Texas President says Longhorn Network will wind down

Texas president Jay Hartzell appeared before a special senate hearing on Monday regarding the future of college sports in the state. He spoke on the future of Longhorn Network and what a move to the SEC would mean for the network.

Texas president Jay Hartzell on the Longhorn Network: "The expectation is that we'll wind it down, but we haven't talked specifically about what that will look like."

— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) August 2, 2021

The Longhorn Network launched back in 2011 to focus on all things Texas Athletics. With the impending move to the SEC, which has it’s own network with ESPN, SEC Network, having an independent ESPN affiliated network is no longer needed.

Currently, ESPN and Texas are locked into a 20-year $300-million deal that runs through the 2031 season, but renegotiation is to be expected once Texas joins the SEC.

There is a scenario that has been floated that ESPN and Texas could use the money owed to Texas from the Longhorn Network deal to pay for Texas and Oklahoma’s buyout from the Big 12 and join the SEC even earlier than 2025, but it is a scenario that requires a lot of moving pieces.

As it stands, the writing on the wall is Texas and Oklahoma are on track to join the SEC by 2025, preferably earlier. The SEC unanimously voted to add Texas and Oklahoma to the conference. The formal process of Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big XII began with the notification to the conference that they would not extend their grant of rights agreement, forcing them to pay a buyout should they depart earlier. However, as Pete Thamel of Yahoo and Ashton Pollard of On3 wrote earlier, there are forces at play that could force Texas and Oklahoma to stick in the Big 12.

“The SEC’s media deal with CBS extends through 2023,” wrote Pollard. “The deal is an awful agreement for the conference, as CBS pays just $55 million for the SEC’s top games and the SEC championship. Beginning in 2024, ESPN gets exclusive rights to the SEC’s content. The parties signed a 10-year, $300 million contract in December 2020.”

If Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC prior to 2023, CBS would have access to their home games and the Red River Rivalry, which the SEC would not be able to make any additional money from. SEC’s deal with CBS could lead to an earlier restructure of Texas’ deal with ESPN regarding the Longhorn Network if Texas and Oklahoma move earlier than 2023.