A 24/7 visual diet of burnt orange is coming soon to a TV screen near you.  
Last week, ESPN and the University of Texas at Austin (UT) announced an agreement to create a television network dedicated solely to Longhorns sports.  The contract is worth $300 million over 20 years, with 82.5% of that amount going to the university and the remainder to its marketing partner, IMG College.
The as yet unnamed network, scheduled to commence programming this fall, will show only one Longhorns football game and a maximum of eight men’s basketball games per year.  The remaining airtime will be taken up with so-called minor sports, studio guests, coaches interviews, Texas high school football games and up to three hours daily of other university activities such as musical performances, plays and documentaries by faculty members and students.
This won’t be the first network dedicated to college sports.  A number of conferences including the Big Ten have their own networks with revenues distributed among member teams.  Nor is this the first instance of a sports network being dedicated entirely to one college.  BYU has had its own sports network for almost a decade.  But the length of the ESPN-UT contract and the annual payments dwarf anything the good folks in Provo, Utah could have ever imagined.    
When the ESPN payment is added to the approximately $23 million UT is guaranteed from the Big 12 conference’s TV agreement with FOX, the university will realize a total of $35 million annually from television rights alone.  Not bad, considering Texas already had the most profitable collegiate athletics program on the planet.  According to documents on file with the Department of Education, the Longhorns’ football team alone netted almost $69 million in 2009.  Those numbers are guaranteed to make NFL teams envious.       
University officials were ecstatic over their good fortune.  UT president William Powers said in a statement, “With our partners, we are now able to increase the exposure of our outstanding athletics programs and our first-class academic and cultural communities.  This agreement provides significant new resources to enhance faculty and academic support.”  Powers also announced that at least $25 million of network revenue will go to the academic side of the university over the next five years.  
But make no mistake; this deal is first and foremost about athletics.  The additional revenue will permit Texas to pay higher salaries to coaches, provide more academic services for student-athletes, build bigger and better practice and game facilities, and spend more money on recruiting and athletic training.  Bottom line:  The additional revenue will give Texas even more of a competitive edge over not only its Big 12 conference rivals, but other top programs around the country.
The windfall couldn’t have come at a better time for UT.  The university receives 22% – approximately $580 million this year – of its operating budget from the state legislature and like most states, Texas is experiencing severe revenue shortages.  Higher education subsidies were reduced by 15% – almost $90 million to UT – in the past nine months and additional cuts are inevitable during the remainder of the budget year which ends on August 31.
Can the ESPN-UT model be duplicated elsewhere?  The prediction here is yes, but only in a limited number of instances.  With 50,000 students on campus, one of the largest alumni networks in the country, and the population of the State of Texas numbering 25 million strong and growing, the situation at UT is unusual, but not unique.  A prime candidate to duplicate the UT model is Notre Dame.  The Irish football program may be experiencing a down period, but the school’s national appeal is second to none.   
As an independent without conference affiliation in football (the Irish are a member of the Big East Conference in all remaining sports), Notre Dame has had its own TV deal with NBC for the past 20 years.  The folks in South Bend no doubt took note of the UT-ESPN announcement and began plotting the next move when their contract with NBC expires after the 2015 season.
For now, UT stands alone.  But rest assured, over the course of its 20-year deal with ESPN, additional college-specific sports networks will be created.  Where Texas fans see burnt orange, other schools see nothing but green.

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