They’re havin’ a little get together.
The NCAA is preparing to address the storm that has arisen over Texas’ new 24-hour sports network, summoning school officials — and others with similar ventures and plans — to Indianapolis next month.
In a letter Monday to Texas athletics director DeLoss Dodds, NCAA vice president Kevin Lennon asked the school to participate in an Aug. 22 “educational summit” on school and conference network telecasts of youth sports.
Mack Brown doesn’t understand what all the fuss over the Longhorn Network is about. It’s for the common good, people.
… Entering his 14th season as the Longhorns’ coach, he dismissed the recruiting-advantage concerns. “Those games would be games that might be on ESPN anyway,” he said. “… We’re going to sign 20-25 players a year, more 20 than 25, and those players will probably be committed to us before June in their junior year. So I don’t think that part will have any effect on recruiting at all.”
Furthermore:
“The Big 12 is full of Texas high school football players,” he said. “So if you think about it, there would be a lot more prospects from the other teams in the Big 12 on the network than the ones from Texas.”
His boss is scratching his head, too.
… The move almost assures that The Longhorn Network will launch Aug. 26 without broadcasting high school games at least at the beginning of the season. The issue has become the latest hot-button offseason item in college sports because of Texas A&M’s concern over Texas gaining a recruiting advantage.
“I’m stunned [at some of this],” said Texas AD DeLoss Dodds. “We’ve been saying the same thing from the beginning of this. We are not and will never do anything [to violate rules]. I’m a little surprised people would be concerned about us doing something.”
He’s stunned and the NCAA is its usual on-the-ball self.
… The issues are significant and confusing enough that the NCAA seemingly hasn’t been able to rule on the legality of Texas broadcasting high school games.
Anybody think this is going to end well?
… Dodds also told CBSSports.com that Notre Dame may be interested in starting its own network after speaking to ND AD Jack Swarbrick.
Nah, me neither.
Get The Picture 
Notre Dame with their own network? I thought enough people were seeing them getting beat by Navy on NBC.
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Hey-yo!
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Wow, Obama, is that you? A lot of wealth envy in that post. My guess is that the NCAA doesn’t have existing rules to apply to the situation. Lot of jealousy and envy going on from all the whiners. Is it an advantage? Sure. Go start your own network. I would love if Georgia started a network and made the Bamas, Auburns, Tennessees whine about the unfair advantage that UGA has over recruiting our own state. Texas’ success enabled them to wield enough clout to get the Big 12 to allow the Longhorns to have their own network. Good for them. of course the NCAA will try to stop it because they are all about redistribution. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if the NCAA try to act to punish the SEC if we continue to claim consecutive BCSNCs.
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Wealth envy? WTF?
The post was about NCAA cluelessness and Texas dissembling. As far as the school making money off the LN, more power to ’em.
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“the NCAA will try to stop it because they are all about redistribution.”
the NCAA, a communist front organization for redistribution of wealth to capitalists, unites college-age workers of the world to not get paid
http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/the_sweep/posts/3821
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Notre Dame is a completely different animal. As long as they are independent they can and should be able to do what they want. Texas is trying to do this crap while a member of a conference. Their network is bolstered and partially funded by ESPN who is supposed to be an impartial broadcast entity…which seems to be completely at odds with the other 9 schools in that conference.
If Texas was independent and was doing this on their own or with another network that has no broadcast rights to Big 12 football, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. But as it is, it is pure BS and I can hardly blame A&M and OU or any of the others for being pissed. Every day that goes by demonstrates that Nebraska was absolutely right in leaving this mess.
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Texas may not be a member of a conference much longer as the Big12-2 may completely disintegrate.
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The NCAA is in a difficult situation on this one. They absolutely have no control over the broadcast rights of the schools. What they do have the right and duty to do is rule if Texas is using their Network to recruit players. This could cause a huge crap storm if the NCAA declared any Texas recruit that had appeared on the Texas network would be ineligible to play for the Longhorns. That’s not going to happen. Next the NCAA is not going to piss off the WWL, too much to lose. The big bomb in this situation is the increased possibility that the NCAA will lose it’s 64 biggest money makers to a new league funded by the WWL’s massive pocket book.
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You make an excellent point 69. If the Big-12-2 does come apart and all the teams light someplace in other major conferences except for Texas, can/will Texas get left out of the mix if realignment occurs and a 64 team new organization appears made up of 4 mega-conferences? Nobody is bigger than the game itself. Texas may be in for a rude awakening. When the music stops there may be no chair for Texas and no opponents willing to play the Longhorns as an OOC team.
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If the same contract reasoning occurs with ND, does this mean that they can add all the Catholic HSs in the nation to their network? Would that constitute an unfair advantage in recruiting?
Methinks it would.
Does Texas have a point? Of Course. Johnny Mack is correct that the players in Texas are already recruited including going two years out (almost). Most kids in Txass strive to be big and horny as their rite of passage in that state. But the precedent set may be worse than the Texas event. Imagine how it could all end up.
Don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m beginning to be a little jumpy about the 2012 armageddon. If it happens in college and hs ball, what else is left in this world?
What’s next? An attempt to undo all the environmental laws and legislation and permit people to cut down all our National Forests and Preserves? Nah! No one is crazy enough to try to do that.
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