It's Not About The Longhorn Network - Well, Not Entirely

Rumors have greatly intensified about A&M heading off the SEC, leading to much speculation as to why it wants to go. Many sports analysts, rival fans, and bloggers are assuming A&M is generally peeved that Texas got its ESPN-backed, $300 million dollar Longhorn Network.


That's not exactly what the fuss is about.


I discussed this at the end of my previous post about the Longhorn Network contract but I'll repeat it again. This has all been played out in the media, but I'll try to patch it together in one spot.

The Longhorn Network Contract and What It Means for the Rest of the Big 12

Welcome! I registered this site for the purpose of blogging about Texas A&M football games once the season starts but since there seems to be so much chatter about the recently released contract for the Longhorn Network, I decided I'd use my training as an attorney to break it down both in terms of what it says and what it means for the member schools of the Big 12. A big thanks to @spadilly and the Texas A&M blog themidnightyell.blogspot.com for requesting and publishing the contract, which can be read in its entirety here

While there's already been some analysis by both spadilly at The Midnight Yell blog and by Kristi Dosh at businessofcollegesports.com, one comes from the perspective of a sports fan without necessary legal context while the other is legal analysis without the context of the current landscape of the Big 12 Conference. While both are helpful, I'm hoping to bridge those two discussions in this post and perhaps expound a little more upon the rest of the contract. This is all based on my reading of the LHN contract and what I know/have read about the Big 12 television contract - if any facts about that appear wrong, please let me know.

So here goes.