It's a done deal, apparently.
The university has reached a 20-year, $300 million deal with ESPN to create a 24-hour network devoted to Longhorns athletics. You can have your Big Ten Network and, in the future, your Pac-12 network. Texas gets an entire channel all to itself. And it's run by the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader in Sports.
Unbelievable. Texas' athletic department already has the highest revenues in the NCAA (they're about double those of the UW, as an FYI). This new TV contract, at approximately $32 million per year, will more than double their current take. And it will put the revenue gap between themselves and the 2nd-highest grossing athletic department at about 15%. That's a significant difference. The Longhorns already have arguably the best facilities in the country, and they'll only get better. It'll be interesting to see if the Longhorns are now going to be able to buy the best coaching staff in the country.
ESPN is hastening the destruction of college sports. In a big way.
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