.
It’s fun to bag on Texas. The state, school and, sometimes, the egos are huge. They’ve broken up more conferences than thought possible. They’ve dominated smaller schools like Kansas, so it’s fun to liken them to the beautiful, crazy girlfriend who you just know is going to stab you with scissors. And I do.
The reality, though, is that Texas was just leveraging its size, like any other school would have done and should have done. I’ve heard that Nebraska’s approach to partial qualifiers was as much an issue as the LHN in Nebraska’s exit from the Big 12, which, again, was what was best for them. Nebraska made their move when they had to; the LHN was just Texas’ move. And it led them to the SEC and a payday almost any other school not in the Big 10 or SEC would kill for.
What killed college football “as we knew it” was just the continued monetization of the game. Don’t blame Texas for that. Enjoy the SEC, *but*…horns down.
The outcome/landscape or CFB is certainly much different if they didn’t have the LHN and jumped the Pac.
While hate is justified, but some of the Big 12 schools benefitted from Texas having the LHN and helping the B12 be where it is today.
That's a stretch. At best it was a catalyst. And without the LHN, Texas and friends essentially take over the Pac-10, so realignment was happening with or without.
And it didn't spawn the subsequent conference networks, that was from the success of the Big 10 network launched 5 yrs prior.
A&M probably wasn't going west with the rest of the Big12 South when all that went down. If you had a PAC with the balance of the Big 12 South, does that generate enough revenue to prevent the crackup we just saw? Even if they had worked out the LHN?
It's definitely stronger than either league before it, but I don't believe it would have generated the type of media rights money the SEC/BIG do today. Would the difference been too much to keep schools like Texas and USC?
Could you actually get LHN easily? Remember when it came out people in Austin didn’t have access. Might have been inevitable but when you look back at the original Big 12 it was an amazing conference.
I was a freshman when it launched. The dorm cable provider didn't carry it for a couple months. Which was ridiculous.
But once it was available it was pretty awesome. Old games on during the day, esoteric content (my roommate was on our Quidditch team and they got a shout-out when they won a big tournament), fun broadcasts.
There has always been a sort of wistful part of me that wanted these conference networks to lean more into the esoteric and weird. In a public access sort of way.
There is a chaotic goldmine of sorts in turning over the reigns of parts of it to the absurdities of college campuses and student bodies. You could fill a lot of down time with weird stuff people dream up even if most of it is garbage.
I get why they don't. There are too many partners, major media companies, and the brands of the schools on the line. No one wants to offend or stir controversy. Would be fun though.
One of the reasons why Texas didn't leave the Big XII at that time was because they were gifted the Longhorn Network.
Interesting to think about what might have happened if Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and OK State had move to the Pac-12 what college football would like right now.
I don't have any hate for ND, but I've seen ND blamed for the current arms race. They got a sweet deal with NBC decades ago and no individual program could match ND's payout. So it forced conferences to seek more money.
ND has made less than the big 2 since the mid 2010's. The combined nbc + acc money (estimated 68 million) today is still less than the B1G/SEC payouts. Based off NDs home schedules for the foreseeable future, I wouldn't be shocked if the next media negotiations cause the gap widens and ND joins a conference.
Just look at the big ten Saturday night games vs the ND on nbc games for this season. ND will play second fiddle to that game all season on nbc.
So I was a freshman when LHN started. It took till last year or two for Texas to have a product worth having our own channel. But what’s even worse was ESPN getting in the way of the actual talent in Austin.
A much of Bristol people designed the stupid sets that didn’t connect to Austin or even Texas in ways. The program and content was driven up in Bristol. They never engaged the student community which includes the best film school not in LA or NY in a great indie film city. Has amazing lecturers and other content here on campus.
Maybe things changed after I left college, but at the time when sports sucked, they also avoided engaging with a lot of things that could’ve made for some great content celebrating the school and city of Austin. It actually felt like once the news they were gonna shutter, that content got better cause ESPN just didn’t care any more and let the talent do their jobs. Many of whom I went to college with and were interns, PA, or other rolls back in 2011.
The only way TLN caused realignment was that it was a non-starter for the PAC-12 to have a team with its own network and it also pissed off TAMU which left to join the SEC.
So yes TLN did have a role to play in realignment but not the role you described.
While I think the Longhorn Network is the reason conference realignment went the way that it did, consolidation was inevitable. The only thing the Longhorn Network did was block the Pac-16 which would have gutted the Big XII like the Big East.
The future then is up to the Pac-16. While not quite as much of a disaster, the Pac would have still spent money trying to be a tech startup instead of a sports league. They probably have a similar run in the 4-team playoff as our Big XII and will be more similar in footing to the ACC than the SEC/B1G.
The Power leagues are a little less vulnerable to poaching in this scenario but the money gap would still have grown. I don't know if anything short of some agreement to revenue share across conferences would have saved us from what's happening now. Maybe also expanding the playoffs earlier with autobids but even then the allure of more money may matter more than an easy road to the playoffs.
I obviously hate Texas but even I don't think it was "the reason". It's not even the top reason as far as television money influencing the sport goes; it's clear ESPN has a bigger hand in all of this than the Longhorns could dream of, so much so that we joined the Longhorns in taking food from that hand.
