<p>“UT announced two newly created endowed academic chair positions funded in large part by $2.5 million of revenue from the Longhorn Network last week. Effective Sept. 1, the Simons Chair in Mathematics and Electrical and Computer Engineering and Philosophy Chair positions are held by engineer and mathematician Francois Baccelli and philosopher and literary critic Galen Strawson, respectively.”</p>
<p>The article goes on to say that revenues from the network have now made SEVEN new chairs possible. Nice to see something positive like this happening.</p>
<p>Good for the University of Texas, not so good for the rest of its football conference. The Big Ten pools all sports-related television revenue, including all revenue from the Big Ten Network as well as from its ABC-ESPN contracts and from bowl games, and distributes equal shares to all conference members, regardless of their TV ratings and whether or not they played in a bowl game. Schools like Northwestern and Indiana that generally don’t have much of a football following draw equal shares with ratings powerhouses like Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State. I believe the Pac-12 is doing the same with its new television network. </p>
<p>Texas didn’t want to share with the other Big 12 schools so it set up its own Longhorn Network so it could gobble up all the revenue from the huge Texas market. As I said, good for the University of Texas, not so good for other Big 12 schools.</p>
<p>Could we compare the tone of the attacks hurled in the direction of Austin between the summer of 2011 and … now that the BigXII has not only been saved but just signed a mega TV deal for the next 13 years. The agreement with ESPN and Fox Sports on a 13-year contract reportedly worth $2.6 billion to televise football and men’s basketball through 2024-25. The agreement also means that the schools are committed to … stay!</p>
<p>And, how much money does a school need to be happy with its revenue share? Does it really have to be well over 20 million dollars per school? </p>
<p>The Big 12’s $20 million per school average is slightly behind the Pac-12’s $21 million per school media rights deal and on par with the Big Ten’s per school average. The Big 12’s deal also will rank ahead of the SEC’s and ACC’s per school averages.</p>
<p>Here is a reality that is hard to escape. UT could have let the sirens travel to Austin and negotiate about any deal they wanted. Compare the Longhorns attitude to the carpetbaggers from College Station who are now the inbred cousins from Texas in the SEC, and have the pleasure of listening to the dueling banjo serenades with their new brothers. Add Nebraska, Missouri, and Colorado to the ship jumpers! </p>
<p>Blame Texas all you want for maximizing their revenues like any smart leaders would have done, but then you also need to recognize that without UT’s fidelity and commitment, there might have been a larger PAC-12, or heavens forbid, an even more silly Big20 or Big30, and not much left of the Big XII. </p>
<p>I’m all for athletic powerhouses taking their sports revenues and putting it towards academics. I wish some of the basketball schools would do the same. Instead, they pour money into supporting athletes who have no intention of earning a degree. </p>
<p>UT grads, not unlike Aggies, are a loyal group, and I am proud to say my twin brothers got an excellent education there, thanks to their generous National Merit Scholarship. Back in their day, it was instate tuition, but I’ve known many graduates of my son’s high school who took advantage of the similar scholarship that my son now has at Bama, another athletic powerhouse who puts their sports revenues into academics.</p>
<p>My brother still has season tickets, and though he lives in Houston, he takes his five and seven year old sons to games. And I visited him last weekend, where he greeted me at the door decked out in his Longhorn polo, with the boys tuned in to the TV watching the game. </p>
<p>Lots of Texas kids go to Bama, and we were not surprised to see many houses in Houston hanging both Texas and Bama flags on Gameday.</p>