Veritas
9/5/2011, 11:13 AM
http://sports.omaha.com/2011/09/05/bevo-bailout-why-texas-and-espn-should-run-to-the-pac-16/
So why didn’t this [Pac 12 expansion] happen last year?
Because the Pac-PYN hadn’t negotiated its first-tier TV rights yet, and ESPN was in danger of losing the whole enchilada to Fox Sports. ESPN kept Texas from going to the Pac-PYN by promising this crazy deal for LHN. That’s all that kept the Big 12 together, folks. That and Texas A&M not being able to politically pull the trigger for a SEC move. Not Dan Beebe, not this mythical coalition of the willing, not the Kansas City media beating its chest against Nebraska, none of it. Just ESPN and A&M’s trepidation.
Texas isn’t that good. And Texas isn’t that important. The Longhorns aren’t the Yankees. Hell, if any Big 12 team is, it’s the Sooners. You know, the No. 1 team in college football.
So why didn’t this [Pac 12 expansion] happen last year?
Because the Pac-PYN hadn’t negotiated its first-tier TV rights yet, and ESPN was in danger of losing the whole enchilada to Fox Sports. ESPN kept Texas from going to the Pac-PYN by promising this crazy deal for LHN. That’s all that kept the Big 12 together, folks. That and Texas A&M not being able to politically pull the trigger for a SEC move. Not Dan Beebe, not this mythical coalition of the willing, not the Kansas City media beating its chest against Nebraska, none of it. Just ESPN and A&M’s trepidation.
Texas isn’t that good. And Texas isn’t that important. The Longhorns aren’t the Yankees. Hell, if any Big 12 team is, it’s the Sooners. You know, the No. 1 team in college football.