Whether the summer of 2010 becomes a memorable one for Nebraska athletics - or just three hot months without competition -remains a question only time can answer.
What seems to be growing in the interim is a fruitless enmity between Nebraska followers and that giant bulwark at the southern tip of the league - Texas.
Husker fans read that UT is pursuing its own
Longhorn Sports Network - as opposed to going all-in on a Big 12 Network - and paint Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds as a corporate villain who chooses to protect the interests of his own university over that of the league, some of whose members contribute, by comparison, quite little to the Big 12’s success.
It’s a Nebraskan impulse of charity, maybe. Or an ingrained distrust of UT, which shifted the locus of league control from Kansas City to Dallas, taking the Big 12’s football championship with it.
What those fans don’t see is Harvey Perlman’s perspective. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln chancellor insists, in his typically patient, measured tone, that Texas isn’t an enemy, but an ally - perhaps
the ally - of Nebraska in the Big 12.
“There’s an undue concern about Texas,” Perlman said in an interview Monday. “Our programs probably are the two programs in the Big 12 that are the most alike. Our interests are probably the most aligned in terms of moving forward.”
The other thing Nebraska fans perhaps don’t appreciate? That, next to Texas, NU could be the Big 12 program to best start its own sports network, too.
“We’ve looked at it,” Perlman said.
It’s
not exactly on the the athletic department’s front burner right now, and athletic director Tom Osborne declined comment. It’s an option at the far end of the table, at least several years away - but an option nonetheless.
Of course it is. Passionate in-state fan base. Equally passionate out-of-state fans. Pay-per-view buys of 40,000-50,000 for blowout Husker wins against also-ran foes. Alumni groups everywhere. Bars, thousands of miles from Lincoln, dedicated to all things Nebraska. Runza nights in Texas. Dorothy Lynch in Minnesota. A following at bowl games that shames most programs. Strong interest in volleyball and baseball, too.
“A pretty high percentage of television sets would turn on within the state of Nebraska and we have a sizable fan base around the country,” Perlman said. “One would have to look at that as a possibility. It’s not just about the money, either. It’s about bringing the sporting events to the fans. It has some recruiting advantages.”
Perlman is quick to add that it’s not a revelation, either.
“Realistically, it’s on everybody’s radar,” he said.
Most athletic departments of Nebraska’s size and financial strength -
Forbes ranked NU’s football program fourth among its most valuable teams - are exploring the same options.
Husker fans may perceive Texas as a gluttonous renegade, but NU has a name, following and reputation much closer to the Longhorns than, say, Kansas State. Texas also provides a road map, using the IMG College- which also handles NU’s marketing - to partner up with cable networks.
“That’s the way media markets are moving - with more niche channels,” Perlman said.
A program like Missouri wants a piece of the Big Ten and, if not that, the formation of a Big 12 Network. A Mizzou Channel wouldn’t see the light of day on most of those fabled 7 million TV sets in the Show-Me State. Heck, neither would the Big Ten Network, if it comes to pass. And Missouri’s to blame for it, failing to give its fans, for two decades, a quality football product to enjoy. The sleeping giant dozed too long.
NU, on the other hand, delivers nationwide. The Huskers are currently sixth in the Learfield Sports
Athletic Director's Cup race, tops in the Big 12. There’s a reason Nebraska mysteriously wins all those online voting contests. Husker fans care beyond reason. Certainly beyond the modest population within state borders.
The key to a network, in a word, is inventory. And perhaps whether football and men’s basketball could conceivably find its way onto the network.
“Having some football and some men’s basketball games would be very critical to its success,” Perlman said.
For football, it wouldn’t be easy. ABC, ESPN and Fox Sports Network gobble up the best games and could gobble up them all, especially if Nebraska vaults back into the national championship conversation on a yearly basis.
“You would probably never get the conference games or any of the bigger games,” Perlman said.
But lower-BCS and Division 1-AA foes? That’d be more likely.
Through 2012, games not chosen by ABC/ESPN/FSN become available as pay-per-view options through Fox Sports. The Huskers make a nice coin on those - north of $300,000, depending on the number of buys - but Fox retains most of the typical $29.95 fee.
When the Big 12 negotiates a new deal with Fox or some other network - which may, by then, be a joint partnership with the Pac-10 - could UT somehow set aside two or three non-conference games for its own sports network? And could a institution’s sports network co-exist with a Big 12 Network?
“Who sells what inventory?” Perlman asked rhetorically. “My preference would be whatever arrangement produced the best combination of penetration in the marketplace, revenue for schools and other opportunities.”
NU wouldn’t have to look far for broadcasting talent. HuskerVision is now in HD. IMG College has already put two years into the Longhorns Sports Network project.
Yes, clearly, there’s more pressing matters on the Husker agenda.
But if the summer passes quietly, NU fans shouldn’t forget to scroll their finger down to “new business.”
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