The Texas A&M Board of Regents today will discuss the Longhorn Network in an executive session, and opponents' views of the Univ. of Texas' cable venture with ESPN "have quickly escalated from concern to apprehension to resentment." Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe yesterday announced a temporary compromise regarding the network. Telecasts of high school games on the Longhorn Network "are now on hold pending decisions by the NCAA and Big 12 about how to handle school and conference networks." The Big 12 also delayed "the possibility of a conference game on the Longhorn Network, announced earlier this month as part of a side deal with Fox" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 7/21).
However, Texas A&M and Oklahoma Univ. are "so concerned about rival Texas gaining a recruiting advantage" with the Longhorn Network, the two schools "could turn to the SEC if the problems can't be figured out." SEC Commissioner Mike Slive yesterday to open SEC Media Days said that he was "comfortable" with the current 12-team SEC, and that "it would take a 'paradigm shift' for the SEC to expand" (SPORTING NEWS TODAY, 7/21).
