re: You're welcome, SEC brethren

Clay Travis.

His supposition that without TAMU and the LHN the SECN wouldn't be profitable or exist is based on his opinion. The LHN was hardly the blueprint or only example of either a team network or a conference network.

TAMU certainly helped expand the launch footprint as did Mizzou but the idea of an SEC Network had been around for years and the conference watched several others succeed and fail while waiting for our own tv contracts to expire. However, Clay is either unaware or doesn't acknowledge several simple facts. The network is successful because of the product which would have been there with or without expansion and goes beyond football (women's basketball, men's basketball, softball, and baseball among others are critical to the network's success and all things viewers want to see as well as successful conference sports). That said, the notion that viewers and cable companies wouldn't pay or contract to see more SEC games given conference primacy in football is absurd, especially given that the South watches more college football than anyone (we even watch the B1G more than B1G country does because we love college football).

IOW, thanks for the extra footprint in terms of help guaranteeing a good launch but never rest any argument or brag because Clay Travis said so.