The Longhorn Network Conundrum

The NCAA has been busy this offseason, following the money at a number of FBS member universities. A car here, a couple grand there — violations to be sure, all clearly spelled out in the organization’s bylaws. But a possible Pandora’s Box of $300 million that could dramatically restructure the entire football landscape is opened, and thus far nothing’s been done to address it. Fittingly, Texas A&M takes the first steps in addressing Texas’ new, ESPN-sponsored Longhorn Network when Aggie officials meet with network representatives this week (per SBNation.com). Details are unknown at this point, but needless to say A&M is seeing its rival build a bridge that may forever separate it from the rest of the Big 12. And that could mean figuratively, as indominable overlords of the conference, or literally in branching off as an independent.

Conferences work like state governments in some respects, with the NCAA playing the federal role. Among the inalienable rights of conferences is determining how to distribute contract monies. The Pac-12 opted for an equal split when it hashed out its nearly $3 billion deal this spring. However, in the Big 12, Texas is king. The Longhorns already take the greatest slice of Big 12 pie, their reward for not decimating the league last June. The nine-digit deal brokered with ESPN further solidifies UT as the conference’s Titan of Industry. The question is if it also makes UT a robber baron.

UT making more money than its Big 12 counterparts isn’t the issue, nor is having its own network. BYU will air games on its exclusive channel this autumn. A key difference between UT and BYU though is that Brigham Young University’s network existed previously with educational and religious programming, and that programming will continue to fill broadcast time. As a sports network, UT has to generate content. One solution is the broadcast of high school games. Since this is uncharted territory, the NCAA has nothing on the books about a university’s network having relationships with potential recruits — specifically, when a third party actually runs the network.

Ohio State blogger Tony Gerdeman astutely points out that since the Longhorn Network is officially an ESPN venture, there’s no direct relationship between UT and the high schools. Obviously any rule maker who would interpret it that way is being either absurdly naive, or flat-out dishonest. This is a gaping loophole that needs patching.

While ESPN does currently broadcast prep, and collegiate programs with more visibility on ESPN have a recruiting leg up, the network’s relationship is far more neutral. High school and club basketball sees shoe companies play an important role in college recruiting due to those companies’ roles in sponsoring teams and hosting camps. There’s a dangerous potential for TV networks to become the shoe companies of football should say, NBC counteract with its own prep coverage and turn it into a Notre Dame recruiting tool.