A single-university 24-hour cable network built in Austin under a 20-year, $300 million deal with ESPN. It aired nearly 200 live events a year, and AP reported that it forced new NCAA rules and helped set off a decade of conference realignment.
Austin · Closure: folded into the SEC Network when Texas joined the Southeastern Conference on July 1, 2024; Austin studio closed
The Longhorn Network grew out of an idea by DeLoss Dodds, the University of Texas athletic director, to put Longhorns sports beyond football and basketball on television. Dodds told the Associated Press he first imagined it as a joint project with Texas A&M, because he did not think Texas alone had enough programming for a 24-hour channel and expected the schools would have to pay for it themselves. A&M declined. Fox then offered $3 million a year, and ESPN countered with a much larger deal. In 2011 the network launched under a 20-year, $300 million partnership between the university and ESPN, operating from an Austin studio.
The first live event was a volleyball match. At its peak LHN carried nearly 200 live events a year across every Texas sport, from rowing and swimming to softball, along with graduation ceremonies and student fashion shows. Football got pre-game, post-game and behind-the-scenes coverage. Former coach Mack Brown later said rival coaches could watch his practices on the network. The deal also drew a quick response from the NCAA. After an ESPN executive mentioned the possibility of airing a top recruit's high school games, the NCAA ruled that school- and league-affiliated networks could not broadcast high school games.
AP reported that the network, together with a perception that Texas held too much sway in the Big 12, was a tipping point for other schools. Texas A&M announced its move to the SEC by the start of the 2011 season, and Missouri followed months later. Early on, LHN struggled to win carriage deals with cable and satellite providers before reaching more homes. ESPN's production vice president, Pat Lowry, said the goal was for its coverage to match anything on ESPN.
The network ended because Texas itself left the Big 12. When the Longhorns joined the Southeastern Conference on July 1, 2024, their games moved to the SEC Network and other ESPN platforms under the conference's media deal. An ESPN spokesperson told the Daily Texan that the wind-down included the end of the lease for the Austin office and studio. Lowry told AP he expected the network's legacy to be tied to the realignment it helped set off. Cord Cutters News, citing The Athletic, reported that the LHN name would live on as a free streaming channel of Texas sports.
| City | Where | Years | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austin | ESPN's Austin office and studio for LHN (lease ended with the network) | 2011-2024 | ↗︎ |
| After an ESPN executive floated airing a top recruit's high school games on LHN, the NCAA ruled that school- or league-affiliated networks could not broadcast high school games. | ↗︎ |
| AP reported that LHN, along with the perception of Texas's sway over the Big 12, was a tipping point in the departures of Texas A&M and Missouri for the SEC. | ↗︎ |
| Gave regular television coverage to Texas volleyball, softball, baseball, rowing, swimming and women's soccer, plus graduation ceremonies and student fashion shows. | ↗︎ |