And here we go again.
The drama involving Texas and ESPN’s broadcast partnership, the Longhorn Network, still may not be over even with the possibility of Texas A&M moving on the SEC at some point down the road.
Kirk Bohls of the Austin American Statesman tweets today that ESPN VP Burke Magnus has stated that the LHN plans to air a second UT football game this season. The LHN is already slated to air UT’s opening game against Rice.
Who the opponent will be for that second game, though, is still undecided -- kind of like the LHN’s carrier (T-minus: eight days until launch) -- although there’s a very good chance it could be Kansas State, who might be able to double dip on their brand new digital network.
For the second game to happen, both schools and the Big 12 office would have to agree on the broadcast.
But a second game broadcast -- with a Big 12 opponent, no less -- pales in comparison to what the LHN is still trying to push. Bohls later tweets that the LHN hopes to show highlights of high school games.
Now, I don’t know exactly how far the LHN is trying to push the NCAA on this issue, but I was under the impression that “yeah, probably not gonna happen” means it’s probably not going to happen.
If you want to get technical about it, the NCAA’s Board of Regents “endorsed the NCAA staff’s interpretation of existing bylaws to prohibit youth programming on institutional and conference networks and broadcasts, which will provide time to evaluate the proper application of NCAA rules.”
The NCAA is slated to meet with representatives from broadcast networks early next week on Aug. 22.
Our guess? They’re going to bring this up. Texas is pushing this glass of milk all the way over to the edge of the counter.