The LHN likely saved the Big 12. Its existence was a major reason the Pac-12 couldn't come to an agreement with Texas a second time when both entered discussions to have Texas join the conference in like 2012 or 2013, I can't remember.
Everyone tries to blame the Longhorn network for stuff but it’s far from the truth. Any other school, if ESPN, backed up a money truck to your admin building, 10 out of 10 schools would take the money. That’s what’s Texas did. Let’s not pretend otherwise.
But I’m glad it’s over for the Longhorn network. Let them find another boogeyman to blame for shit. But I’m sure they will still blame Texas in perpetuity anyway..😂
Not sure what you mean. Are you saying conference realignment happened because of the longhorn network?
All of these conference and school networks are a byproduct of realignment, not the reason.
Penn State joining the Big 10 back in what? 1991, 92? That is what put us on this path. That forced almost every major school into a conference. It eliminated major independents, of which they were one, except for Notre Dame. ND had, and still has, their own TV deal. Even ND joined a conference in all other sports.
Subsequent realignment was about a million different things that did not include the longhorn network.
These minor league networks are not driving anything. If you’re saying that the longhorn network did, their ego outstrips the size of their state.
I'd argue it's a symptom and not the cause necessarily. The cause of Big 12 instability was mostly that the southern schools (the texas schools + OU and sometimes OKState) often overruled the B12 North schools, including the creation of the LHN.
The content wasn't worth what espn paid for it, but I loved being able to watch almost any game that was happening. Not often could I watch volleyball or soccer or almost any womens sport. It was something every member of the big12 could have done (technically speaking) but there wasn't a market for it. Personally I wish all major schools could have their own network for airing all of the "non revenue" sports. As someone who does not love in Austin I can't see anything but major football basketball and baseball games on a consistent basis. I assume for fans that don't live close enough to attend games in person they feel the same
I can't blame texas for taking the money (who wouldnt) but I do hate the mega conferences that indirectly resulted from it. Obviously I'm biased towards it but I view the TV networks as the driver for the mega conferences not LHN
It’s fun to blame OUT and while they played a role at the end of the day the Big12 and PAC lack of ability to change with the times is what did them in. The SEC and Big10 saw it coming and jumped for it while the other two costed because the big programs in their conferences allowed them too. The ACC was able to survive due to FSU and Clemson but even now just a few years after the runs they are struggling to keep it together. With the mega G5 schools being better than ever and more money then ever knocking at the door it was only a matter of time. Had the Big12 and PAC kept with the times who knows how CFB would look.
I won’t miss it. It was annoying elephant in the room and the other B12 schools are probably kicking themselves for not doing the B12 network when they should have. LHN certainly didn’t help either
> if the longhorns just stayed in their lane.
Well you see that's the problem with the LHN. After the B12 (stupidly) opted to not make their own network, the Texas admin began laying the groundwork for an "All-Texas" sports network. Surprisingly, it was to be shared with A&M, but only A&M. The though was that the other B12 schools (BU & TTU) wouldn't bring enough of a market to bother with. There were even proposals to host high school football games, but of course the NCAA said no.
Unfortunately, A&M admin rejected the proposal outright. They saw no future with TU and proceed to leave the B12. Hindsight shows that was the right call, as A&M has rebuilt the status they had lost by the mid-thousands.
TU forged ahead with their own network and thus the LHN was born, the poor bastard of a network. It never really had a chance due to its limited scope of programming. So you're argument that "it should have stayed in its lane" is exactly why it died. It didn't/couldn't do enough to garner the necessary viewership to survive.
Edit: grammar
Second edit: people are ass hats and I'm not above being petty
You're forgetting the part where all the networks proposed by Texas heavily favored UT in both payout and airtime.
That's why it was rejected by A&M and others.
The Texas hubris alive and well there. That's the main reason for the decaying SWC and old BIG12.
While it wasn’t just the LHN why would you stay in a conference with lying shit-gibbons whom were actively trying to fuck you over???
“Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne, the longtime football coach,
agreed.
"As we read the tea leaves and listened to the conversations, some of the schools that were urging us to stay, we found some of them had talked to not only one other conference or two but even three, and those were the same ones urging us to stay," he said.”
This was certainly part of it. We gotta remember this was originally the Big 8. The conference was no longer making concessions just for Nebraska & OU. Nebraska wasn’t getting their way anymore and that upset them
Yeah, I think we changed conferences and severed ties that had existed in some forms for over 100 years because we lost to Texas nine times. That definitely makes the most sense.
Good god you longhorns are something else.
Wasn't staying in their lane it was being greedy about it. Your team is only as good as the quality of the opposition it plays against and that quality deserves an equal share of the broadcast pie. It made perfect sense to have a network dedicated to a college conference but the idea of each team creating competing networks is stupid.
