re: Is Texas to blame for all this conference realignment crap?

Typical T-sip lying their arse off. Suffice it to say you’re wrong.

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Wrong. a&m was already in discussion about leaving the Big 12 before the LHN. Texas approached a&m and AD Bill Byrne about forming the Lone Star Network, with equal shares going to both Texas and a&m, and Byrne turned it down. He said that it would never work. After that, Texas began discussion with ESPN and the LHN was formed. a&m lied and blamed Texas and LHN for the reason why they left the Big 12, when the reality is they already had one foot out the door.

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Longhorn speaks the truth about the Lone Star Network, but let's fill in a few details he left out.

The "buy in" for A&M was to be $6M to $7M and the payout was to be between $2M and $3M per year. Oh, and the network offices and all production was to be in Austin.

They sure as hell didn't run back to A&M to talk network after ESPN basically offered them conference money to keep the Big 12 in existence.

But the reason A&M left angry was due to being directly deceived to by Texas about the LHN. An email thread between ESPN and the Texas athletic department was leaked to A&M about using LHN to highlight Texas targets essentially using the network as a recruiting tool. The LHN contract was leaked to A&M as well complete with terms on how UIL rights would become property of LHN allowing UIL events to be broadcast on the LHN.

For those that do not know, the UIL is governing body for high school sports in Texas and is operated via the University of Texas in the same way as A&M operates other state entities like the Texas Transportation Institute. There is no controversy over the UIL per se, but Texas and ESPN were trying to sneak it in as a "UT property" for the LHN. Quite frankly, it probably would have made the network more interesting and given it more viewership, but the additional recruiting advantage would have been ridiculous.

At any rate, upon confronting Texas over said plans, Texas flat out denied both the UIL being on the LHN as well as using it as a recruiting tool. Once A&M let them know they had all the leaked information, Texas and ESPN backed off any UIL plans, but the water was already under the bridge.

It was an interesting time. When the SEC first came calling in 2010 the fan base was split about 50-50 and A&M made the decision to not pursue the SEC. In 2011 after the events above, well, the rest is history. The fanbase was not only onboard, they were ready to go now.

SEC guys will learn about Texas in the years to come. The best way I can describe them is the rich kid that lives on the cul de sac with the large lot. They have their own tennis court and they invite you down to play with them. They hand you the $30 racket and they break out their $600 racket for themselves then crow to anyone that will listen that they spanked you. Hopefully the SEC can keep that in check.

I do have to admit though I always admired their business savviness when it came to sports. For basically my entire life they always seemed to make the right decision at the right time and enjoyed a ton of success. However, after A&M left, they seem to have gone down the path of making the exact wrong decision at just about every turn since that point.

Personally, I think Texas is a better fit culturally in the B1G vs the SEC. Texas fans are very fair weather meaning they are rowdy when they are good but completely disappear when things are bad. Academically, A&M, Texas and believe it or not, Rice all cooperate together on a myriad of research and other projects. That will be the case (and has been the case) with or without common athletic conference affiliation.

Apologies in advance for writing War and Peace. I didnt intend it to be so long.