"Big 12 hits pause on Longhorn Network's HS plans"

Article from CBSSports.com

Review by Sky Powell in KIN 332 (Section 2)

The University of Texas recently launched the Longhorn Network, which provides 24-hour coverage of all sporting events the university is involved in. One of the plans the network has is to start televising high school games. After word started to spread about them doing so, the NCAA, the Big 12 and other universities became concerned with their intentions behind televising these games. One allegation is that the university may only broadcast the games of high profile recruits hoping to lure them towards committing to Texas.

For right now, the commissioner of the Big 12 has put a hold on the network televising high school games until they can make a decision about whether or not it will be beneficial for the entire conference or just the University of Texas. Issues other schools in the conference have is that this will be a major disadvantage for their recruiting programs because they will be over looked when it comes time for players to commit to colleges.

The Big 12 conference is not what it once was and there have been rumors of certain schools leaving the conference in search of rebuilding their teams. Schools such as Texas A&M and Oklahoma have reportedly considered departure and if the Longhorn Network’s intentions are in the wrong place, then they may be more intrigued to switch conferences which would be detrimental to the conference as a whole. The athletic director of the University of Texas states that they will cooperate with any rules stated by the NCAA and that they are acting with the best intentions for the conference. I believe that promoting high school sports at that level could be beneficial to everyone involved and has the potential to open up an entirely new segment of marketing and publicity for high school athletes.

As long as the University of Texas’ intentions are to help promote high school athletics as a whole and not solely to help bring in better recruits, this is an opportunity to create a new, successful division of sports. If the network is approved to broadcast the games, then I feel that more universities should attempt to do the same in different regions all over the country.

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Review by Matt Tucker in KIN 332 (Section 2)

BIG 12 commissioner Dan Beebe put a hold on the Texas Longhorn University’s new television network. The purpose of the network is to display all of the Longhorn’s athletics on all local Texas cable networks, however they are also looking to make deals with DirecTV for those Longhorn fans that have moved away. The problem however does not lay with airing Longhorn athletics, however there was a clause talking about videotaping local high school football games. Once the public found out about the media coverage for the high school teams there was a sour taste in competitors mouth. The advantage from a marketing standpoint, when it comes to recruiting top-level athletes, is the idea of being exposed on a national level. Not every school in the nation, not even the top programs would be able to compete in recruiting. Athletes in Texas would be greatly influenced because athletes are looking to transition into the NFL. Due to talks with the network, teams in the BIG 12 like Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Nebraska are all in discussions for leaving and joining a new league. Texas A&M is the only school so far to move out of the BIG 12 and join the SEC. If most teams decide to leave the BIG 12 Texas will have one of the biggest monopolies on marketing athletes. Sponsorships will come in the bucket loads to Texas asking to be apart of the national network giving the university money to put back into the football program creating a continuous cycle of improvement. I recently looked at the progress of the network and the Longhorn’s were approved for videotaping Texas Longhorn athletes but the jury is still not decided on whether or not to allow high school sports. The university has stated that they will do everything to comply with NCAA rules. In my opinion however I think it would be a big mistake from a marketing standpoint to let the Longhorns videotape high school athletes. The network would give Texas an advantage in recruiting, sponsorships, and revenue.