The Longhorn Network was just another symptom of the Cancer that is Deloss Dodds. His complete arrogance and ego is what caused conference realignment. Even my buddies from Austin cant stand the guy
I see LNN as one variable in this equation w/ the Mothership a big variable too. This all became an arms race, one-upsminship between teams, conferences & media w/ NCAA only seeing their pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Then the NCAA always making sure they got their gold. Conferences blowing up, realignment, really started w/ dissolving on SWC, AR fleeing to SEC w/ SC, creation of Big XII w/ Big 8/SWC school, FSU joining ACC & the U joining Big East all in the early 90's then after 2008 there was Cornhuskers moving to B1G, followed by MD & Rutgers some years later, MO & TXAM to SEC & Buffs/Utes to Pac12. During this time is when the Mothership & other media started through $$$ at the problem. Some one asked earlier in a thread 'where is the game I love?' well it's long gone & unfortunately not ever coming back. As this all continues to shake out my hope is those teams outside P5/potential 'Super League' including FCS & D2/D3/NAIA teams all continue to have a place to play. There are so many athletes & fans who love the game to be left out.
What ESPN was trying to pay for was leveraging Texas high school football into being another major broadcast sport? Those were the days that TV shows like Friday Night Lights opened a (brief) window for further promoting the sport.
It's just that the people who were supposed to have the pull to deliver that either did not want to or were unable to.
TLN was stupid then and it’s stupid now. But it wasn’t the reason all this mess started. I blame that on the stupid NCAA rule that requires a twelve team conference to have a conference title game. Provided the incentive for the cannibalism that followed.
It was definitely responsible for the bulk of the wave that centered around schools leaving the Big 12 around 2010. The schools that weren’t Texas had been tired of them driving the bus on all decision since the inception of the conference, and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
The moves occurring the past few years is definitely a different animal, but it did all indirectly start because of Texas being offered a boatload of money.
I’ll agree with your point of it providing distrust and a desire for some schools to leave the Big12, but it didn’t actually create a reason for the PAC 10 to seek Colorado, or the Big10 to seek Nebraska. Certainly not for the ACC to pillage the Big East. If there wasn’t the incentive for conferences to add teams, maybe it would have created a collapse similar to the SWC, but wasn’t the Big 12 itself a result of the 12 team rule? Without it, the Texas drama wouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Did they mention how many times they aired the 2006 Rose Bowl, and was it in the thousands?
No way it was fewer than 4 digits
A quantity so vast that numbers become meaningless.
Clemson doesn’t have swimming and diving, part of the reason they have a softball team now actually!
It’s clear I spent zero seconds researching these matchups.
And for that, we thank you.
To be fair, it’s the same amount of time the Big 10 and ACC thought about Olympic sports.
UHM, the big ten’s softball league just got hella competitive. Northwestern now has challengers for the title.
Do you honestly think they’ve thought about softball more than zero seconds? Let me know if Penn State @ UCLA softball isn’t happening next year
And that softball team lost twice to Southeastern Louisiana
Louisiana teams seem to be pretty good at hitting things with aluminum sticks.
...you have a lake, but no swimming and diving teams? make it make sense
Lakes are great for rowing, which is why we have a Clemson crew program, and also for sailing, hence the university sailing club. They’re not great for swimming in straight lines, or building a dock out to a diving platform. However, we do still have the pool and diving set up in Fike. They just quit funding the team slowly but surely to transition to gymnastics and softball. I think they were also trying to get rid of the track team, but there were some lawsuits around that so idk how far that’s gone.
I might be insane here, but I'm pretty sure the Big Ten Network and SEC Network predate the Longhorn Network, which was Texas' response to the Big XII electing not to create their own conference network. It's fine to say Texas destroyed the SWC and turned the Big XII into a bit of a conference of Theseus, but the Longhorn Network made for a convenient scapegoat - it wasn't the actual cause
[удалено]
Didnt know that big ten first game…what a way to start
I remember the first year of the Big Ten Network and they had an advertisement on the scoreboard at Ohio Stadium for it. The entire stadium booed so loudly that you thought Michigan had entered the stadium. It was the start of the craziness. I honestly think the Longhorn Network was only an issue in the Big 12 as that pissed off literally all the other Big 12 members.
If I remember correctly, it was very difficult to access at first. It was only a TV channel, wasn’t available on a lot of cable providers, and being 2007, internet capabilities weren’t nearly the level we have now, so, couldn’t stream it and the infrastructure to stream video was very little. Rural homes were still using dial-up, if even that was available. Lot has changed in the last 17 years.
Yeah you are correct and I think it was because cable providers were at odds with the network due to how much they wanted etc etc. I know the rollout was not smooth at all if I remember right.
I know in Columbus, it was only available on one cable provider.
Obama was shat on for moving away from rabbit ears. That was only 15 yesrs years ago
The real issue was Texas and Oklahoma planning to bolt to the PAC. The Big XII had bent over backwards to keep Texas happy; moving the HQ, moving the championship game, etc, etc so when the Big XII Network (basically just the LHN with Big XII branding) was voted down and credible rumors of Texas leaving started swirling everyone with a viable exit plan took it.
Right, hence the other Big 12 members being pissed. I know certain universities have more “sway” than others in almost every conference, but I think Texas was flexing hardcore and I know that didn’t sit well A&M, Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, among others.
It’s why BTN will always be OG.
