What's new
AllBuffs | Unofficial fan site for the University of Colorado at Boulder Athletics programs

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • Prime Time. Prime Time. Its a new era for Colorado football. Consider signing up for a club membership! For $20/year, you can get access to all the special features at Allbuffs, including club member only forums, dark mode, avatars and best of all no ads ! But seriously, please sign up so that we can pay the bills. No one earns money here, and we can use your $20 to keep this hellhole running. You can sign up for a club membership by navigating to your account in the upper right and clicking on "Account Upgrades". Make it happen!

Should Texas go independent?

NashBuff

CSU Knob-Slobberer
This latest round of rumors regarding conference affliation boils down to one thing and that is MONEY.

I sense that UT isn't happy with the money that they get from the current Big 12 TV contracts and there has been rumblings of a Longhorn TV network of late.

Does anyone doubt that UT could get a better TV contract from like NBC than Norte Dame? I can really see UT going independent and maintaining their rivalry games with OU & A&M plus getting back to playing Arkansas on a yearly basis. UT could start rivalry games with U$C and Michigan/Ohio State/Penn State out of the Big 11.

The only hangup to UT is conference affliation for the other sports they play in Austin but there has been talk of a southern Ivy League consisting of Rice, Vandy, Tulane, SMU, etc in the past and UT could easily be part of that equation.
 
This latest round of rumors regarding conference affliation boils down to one thing and that is MONEY.

I sense that UT isn't happy with the money that they get from the current Big 12 TV contracts and there has been rumblings of a Longhorn TV network of late.

Does anyone doubt that UT could get a better TV contract from like NBC than Norte Dame? I can really see UT going independent and maintaining their rivalry games with OU & A&M plus getting back to playing Arkansas on a yearly basis. UT could start rivalry games with U$C and Michigan/Ohio State/Penn State out of the Big 11.

The only hangup to UT is conference affliation for the other sports they play in Austin but there has been talk of a southern Ivy League consisting of Rice, Vandy, Tulane, SMU, etc in the past and UT could easily be part of that equation.

Well if UT were able to go at it alone as a independent with their very own TV contract. One thing is certain, they would probably have a more consistant winning percentage than Notre Dame does with with NBC. And if a quasi - Texas conference were to be formed they could consist of Rice, Vandy, Tulane, SMU, Baylor, aTM, TT, & UT. That could become known as the Big8 of Texas and UT could call all of the shots. I seriously doubt any of this could happen, but I can dream can't I ?
 
Texas will not become an independent. I'm calling my shot on this one. The ND TV contract isn't really all that good. Big 11 schools make far more money off of TV than Notre Dame does. That Big 10 blog outlined this very well. Basically it boils down to the fact that network television is on its way out to some extent. Cable networks make far more money because they can double dip and get money from subscribers through cable companies AND charge for advertising. The difference between ND and the lowest earning big 10 school from a TV standpoint is in the millions if not the tens of millions. The money here is in TV contracts and the more teams you have, the more leverage you have. Texas is big but not nearly big enough to garner better money than it gets now as an independent. Not gonna happen...
 
Nope TX being TX they want the best of both worlds. They want be part of a conference to...you know...have teams to play against, preferably "kinda" good teams. But they want to start their own network and keep all the revenue to themselves so they don't have to compete on an even playing field. Oh and almost all the tough games need to be home games in good weather...god forbid they go play in Iowa, Nebraska, or Colorado in November. Now they want a permanent home field advantage in the CCG. Sure Jerry's World is cool but I don't think that's enough for the North to concede perma-home field advantage to TX and OU. It wasn't until the we started having all the conference discussion stuff that I realized how much the Big 12 system is actually rigged to help them succeed. Are those things a huge deal...probably not, but they do start to get old when factored in with all the other stuff like the TV revenue split and the league management. I'm not sure they'd be able to game so many advantages for themselves as an independent.
 
Texas can go independent. They can go to the Big 11. They can stay right where they are and CU can go to the Pac. I don't care where they go so long as they go away.
 
Since the BT has equal revenue sharing, there isn't a "lowest school". I believe all 11 schools made about $22 million last year. This compares to ND's NBC contract in the $10 million neighborhood. Would Texas command more than that? Yes, but the network TV obstacles you mentioned are legit. But they could create their own network, try to broadcast it far and wide, and give ND a run as a national team. I'm sure this would be appealing to some Longhorn fans.

They may struggle to schedule though. I doubt many of the Big XII North teams would care to play them non-conference. They'd likely be able to keep rivalries with many of their old SWC and Big XII South brethren. Then try to dot the country playing teams from the ACC, Big East, as well as a few Sun Belt patsies to build up the W column.


Texas will not become an independent. I'm calling my shot on this one. The ND TV contract isn't really all that good. Big 11 schools make far more money off of TV than Notre Dame does. That Big 10 blog outlined this very well. Basically it boils down to the fact that network television is on its way out to some extent. Cable networks make far more money because they can double dip and get money from subscribers through cable companies AND charge for advertising. The difference between ND and the lowest earning big 10 school from a TV standpoint is in the millions if not the tens of millions. The money here is in TV contracts and the more teams you have, the more leverage you have. Texas is big but not nearly big enough to garner better money than it gets now as an independent. Not gonna happen...
 
I don't think Texas will be able to command as much as they want in the Big 10. The Big 10 is a group that sees itself as weak as the smallest member. That conference truly is a sharing conference and it won't be broken up. They would just assume try to get Rutgers and a NY TV market before they give Texas more control than any one member.

The Big 10 doesn't have greedy schools, they have a carefully planned strength in numbers attitude that will make them succeed TOGETHER.

If Texas doesn't like this, they will not be part of the Big 10.

Can Texas demand a deal it has with the Big 12? I don't think so. I think they have to lose some of the greed to be in another conference. They may not want that!
 
I don't see how Texas can get anymore from a TV contract being independent than they do within the Big 12 revenue distribution which favors them in the first place.

Notre Dame has strong market penetration in NYC, Chicago, Philly, Boston, Washington DC, LA, and many midwestern cities due to their Catholic following. Who in those cities is going to watch the Longhorns?

They would only be able to capitalize on the Southwestern market, which they already do.

For Texas these re-alignment options are partially about better TV exposure/money, but mostly about gaining permanent access to an "elite" tier of academic peers (that is my opinion). Just joining the Pac-10, as it is now, is only a partial step towards that. The "elite" of the Pac-10 is certainly the company they want to keep, but the bottom of the Pac-10 is still comparable to the Big 12. Texas will be demanding certain changes in order to join, or they will remain where they are and further capitalize on their "brand" by using the Big 12's fractured decision making to their advantage (something I wish we could do as well).
 
This latest round of rumors regarding conference affliation boils down to one thing and that is MONEY.

I sense that UT isn't happy with the money that they get from the current Big 12 TV contracts...

.

Didn't Texas negotiate our current (crappy) contract?
 
Back
Top