re: SIAP - Texas A&M via the SEC is eclipsing Texas in Major Media Markets

It really has been beyond our wildest dreams.

I remember in 2010 before we left and in 2011 when we were leaving that every tu fan would condescendingly tell me that we "really didn't want to go to the SEC," and how, "going to the SEC is a bad idea for A&M." All that did was reassure me that we did exactly the right thing. tu has never had our interests at heart and A&M in the SEC with them still in the XII is their biggest nightmare come true.

It was also funny how all the Baylor fans told us that we were traitors, and how all the Tech and OU fans didn't say anything. The reactions of those three fan bases was very telling.

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I remember in 2010 before we left and in 2011 when we were leaving that every tu fan would condescendingly tell me that we "really didn't want to go to the SEC," and how, "going to the SEC is a bad idea for A&M." All that did was reassure me that we did exactly the right thing.

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Yup, same here. Any lingering doubts I might have had about how good of a move it was were erased when I saw the reactions from the big12 cabal.

HAVE ALL THE UPVOTES!!!!

I knew all along it was the right move even if we got caved in to start. But the constant biatchng and moaning and threats and snottiness towards us made me realize just how good a move it was.

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I remember in 2010 before we left and in 2011 when we were leaving that every tu fan would condescendingly tell me that we "really didn't want to go to the SEC," and how, "going to the SEC is a bad idea for A&M."

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My favorite line was the "in a few years y'all will beg to come back." Or just the concept that they would kill our program by not playing us.

Turns out even they are starting to get it:

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As the memory of Vince Young's run to the national championship in 2005 fades into the distant past, the battle for the hearts, minds, and wallets of football fans around the state is moving firmly and completely into the present landscape, with the potential to erase the major Texas gains from the decade-long run of dominance under former head coach Mack Brown.

What's at stake?

Fans are already speaking with their wallets by increasingly declining to purchase Texas season tickets in football. Every year since 2010, the number of those tickets sold has gone down, totaling 8,200 between 2010 and 2013 and decreasing further in the last two years.

There's also other revenue on the line -- Texas made $58.8 million in rights and licensing revenue in 2013, tops in the country for the eighth straight year. But Texas A&M was starting to close the gap, moving up from No. 19 in 2012 to No. 12 the following year. And from September 1, 2012 to August 31, 2012, the 12th Man Foundation raised $271.5 million, part of efforts that in total eclipsed Texas that year.

A sea change is happening and it's not just damaging to merchandising sales, it's also extremely damaging to the value of future conference television deals, not to mention damaging to the childhood ties that can sometimes determine the recruitments of top in-state football players.

In fact, the Aggies won head-to-head recruiting battles with 16 recruits from the 2013 to 2015 classes in East Texas and the greater Houston area, a number that doesn't include 2014 Texas A&M defensive tackle signee DeShawn Washington of Nederland.

Anecdotally at least, the shifting whims of football recruits in those areas are mirroring those of football fans in Houston and East Texas, the traditional Aggie stronghold. Is it starting to change in the Metroplex, too? Texas lost only one such battle in 2014, but three in 2015, still such a small number that it's difficult to make any generalized statements.

However, if the trends of football recruits in Houston start to look similar to those emerging fan trends in Dallas-Fort Worth, less pressure on key targets to become Longhorns could also result in more head-to-head losses to the Aggies.

On the field, recruiting at such a high level should tell for the Aggies on fall Saturdays as long as future attrition levels diminish in the 2014 and 2015 classes compared to the decimated 2013 group. Meanwhile, the lack of head-to-head battles between Texas and Texas A&M removes a key measurement stick for both programs, one that hurts the Horns more right now as momentum continues to shift away from Austin and towards College Station.

With the Longhorns falling behind the Aggies in the facilities arms race and losing numerous head-to-head battles in the 2014 and 2015 recruiting classes, it's clear that head coach Charlie Strong can't afford to struggle for long without the Longhorns ceding the Metroplex to A&M football fans in addition to Houston, with possibly significant recruiting ramifications as a result.

Giving Strong time to turn things around is both reasonable and necessary for the long-term health of the football program, but as the state turns increasingly maroon and white, the window diminishes to effectively arrest and reverse these widespread changes before Aggie football fans run the state.

Will winning games again be enough to forcibly shift the current trends in the battle against an Aggie program buoyed by the best brand in college football? The Longhorns football program had better hope so, and that those wins start coming soon, because there's a lot at stake, a lot of erosion already, and a diminished ability to make up ground.

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LINK

The bolded part is their real fear. Charlie is going to get cut short of making progress, as insecure boosters will force the ADs hand, and it will make this five year down period a lost decade.