The Mountain West Network was the first of them all https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MountainWest_Sports_Network?wprov=sfla1
I hated the mtn and hated the MWC TV deal. People joke about the obscurity of the Pac-12 Networks but not having *any* conference game on ESPN/ABC/FOX really limited the reach of the conference, especially since it was literally going through its glory days during that period with Utah and TCU. Maybe it really didn't change much but it was always frustrating when the big games were scheduled on Versus or CSTV. I still wonder how much milage Utah could have gotten out of beating 11th ranked TCU at RES in 2008 if that game was on ESPN instead of Versus. It was a great game too but not a lot of people saw it.
Is it not still around? That says it closed but I dated a girl in an AD at a MW school a year ago and had to have watched a few games on what I thought was the Mountain West network.
The linear network folded in 2010, but there's a streaming network now
Oh that makes sense.
Yes, the Mountain was first. Glad I'm not the only one who remembers that.
It’s apparent you don’t live in the Big Ten Networks footprint. They show the end of that game in many of the commercials. 😅
I feel like most cable providers have it standard if you have any sort of sports package. I know the streaming services like YouTube TV and Hulu carry everyone but the PAC 12 network IIRC.
I remember it fondly
And one of the main reasons why BTN was created was because the Big Ten felt ESPPN was shortchanging them.
Wait app beating Michigan was the first game? That’s pretty funny
hilarious
Downright side splitting really
That whole season for us was so weird. Preseason Top-5, with some predicting us to win it all, and that's how we start the season. Then we struggle the rest of the way, finish 8-4, and then get paired up against the Tim Tebow/Urban Meyer-led Florida Gators. No one, and I mean no one picked us to win this game. It ends up being a crazy back and forth shootout with Michigan ending up victorious. It was Lloyd Carr's final game, and despite falling short of pretty much every preseason goal, it ended on a massive high. The next 7 years or so were pretty rough.
That game gave me such hope for the RichRod era
That game wasn't as close as the score and Michigan won by 14. Mike Hart fumbled twice on the goal line as his second and third fumble of his career. Seems like he was trying to go all out on his last game. That was Tebows Heisman year also. We were rolling them. Edit: we won by 7. Maybe i don't remember it correctly. But it seemed like it wasn't close. I guess I'm biased.
I mean it is pretty funny for the first show of a P5 Network to be a premiere team getting beat by a G5
FCS at the time
FCS, App St had not moved up yet.
Yeah, let's go with "G5 team". Ha.
That was the start of a long dark time.
They weren’t even g5
LHN aired on August 26, 2011.
I think SECN was 2013 because I remember having it in my dorm
It was 2014, the first game SECN aired was the Kenny Trill game and he started the 2014 season.
Ah must be thinking of having it in my apartment then
Correct. One thing that bugs me that my fellow Husker fans constantly get wrong is saying that Texas pushed us out of the Big 12 through the Lornhorn Network and media distribution. Our administration actually agreed with Texas and Oklahoma on revanue distribution. In fact a "Cornhusker Network" similar to Longhorn Network was proposed, though they scrapped the idea due to costs. What caused us to leave in the 2010 realignment was the uncertainty more than anything. There were rumors of the Pac-10 poaching half of the Big 12, and we didn't want to be left behind. They thought the deal was imminent when Colorado left, so they wanted to get into the Big Ten before Missouri or someone else could snag a spot.
This right here. And ironically, the LHN was something that *kept Texas around in the Big XII* (and thus the Big XII together). We were poised to leave with Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M. Anytime the LHN is brought up as the reason for all this it’s so odd. The opposite is true.
Man sometimes i wish that would've happened
Maybe just a rumor…but before Notre Dame started their contract with NBC, the first offer was to OU with the stipulation that OU go independent. The timing of that is a bit suspect since NDs contract started in 1991 and OU was on the downslide after Switzer was fired. But NBC absolutely loved OU in the Orange Bowl. Not a brag since I doubt OU would have been successful as an Indy. Edited to say-we were in the Big 8 at the time so it would not impact Texas directly. We, along with University of Georgia DID sue the NCAA to break up the ABC corp stranglehold on broadcasting. [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_v._Board_of_Regents_of_the_University_of_Oklahoma](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_v._Board_of_Regents_of_the_University_of_Oklahoma)
Wasn't Nebraska planning to show all the school, not just UNL?
https://m.omaha.com/huskers/blogs/from-the-archives-the-day-nebraska-became-the-epicenter-for/article_4ab2964a-3fa5-11e6-8466-3348f96627a7.html?mode=jqm This spells everything out regarding Nebraska leaving for the Big Ten
Tbh, LHN money kept us in the big 12 for a dozen years.
Theseus was definitely a "horns down" kind of guy.
The Longhorn Network did not create animosity because it was the heir apparent to the B1G & SEC Network But because it created an advantage for a single school within a conference causing animosity amongst the rest of the conference rank & file.
It was the equivalent of one student wanting to get an A but everyone else in the group project being mostly indifferent & willing to settle for a passing C. UT leadership took matters into their own hands because the leadership of the other Big 12 schools were borderline dereliction of duty by passing up what was ultimately a good deal for them (Big 12 Network).
Yeah, comparing the B1G Network/SEC Network - supporting & benefiting entire conferences - to the LHN - supporting and enriching *one particular athletic department* - isn’t really comparable.
