The Longhorn Network that launched in 2011 is coming to a close. The 20-year, $300 million partnership with ESPN was revolutionary and it sent shockwaves across college athletics.
Dodds’ vision was to build something that would elevate Longhorns athletics beyond football and basketball. He wanted more exposure for volleyball, softball, baseball and other sports. Once it got rolling, LHN would broadcast nearly 200 live events annually from across all Longhorns sports — the first live competition was a volleyball match — school graduation ceremonies and even student fashion shows.
That meant a broad range of behind-the-scenes programming, including pre-game and post-game coverage. Some of it was too much: Former“Our rivals all got Longhorn Network and they watched us practice. They could text each other and say ‘so-and-so looked good,’'” Brown said. “You had to ask to turn cameras off.”
The NCAA quickly ruled that a school or league-affiliated network could not broadcast high school games. Texas A&M declined. It wasn’t until Fox offered $3 million a year, and ESPN countered with its even larger deal, that Dodds realized Texas really had something.There were initial struggles to secure deals with cable and satellite carriers to get LHN in front of viewers. Critics snickered Texas created a network simply to show reruns of Vince Young’s game-wining dash to victory over Southern California in the 2006 Rose Bowl.
LHN will be shuttered without the football team delivering on the initial hopes. Since a 13-1 finish in 2009, Texas has gone 91-72 with five losing seasons and hasn’t won the Big 12. In this final year of the network and the Longhorns’ final year in the Big 12, Texas will start the season ranked No. 11 and is the favorite to win the league.
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