From the Sooner board, looks like this could be the first step in ESPN pulling the plug on LHN completely

quote:

---

denloe11
@texas_d11
@MBHORNSFAN @AutulloAAS ESPN will settle for $125 million and Texas says Sayonara little 12

Mike @MBHORNSFAN 14m14 minutes ago
Mike Retweeted Ryan Autullo
The beginning of the end which quickens Texas exit from the Big 12.

User Actions
Follow

Sean Stewart
@thatseanmichael
Are we looking at the end of Texas in the Big 12 after today's news?

Mike @MBHORNSFAN 10m10 minutes ago
Mike Retweeted Sean Stewart
yes

---

It is, but that means this could go 2 ways

1) No LHN means L10 can have a network and then expands with G5 scrub teams thus further trapping sip in a ****hole they cant escape

or

2) With no more leash on them, sip and sooner flee the sinking ship and the L10 collapses. Overall that's fine but its a (small) risk that they swallow their pride and try to come to the SEC

I wonder if the cost/benefit of keeping the bdf from imploding by offering the sips the lhn deal has worked in ESPN's favor? The bdf has fallen to Fox anyway, and their "premier" matchup has slithered all the way down to FS1. Just seems like an incredible blunder to me.

It probably did at the time in 2010 when ESPN was facing the possibility of almost all major college sports content west of the Mississippi going to a rival network in Fox

but as they say, the times they are a changing

Has the oracle of Austin opined?

Randy will probably say that this makes it easier to join the SEC...or the B1G....or the ACC...or the PAC 12.

So they have that going for them.

Roll Tide

From afar, it looks like ESPN is trying to figure out how to get out of the Big 12 TV deal as well... that could provide the money to transfer to another conference with sip's arrival. Going to be interesting. Perfect time to leave with the disorganization in Waco.

Does anyone really think that T Boone is going to let OSU get left by OU?

Does anyone really think the SEC will let in OU or tu?

They are bound for the PAC 12 (soon to be PAC 16). The Texas legislature won't let both of us leave tceh behind so the sips will have to carry them where ever they go. Poor Baylol.

quote:

---

It's my understanding Disney is going through some real soul searching right now. Stock prices are generally up, so if you wished to refocus your corporation this is a great time to do so.

I'm guessing as they move through this effort, they're taking some "low hanging fruit" cost savings that they know will not impact their future plans for their properties. This is probably something like that - a bit of a harbinger of what's to come.

---

The very small time frame on the B1G deal that ESPN just announced, means most of their contracts for MLB, NHL, NBA, etc. will be coming up for renegotiation within that time frame.

Cut the fat and deadwood in the meantime, hunker down and ride it out until then.

My money is on a 5 year look-in clause that enables ESPN to reassess the LHN as structured. Since parts of the contract were redacted, it is impossible to know if this move is contractually based on such a clause, of course. But, I wouldn't be surprised if the actual pay-out to tu and IMG is lowered too. Less content=lower payments.

quote:

---

If ESiPN pays them $125 mil to not have a network that's a huge win for the sips.

---

If they do settle for that much, it'll be over the rest of the life of the LHN contract (14 years left now?). It won't be a lump sum settlement. IMG will still likely get a cut of that money along with academics getting a share.

You're looking at ESPN maybe paying the sip athletics department around $5 million a year and ESPN probably keeping one or two sip home football games as part of the deal.

UT isn't holding all of the cards here. ESPN could decide to can the whole thing and blackout these same events while paying UT the minimum for the next 14 years which would be detrimental to nearly every sport. You would essentially have Longhorn sports radio silence for over a decade except for 10 football games a year, a handful of basketball games and even smaller handful of baseball games.

That isn't worth the 30-40% cut UT athletics gets after IMG and the academic side get their cut of the "15 million/year"

quote:

---

quote:

---

If ESiPN pays them $125 mil to not have a network that's a huge win for the sips.

---

If they do settle for that much, it'll be over the rest of the life of the LHN contract (14 years left now?). It won't be a lump sum settlement. IMG will still likely get a cut of that money along with academics getting a share.

You're looking at ESPN maybe paying the sip athletics department around $5 million a year and ESPN probably keeping one or two sip home football games as part of the deal.

UT isn't holding all of the cards here. ESPN could decide to can the whole thing and blackout these same events while paying UT the minimum for the next 14 years which would be detrimental to nearly every sport. You would essentially have Longhorn sports radio silence for over a decade except for 10 football games a year, a handful of basketball games and even smaller handful of baseball games.

That isn't worth the 30-40% cut UT athletics gets after IMG and the academic side get their cut of the "15 million/year"

---

It's still a win if they get that and then move conferences. ESPN made a stupid deal and its going to cost them. The LHN is a joke but it still puts the sips ahead of the other Bevo 9.5 teams.

And any settlement means they give up the rights to the games. If they don't settle then the sips continue to get the contracted amount.

quote:

---

---

I miss Bill King on XM. So much better than the dip****s who replaced him.

quote:

---

quote:

---

From afar, it looks like ESPN is trying to figure out how to get out of the Big 12 TV deal as well... that could provide the money to transfer to another conference with sip's arrival. Going to be interesting. Perfect time to leave with the disorganization in Waco.

