The long-rumored agreement between ESPN and the University of Texas to create a network of sorts for the university has come to fruition. My goodness, this is some pricey fruit we’ve got on the scale here: ESPN will pay $300 million for a 20 year contract with Texas to “broadcast live UT athletic events, shoulder programming and non-sports university content.” ESPN is the best boyfriend, because man they are so not scared of commitment.
The Longhorn Network And ESPN Sign Texas-Sized Deal (Yeehaw!)
Texas already has overlapping football rights via the Big 12’s television contract, meaning ESPN will shell out something like $15 million a year for one, perhaps two Longhorn football games and make up the rest on basketball and the relatively paltry revenue from other sports. How will this work? That is a very good question, and fortunately for the Longhorns that is not Texas’ problem. They’re the ones who just get to roll in their estimated $137 million athletics budget for the year 2010-2011, which just got fatter at the margins for future years thanks to ESPN’s largesse.
In comparison, the total budget for Big 12 competition Iowa State came to $45 million for the 2008-2009 year. In the arms race of athletic spending in the Big 12, Texas is clearly the United States, and everyone else is just hoping they don’t invade.
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