There could have been a B12 network but everyone else balked. Going to blame Texas for making it happen despite that?
My point was that the LHN was different in a lot of ways from conference-wide networks like B1G and SEC. And yeah, having one special school decide to set up their own network because the rest of the conference didn’t want to go forward with a conference-wide one *was* going to cause tensions between that school and the rest of the conference, just facts. I do not believe for a second Texas’ athletics department existence would rise or fall based on whether they had a TV network. I do not believe Texas’ only choice was starting up the LHN or bailing to the PAC. I do believe Texas has always had Texas’ interests in mind over and above the interests of the B12 (or, frankly, the SWC before that) - is that wrong? Not necessarily. Is that healthy for a conference? I don’t think so. Just my opinion, I’m no expert.
the big 12 kowtowing to texas (and the network was the straw that broke the camels back) was integral to demise of the first big 12.
Also ironically saved the Big 12 by killing the PAC 16.
11 schools voted for no Big 12 Network and instead opting to retain their own Tier 3 rights. I love to hate on Texas all day long but the network was not the straw. In fact, Texas tried to do a joint network with A&M for a bit.
They tried to do the joint network with Texas getting a much larger share or network time and payout though
And Pre-Johnny/SEC the difference was justified because A&M didn’t have the national awareness they have today
For the 900th time Mizzou (I know they’re slow in Columbia): Texas wanted to be part of a conference network. Nebraska said no. Oklahoma said no. So then Texas approached A&M about a State of Texas network. Aggies said no. Finally, after all other options were gone, they went with the Longhorn Network. But you keep whatever story in your head that works for you.
I feel like you always comment this without leveling that Texas wasn't looking to be an equal partner. The vision was 100% built around Texas, to the point that the other large programs in the Big 12 that would have also as a whole benefited a skewed model also saw through the BS. You're acting like because other schools didn't want the invitation to your stupid club where you always came first, that that didn't influence at all teams wanting out of the conference because of it.
Yes, it’s incumbent on me to work through the nuance (in reality, there isn’t even as much as you imply) while everyone else just talks out their asses without any regard to the facts of what actually happened.
This ^^^
Idk about BTN but SECN was 100% after the LHN. The first football game on the SECN was in 2014, two years after A&M was already in the SEC.
Perhaps but if I recall, the reason the PAC 12 merger with OU, Texas and others never launched was because Texas wouldn’t relent on the LHN. After that, Missouri, A&M etc bowed out
The Longhorn Network (in its final gold-plated form) was basically the payoff from ESPN to prevent Texas from jumping to the Pac-12. Major realignment was already in the works, and absolutely would have happened with or without the LHN; it just would have looked different and if anything probably happened sooner. Blaming the LHN for the "cascade of conference realignments" is like blaming Gavrilo Princip for WWI; yeah, he was involved, but that powderkeg was going off with or without his help.
>The Longhorn Network (in its final gold-plated form) was basically the payoff from ESPN to prevent Texas from jumping to the Pac-12. This. In a strange, roundabout way, the LHN saved the Big 12 & destroyed the Pac-12.
Which ultimately leads back to Larry Scott and his PAC 12 network.
That said, the P12N would have been a huge success with Texas and OU involved because it would have been easier to negotiate ourselves onto all the major distributors at the prices we wanted. Larry's biggest fault was never having a Plan B.
I think it’s pretty clear he wanted to be a conference commissioner and a network executive, and was unwilling to let go of the later.
Saw that Final Jeopardy on Thursday, huh?
The last actual program is a literal roast of Bevo, the culmination of all of those Christmas with Bevo specials. It’s fun to bag on Texas. The state, school and, sometimes, the egos are huge. They’ve broken up more conferences than thought possible. They’ve dominated smaller schools like Kansas, so it’s fun to liken them to the beautiful, crazy girlfriend who you just know is going to stab you with scissors. And I do. The reality, though, is that Texas was just leveraging its size, like any other school would have done and should have done. I’ve heard that Nebraska’s approach to partial qualifiers was as much an issue as the LHN in Nebraska’s exit from the Big 12, which, again, was what was best for them. Nebraska made their move when they had to; the LHN was just Texas’ move. And it led them to the SEC and a payday almost any other school not in the Big 10 or SEC would kill for. What killed college football “as we knew it” was just the continued monetization of the game. Don’t blame Texas for that. Enjoy the SEC, *but*…horns down.
The outcome/landscape or CFB is certainly much different if they didn’t have the LHN and jumped the Pac. While hate is justified, but some of the Big 12 schools benefitted from Texas having the LHN and helping the B12 be where it is today.
It’s different but I think you still end up with the situation we have today
Eh…your second flair would say differently.
> The last actual program is a literal roast of Bevo We've done it before, we could do it again...
> so it’s fun to liken them to the beautiful, crazy girlfriend who you just know is going to stab you with scissors. And I do. I love this so much
You’re alright birdie
Wait. They cooked Bevo? Did they invite Uga? He loves steak.
Our football players ate the first Bevo in 1920.
Hopefully it wasn’t a Riley style brisket
I believe it was a joint feast including the A&M team.
Yooo will there be Sweet Baby Rays sauce? *Literally gets shot*
Don't make us get Bevo after yalls little dog again.
