For years, the Longhorn Network was treated like the villain in the Big 12’s breakup story. Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard sees it differently.
Speaking on The Smoak Show, Pollard argued that the channel - launched in 2011 as a 24/7 network devoted entirely to University of Texas athletics - did not tear the league apart. In his view, it helped keep the conference together at a critical moment and ultimately benefited the schools that stayed.
“Iowa State fans owe so much to DeLoss Dodds and the Longhorn Network, and they don't even realize it,” Pollard said. “Because the Longhorn Network, everyone thinks it was the demise of the Big 12, but the Longhorn Network actually kept the Big 12 together. Had ESPN not given Texas the Longhorn Network, Texas, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State were all leaving to go to the Pac-12.”
Pollard pointed back to the 2010 realignment push, when the Pac-10 was trying to build a super conference that would have become the Pac-16. Under that plan, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech would have joined USC, UCLA, and Oregon.
But the Longhorn Network changed the equation. Texas wanted the channel, the talks with Pac-10 leadership broke down, and the Longhorns stayed in the Big 12. Pollard said that decision had a ripple effect that helped the rest of the league.
“In the end, DeLoss blocked it because he got the deal with the Longhorn Network,” Pollard said. “And at that moment he decided we'll share revenues equally...Iowa State, Baylor, and Oklahoma State all got better from that moment on because suddenly we got money that we didn't have before, and DeLoss Dodds and the Longhorn Network deserve credit for that.”
Pollard also said the shift to shared revenue changed the competitive balance inside the league. Before that, he said, TV money depended on getting on television, and programs that were not winning enough could not keep up.
“You only got money from TV when you got on TV, and if you weren't good, you didn't get money. You couldn't catch up, and when we started sharing revenue, ironically that hurt Texas,” Pollard said.
“Texas, I don't think, won another championship in football or basketball after that. And all of a sudden Baylor got good, Oklahoma State, Iowa State got good, and our facilities, everything that we gained was because we got a bigger piece of the Big 12 revenue.”
The Longhorn Network is no longer in production after Texas’ move to the SEC, but Pollard’s comments cast the channel in a very different light than the one many Big 12 fans remember.
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