How Longhorn Network may have changed the face of the Pac-12

Ten years ago, Longhorn Network made its debut, quickly becoming a source of trolling for Big XII rivals. But, despite the well-documented struggles of the burnt orange-branded channel, it has had a huge impact on college sports as we know it today.

Let me take you back to 2010, which was seen as a year of armageddon for many college football fans.

If you looked at a college football map of then and now, you’d see that 46 of 128 FBS programs now play in a different conference than they did prior to 2010.

In June of that year, Nebraska announced it was leaving the Big XII to join the ranks of the Big Ten. Colorado had already dropped the bomb that they were scooting over to the Pac-10 (as it was called at the time). It seemed that what was rumored to happen next was inevitable.

A report came from then-Rivals Texas insider Chip Brown that Texas had been playing footsies with the Pac-10 as well and that a deal for the Longhorns to head westward was imminent.

This report sounded the panic alarm, and every remaining Big XII team either went on red alert or began looking for an out (sound familiar?).

After Brown’s report went viral, the rumor mill was flooded with misinformation and hot takes, but one thing was clear. The Big XII was in trouble, and, according to Brown, every one of their marquee brands — Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M — was about to join the powerful Pac-10 to create what would have been the first true superconference.

Think about that. All those huge Big XII programs combined with the likes of USC, UCLA, Oregon, Arizona, and the other Pac-10 powers.

Dan Beebe and Longhorn Network head them off at the pass.

The Big XII commissioner in 2010 was Dan Beebe and the coming conference apocalypse was about the land squarely on his shoulders. His response to not only the announcements by Colorado and Nebraska but the rumors flying around as a result of Chip Brown’s report was a crucial element in the changing landscape.

The closed-door meetings that followed June 11, 2010, somehow succeeded at keeping Texas in the Big XII dysfunctional family, and with them, every other program who would have followed the money trail.

The most common theory about those meetings revolves around Longhorn Network and forcing the Big XII to accept the Texas-branded addition to the cable lineups of America in order to keep the Big XII from going the way of the Southwest Conference and Big Eight.

Make no mistake, the Big XII programs outside of Austin didn’t want Longhorn Network. They bristled at the idea of one program having an upper hand when it came to television revenue, and in 2010, television revenue was just beginning to explode.

And if the almighty TV dollar wasn’t enough cause for concern, there was ESPN’s openly stated desire to broadcast up to 18 high school football games on the network. This was viewed not only as an unfair advantage to Texas in terms of recruiting but also a potential violation (which the NCAA eventually agreed with).

The dawn of Longhorn Network not only solidified Texas A&M’s decision to leave for the SEC instead of joining the group heading to the Pac-10, but it also kept Sooners, Cowboys, and Red Raiders from riding off into the Big XII sunset. The conference powers giving in and accepting Longhorn Network kept Texas home and (temporarily) averted a complete conference meltdown.

Longhorn Network and the Pac-12 were unknowingly tied together

If the approval of Longhorn Network was indeed the thing that kept Texas from a-wandering, it was also the stone in the shoe of then-Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott.

Scott was assembling the Avengers by raiding the ranks of the Big XII, but Longhorn Network snapped its gauntlet and dusted that dream in one fell swoop.

The Pac-10 was about to become the Pac-16, with one of the most formidable lineups that had ever been seen in a college conference to that point.

California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M.

This was truly about to become the “Conference of Champions”.

But Texas was the lynchpin. Without the Longhorns, none of it would work, and without Longhorn Network, it probably would have happened.

Instead, Scott’s superconference was relegated to the 10-team lineup accepting Colorado and waving in Utah from the Mountain West Conference.

Since then, the Buffaloes and Utes have gone a combined 116-114, and the Pac-12 has won zero national championships, with only two entrants into the College Football Playoff since its inception in 2014.

Longhorn Network operated with staggering losses in its first five years and still struggles for viewership. All-in-all, this entire fiasco seems to have been a no-win for all involved.

No one is certain if Texas was seriously considering the move, or if they were using Larry Scott and the Pac-10 as pawns in their little game to secure a launch of Longhorn Network. But to think about what might have been, and where the Pac-12 and Big XII might be today had the move happened is almost incomprehensible.

#Pac12AfterDark would definitely have had a lot more curb appeal for viewers.