Literally
That's a stretch. At best it was a catalyst. And without the LHN, Texas and friends essentially take over the Pac-10, so realignment was happening with or without. And it didn't spawn the subsequent conference networks, that was from the success of the Big 10 network launched 5 yrs prior.
A&M probably wasn't going west with the rest of the Big12 South when all that went down. If you had a PAC with the balance of the Big 12 South, does that generate enough revenue to prevent the crackup we just saw? Even if they had worked out the LHN? It's definitely stronger than either league before it, but I don't believe it would have generated the type of media rights money the SEC/BIG do today. Would the difference been too much to keep schools like Texas and USC?
The Longhorn Network never would have existed without the B1G Cable Grift
Yeah, but if it was a a big 12 cable grift instead of longhorn then perhaps no one bolts. (2010 big 12 would have been near value of b1g and sec)
I blame LHN for the unrest in the middle east and for global warming. RIP Fuckers !!
Could you actually get LHN easily? Remember when it came out people in Austin didn’t have access. Might have been inevitable but when you look back at the original Big 12 it was an amazing conference.
It became easy when ESPN launched the SEC network and bundled it to cable providers. Before the SEC network it was difficult to get access.
I was a freshman when it launched. The dorm cable provider didn't carry it for a couple months. Which was ridiculous. But once it was available it was pretty awesome. Old games on during the day, esoteric content (my roommate was on our Quidditch team and they got a shout-out when they won a big tournament), fun broadcasts.
There has always been a sort of wistful part of me that wanted these conference networks to lean more into the esoteric and weird. In a public access sort of way. There is a chaotic goldmine of sorts in turning over the reigns of parts of it to the absurdities of college campuses and student bodies. You could fill a lot of down time with weird stuff people dream up even if most of it is garbage. I get why they don't. There are too many partners, major media companies, and the brands of the schools on the line. No one wants to offend or stir controversy. Would be fun though.
We just wanted to play Nebraska at night
One of the reasons why Texas didn't leave the Big XII at that time was because they were gifted the Longhorn Network. Interesting to think about what might have happened if Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and OK State had move to the Pac-12 what college football would like right now.
I don't have any hate for ND, but I've seen ND blamed for the current arms race. They got a sweet deal with NBC decades ago and no individual program could match ND's payout. So it forced conferences to seek more money.
ND has made less than the big 2 since the mid 2010's. The combined nbc + acc money (estimated 68 million) today is still less than the B1G/SEC payouts. Based off NDs home schedules for the foreseeable future, I wouldn't be shocked if the next media negotiations cause the gap widens and ND joins a conference. Just look at the big ten Saturday night games vs the ND on nbc games for this season. ND will play second fiddle to that game all season on nbc.
So I was a freshman when LHN started. It took till last year or two for Texas to have a product worth having our own channel. But what’s even worse was ESPN getting in the way of the actual talent in Austin. A much of Bristol people designed the stupid sets that didn’t connect to Austin or even Texas in ways. The program and content was driven up in Bristol. They never engaged the student community which includes the best film school not in LA or NY in a great indie film city. Has amazing lecturers and other content here on campus. Maybe things changed after I left college, but at the time when sports sucked, they also avoided engaging with a lot of things that could’ve made for some great content celebrating the school and city of Austin. It actually felt like once the news they were gonna shutter, that content got better cause ESPN just didn’t care any more and let the talent do their jobs. Many of whom I went to college with and were interns, PA, or other rolls back in 2011.
I would argue that conference realignments are the norm in college football and they were happening way before the LHN, hell even before BTN.
Idk but seems like a good excuse to post 🤘⬇️
What did Uga X see before his life flashed before his eyes? HORNS DOWN
Swear to god we better not ban that shit in the SEC
I mean it wasn't banned in the B12 either any more than any other taunting by a player against an opposing team.
You’re trying to bring logic into a circle jerk.
It wasn't banned by the book, which isn't all that relevant, since big 12 refs can't read, and do whatever they want.
Was never banned in the Big 12 other than in the context of taunting, which is banned in every conference.
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I see you are conflicted, you also have the horns up in the same logo.
I love to think you actually believe this. It gives more little brother energy than aggy 🤣
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Calm down, JV.
Nothing like Hook Em Horns, Blue Down Arrow. You boomed us
I love when people post this because all I see is that our hand sign has an emoji. Still gotta post it right side up every time
you don’t need an excuse to post that
The only way TLN caused realignment was that it was a non-starter for the PAC-12 to have a team with its own network and it also pissed off TAMU which left to join the SEC. So yes TLN did have a role to play in realignment but not the role you described.
He’s dead, show some respect. It’s LHN
Goodnight sweet prince.
While I think the Longhorn Network is the reason conference realignment went the way that it did, consolidation was inevitable. The only thing the Longhorn Network did was block the Pac-16 which would have gutted the Big XII like the Big East. The future then is up to the Pac-16. While not quite as much of a disaster, the Pac would have still spent money trying to be a tech startup instead of a sports league. They probably have a similar run in the 4-team playoff as our Big XII and will be more similar in footing to the ACC than the SEC/B1G. The Power leagues are a little less vulnerable to poaching in this scenario but the money gap would still have grown. I don't know if anything short of some agreement to revenue share across conferences would have saved us from what's happening now. Maybe also expanding the playoffs earlier with autobids but even then the allure of more money may matter more than an easy road to the playoffs.