---

Baylor's implosion has given the sips the cover they need. No Baylor grad with political clout will be able to argue why any other P5 conference would want Baylor as "go-with" travel partner with the sips.

Baylor had a small window to prove their worth outside of Waco. Now, they are toxic, even more toxic than before. Unbelievable.

---

I bet our AG gives it a go though.

quote:

---

Does anyone really think that T Boone is going to let OSU get left by OU?

Does anyone really think the SEC will let in OU or tu?

They are bound for the PAC 12 (soon to be PAC 16). The Texas legislature won't let both of us leave tceh behind so the sips will have to carry them where ever they go. Poor Baylol.

---

Up to the Oklahoma Governor, Fallin, to determine whether it is better for the state if OU leaves for the PAC alone. If she makes the assessment that it is, OSU gets left behind, too bad so sad.

All politics is based on money. I bet he has enough clout to stop that.

And the PAC will take OU and OSU with tu and tech to get to 16. The SEC isn't going to take OU and OSU. That was my point.

2006EE,

The problem with the PAC-12 is that the PAC - 12 already said no to Tech and OSU strictly on academics.
It could very well be Texas and OU only. The PAC-12 would love to have a central time zone presence and the Texas TV markets.

What if the PAC -12 takes Kansas, Iowa State, Texas and OU?

The rest of the conference is screwed.

Roll Tide.

quote:

---

quote:

---

It's my understanding Disney is going through some real soul searching right now. Stock prices are generally up, so if you wished to refocus your corporation this is a great time to do so.

I'm guessing as they move through this effort, they're taking some "low hanging fruit" cost savings that they know will not impact their future plans for their properties. This is probably something like that - a bit of a harbinger of what's to come.

---

The very small time frame on the B1G deal that ESPN just announced, means most of their contracts for MLB, NHL, NBA, etc. will be coming up for renegotiation within that time frame.

Cut the fat and deadwood in the meantime, hunker down and ride it out until then.

My money is on a 5 year look-in clause that enables ESPN to reassess the LHN as structured. Since parts of the contract were redacted, it is impossible to know if this move is contractually based on such a clause, of course. But, I wouldn't be surprised if the actual pay-out to tu and IMG is lowered too. Less content=lower payments.

---

I'll go one further and say there's likely a clause that is part of the look-in that if losses exceed a certain number, they can cancel everything and the contract just ends. It was probably such a large loss number that no one thought it was possible that it would happen.
Given that, I don't think they've hit that number yet, because instead of announcing cutting costs, we'd be hearing how the LHN has gone the way of the Edsel.

If sip were winning they'd have a better product to negotiate with. But they dont, and they probably won't this year when they're hoping to break even in W/L and win a ****ty bowl game.

We've got problems but thank God we're not texas.

quote:

---

I'll go one further and say there's likely a clause that is part of the look-in that if losses exceed a certain number, they can cancel everything and the contract just ends. It was probably such a large loss number that no one thought it was possible that it would happen.
Given that, I don't think they've hit that number yet, because instead of announcing cutting costs, we'd be hearing how the LHN has gone the way of the Edsel.

---

Could be. But such a termination would likely have a notice provision and opportunity to cure. That period could be as short as 30 days, but probably is more likely the end of the year, after football season. Hope the designated teams scheduled to be on the LHN got their money up-front. Else the amount paid to them will go down.

Maybe. I think A&M got out at the right time and tu is tied to Tceh now. As OU is to OSU. Sure there are ways around it but not sure it happens.

If there's that big a gap between B1G and Pac12, what will it be between B1G and BDF...

When does the SEC revisit their contracts?

What do we call that? Hippie accounting? Psychotic accounting?

Bad eyes and I keep getting a malware alert when I try to read the shag, for some reason*. Could you cut and paste Randy's quote, please and thank you?

*Some threats of doing that to lurkers were made by the owner of that site before. Targeting IP addresses. Maybe I made the "hit parade"? Weird.

quote:

---

---

quote:

---

From the Sooner board, looks like this could be the first step in ESPN pulling the plug on LHN completely

quote:

---

denloe11
@texas_d11
@MBHORNSFAN @AutulloAAS ESPN will settle for $125 million and Texas says Sayonara little 12

Mike @MBHORNSFAN 14m14 minutes ago
Mike Retweeted Ryan Autullo
The beginning of the end which quickens Texas exit from the Big 12.

User Actions
Follow

Sean Stewart
@thatseanmichael
Are we looking at the end of Texas in the Big 12 after today's news?

Mike @MBHORNSFAN 10m10 minutes ago
Mike Retweeted Sean Stewart
yes

---

---

That MBsip fan is a stupid MF. $125MM? What kind of leverage would sip have in contract termination? Not much at all.

Also, so say tu gets out of the b12. Where are they going? They're not getting in the SEC. The PAC and ACC have already told them no before. The big ten is a horrible geographic fit. Are they going to take KU and OU with them to the big ten? Good luck with that. Any scenario involving them joining another conference, by themselves or with any group of other schools seems extremely far fetched. Any P5 conference is going to take them at no more than equal distribution, something they've felt they were above for their entire existence.