If you are one of those who thought it was already tough for schools like Missouri to compete with the Texas Longhorns for championship in the Big 12, this will really get you.
Texas and ESPN announced a 20-year, $300 million for a 24-hour television network that will broadcast Longhorns sports. This does not replace any existing television deals between the Big 12 and both ESPN-ABC and Fox, but it will create another revenue stream for the school that also includes marketing rights in this deal. 80% of the total revenue will go back to the University of Texas.
Back when news came out that Nebraska and Colorado would accept invites to the Big Ten and Pac 10, and stories started surfacing that the Big 12 would crumble with teams from the South Division leaving for the Pac 10 as well, one concession given to Texas was allowing the school to create their own television network.
I really don’t believe this gives that big of a recruiting advantage to Texas. The new TV deal allows for just one football game and up to eight basketball games. It is a nice little nugget to include when recruiting athletes, but look at Notre Dame and their TV deal with NBC? How has that turned out in terms of football wins by having their own TV deal?
Where it may have an advantage is in some of the other sports, where they will get more exposure, such as baseball or softball, but the additional revenue certainly allows Texas to re-investment that money into continually upgrading facilities to improve their student-athletes training and performance once a kid does commit to the school. From that standpoint, perhaps 3-5 years down the road, we could see the positive effects of this new TV deal on that athletic program.