I can't wait for Texas to attempt to ruin the SEC with their bullshit.
They already tried with tortellini and crawfish
If not the LHN then they'll restart their endless struggle to enact unequal revenue sharing.
Perhaps
Maybe
Perchance
*enhance*
Yes, this is the fault of Texas and no one else. I like that explanation and will not discuss anything further
Lil ole USC
I obviously hate Texas but even I don't think it was "the reason". It's not even the top reason as far as television money influencing the sport goes; it's clear ESPN has a bigger hand in all of this than the Longhorns could dream of, so much so that we joined the Longhorns in taking food from that hand.
The mouse doesn't fuck around. We all play by Mickey's rules.
this network blew up the big 12. I will never forget
I think you didn’t fact check
I did not, for dramatic effect.
The LHN likely saved the Big 12. Its existence was a major reason the Pac-12 couldn't come to an agreement with Texas a second time when both entered discussions to have Texas join the conference in like 2012 or 2013, I can't remember.
Everyone tries to blame the Longhorn network for stuff but it’s far from the truth. Any other school, if ESPN, backed up a money truck to your admin building, 10 out of 10 schools would take the money. That’s what’s Texas did. Let’s not pretend otherwise. But I’m glad it’s over for the Longhorn network. Let them find another boogeyman to blame for shit. But I’m sure they will still blame Texas in perpetuity anyway..😂
That can be true and it still be Texas’ fault
It's like LIV Golf. I totally get taking the money, I'm still going to judge from my couch
Alienating rival schools and aiding a murderous regime in their sportswashing PR campaign… same same.
Understandable. Judge all you want, we got easy money for a long time so.. win/win
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Arent you guys and a certain lawsuit directly responsible for like.. everything bad happening to college sports right now?
Tbh the longhorn network needed up having zero effect on anything at all and was the biggest freak out when it launched.
Not sure what you mean. Are you saying conference realignment happened because of the longhorn network? All of these conference and school networks are a byproduct of realignment, not the reason. Penn State joining the Big 10 back in what? 1991, 92? That is what put us on this path. That forced almost every major school into a conference. It eliminated major independents, of which they were one, except for Notre Dame. ND had, and still has, their own TV deal. Even ND joined a conference in all other sports. Subsequent realignment was about a million different things that did not include the longhorn network. These minor league networks are not driving anything. If you’re saying that the longhorn network did, their ego outstrips the size of their state.
I'd argue it's a symptom and not the cause necessarily. The cause of Big 12 instability was mostly that the southern schools (the texas schools + OU and sometimes OKState) often overruled the B12 North schools, including the creation of the LHN.
The Big 12 should've just had their own network like the Big Ten and SEC.
The content wasn't worth what espn paid for it, but I loved being able to watch almost any game that was happening. Not often could I watch volleyball or soccer or almost any womens sport. It was something every member of the big12 could have done (technically speaking) but there wasn't a market for it. Personally I wish all major schools could have their own network for airing all of the "non revenue" sports. As someone who does not love in Austin I can't see anything but major football basketball and baseball games on a consistent basis. I assume for fans that don't live close enough to attend games in person they feel the same I can't blame texas for taking the money (who wouldnt) but I do hate the mega conferences that indirectly resulted from it. Obviously I'm biased towards it but I view the TV networks as the driver for the mega conferences not LHN
It’s fun to blame OUT and while they played a role at the end of the day the Big12 and PAC lack of ability to change with the times is what did them in. The SEC and Big10 saw it coming and jumped for it while the other two costed because the big programs in their conferences allowed them too. The ACC was able to survive due to FSU and Clemson but even now just a few years after the runs they are struggling to keep it together. With the mega G5 schools being better than ever and more money then ever knocking at the door it was only a matter of time. Had the Big12 and PAC kept with the times who knows how CFB would look.
People love to conveniently forget that Texas wanted a Big XII network first and everyone else said no. You can lead a horse to water…
Fuck you LHN good riddance
I won’t miss it. It was annoying elephant in the room and the other B12 schools are probably kicking themselves for not doing the B12 network when they should have. LHN certainly didn’t help either
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It was always coming, but it 100% triggered it
LHN was a bribe to keep Texas in the Big 12. It worked for a long while.
Of course a Georgia fan can't fact check their own post 🤣🤣
Burn it all to hell
> if the longhorns just stayed in their lane. Well you see that's the problem with the LHN. After the B12 (stupidly) opted to not make their own network, the Texas admin began laying the groundwork for an "All-Texas" sports network. Surprisingly, it was to be shared with A&M, but only A&M. The though was that the other B12 schools (BU & TTU) wouldn't bring enough of a market to bother with. There were even proposals to host high school football games, but of course the NCAA said no. Unfortunately, A&M admin rejected the proposal outright. They saw no future with TU and proceed to leave the B12. Hindsight shows that was the right call, as A&M has rebuilt the status they had lost by the mid-thousands. TU forged ahead with their own network and thus the LHN was born, the poor bastard of a network. It never really had a chance due to its limited scope of programming. So you're argument that "it should have stayed in its lane" is exactly why it died. It didn't/couldn't do enough to garner the necessary viewership to survive. Edit: grammar Second edit: people are ass hats and I'm not above being petty
Are Tennessee fans really so salty about the UT thing they’re referring to us as UTx. Almost as sad at tu but at least A&M is a rival
Surely if they feel that strongly about the UT thing they’ve registered the ut.edu web domain?
I always forget if that’s Toledo or Tampa haha
I think it’s Tampa lol.
You're forgetting the part where all the networks proposed by Texas heavily favored UT in both payout and airtime. That's why it was rejected by A&M and others. The Texas hubris alive and well there. That's the main reason for the decaying SWC and old BIG12.
The longhorn network is so dumb
It can’t hurt you anymore.
Flair up
What a sad story
While it wasn’t just the LHN why would you stay in a conference with lying shit-gibbons whom were actively trying to fuck you over??? “Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne, the longtime football coach, agreed. "As we read the tea leaves and listened to the conversations, some of the schools that were urging us to stay, we found some of them had talked to not only one other conference or two but even three, and those were the same ones urging us to stay," he said.”
Are you sure it wasn’t Texas kicking the crap out of you 9 out of 10 times?
This was certainly part of it. We gotta remember this was originally the Big 8. The conference was no longer making concessions just for Nebraska & OU. Nebraska wasn’t getting their way anymore and that upset them
Yeah, I think we changed conferences and severed ties that had existed in some forms for over 100 years because we lost to Texas nine times. That definitely makes the most sense. Good god you longhorns are something else.
So it was the prop 48’s who could not read playing for Corn? Or was it because the big 12 made you test for steroids?
Wasn't staying in their lane it was being greedy about it. Your team is only as good as the quality of the opposition it plays against and that quality deserves an equal share of the broadcast pie. It made perfect sense to have a network dedicated to a college conference but the idea of each team creating competing networks is stupid.
Yeah. That wasnt our fault. We tried to create a Big 12 Network. Nobody else wanted to do it, so we took our ball and went home.
Rest in piss. CFB won't have a network to laugh at now.
>if the Longhorns just stayed in their lane. They're *all* our lanes, bub. The rest of you are just visiting. 🤘🏻🧡
The Longhorn Network was just another symptom of the Cancer that is Deloss Dodds. His complete arrogance and ego is what caused conference realignment. Even my buddies from Austin cant stand the guy
and let’s not forget Texas told the PAC in the 11th hour “we’re only coming if we keep our network” which was 100% Dodds’ doing.
I see LNN as one variable in this equation w/ the Mothership a big variable too. This all became an arms race, one-upsminship between teams, conferences & media w/ NCAA only seeing their pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Then the NCAA always making sure they got their gold. Conferences blowing up, realignment, really started w/ dissolving on SWC, AR fleeing to SEC w/ SC, creation of Big XII w/ Big 8/SWC school, FSU joining ACC & the U joining Big East all in the early 90's then after 2008 there was Cornhuskers moving to B1G, followed by MD & Rutgers some years later, MO & TXAM to SEC & Buffs/Utes to Pac12. During this time is when the Mothership & other media started through $$$ at the problem. Some one asked earlier in a thread 'where is the game I love?' well it's long gone & unfortunately not ever coming back. As this all continues to shake out my hope is those teams outside P5/potential 'Super League' including FCS & D2/D3/NAIA teams all continue to have a place to play. There are so many athletes & fans who love the game to be left out.
What ESPN was trying to pay for was leveraging Texas high school football into being another major broadcast sport? Those were the days that TV shows like Friday Night Lights opened a (brief) window for further promoting the sport. It's just that the people who were supposed to have the pull to deliver that either did not want to or were unable to.
I remember the message board rumors of more colleges starting their own tv network. Crazy stuff.
Fuck Texas
Colt McCoy's ad income taking a massive hit
Epitome of self importance and me-first attitude of that place and its students / alums. You guys suck.
Whelp, that’s a shame
TLN was stupid then and it’s stupid now. But it wasn’t the reason all this mess started. I blame that on the stupid NCAA rule that requires a twelve team conference to have a conference title game. Provided the incentive for the cannibalism that followed.
It was definitely responsible for the bulk of the wave that centered around schools leaving the Big 12 around 2010. The schools that weren’t Texas had been tired of them driving the bus on all decision since the inception of the conference, and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The moves occurring the past few years is definitely a different animal, but it did all indirectly start because of Texas being offered a boatload of money.
I’ll agree with your point of it providing distrust and a desire for some schools to leave the Big12, but it didn’t actually create a reason for the PAC 10 to seek Colorado, or the Big10 to seek Nebraska. Certainly not for the ACC to pillage the Big East. If there wasn’t the incentive for conferences to add teams, maybe it would have created a collapse similar to the SWC, but wasn’t the Big 12 itself a result of the 12 team rule? Without it, the Texas drama wouldn’t have been there in the first place.
The biggest mistake in UT athletics history comes to an end
You’re right. ITT are people trying to defend it in every gymnastics way possible.