The University of Texas’ move from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference brings monumental changes to Texas Athletics and college sports across the country. It’s also creating new opportunities for more UT students to get real-world broadcast experience.
For 13 years, the Longhorn Network — a partnership between UT and ESPN — covered Texas sports. Schools in the SEC, however, are required to produce sports broadcasts themselves for distribution by the SEC Network.
“It gives us a huge opportunity to see how schools in that league have been doing it for the last decade or so,” says Drew Martin, executive senior associate athletics director of external affairs. “The very first phone call we made was to the dean of the (Moody) College of Communication.”
It’s so satisfying to me to see a young person learn and grow in a role, knowing that they’re gaining skills by what we’re doing.
Under a new partnership with Moody College, 100 students each semester will be trained to film, produce and distribute game coverage on a sports network. Faculty members, some new hires, will teach courses for the students with the goal of creating a sports production and broadcast minor within Moody College. Students will be able to get real-world experience covering all the sports that the SEC Network carries.
“Moody College is known for tremendous experiential learning opportunities, and this is a big way to expand that imprint for all our UT students,” Moody College Dean Rachel Davis Mersey says. “We are energized by the partnership with Texas Athletics as it allows us to build world-class academic programming that meets students’ interests while growing their skills in creative and technical production and broadcasting.”
Texas Athletics and Moody College’s Texas Student Media had already partnered in 2019 to form Bevo Video Productions, which hires students to create video content for partners, including Texas Athletics, and original content for the Longhorn Network.
“We have a fantastic relationship with the staff at Moody College,” Martin says. “We were able to devise a plan where Athletics is building out a massive, high-tech, cutting-edge control production facility within DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium. They’re going to be able to utilize this major facility to help teach and actually real-time-produce games.”
While the Longhorn Network aired almost all Texas sporting events, the SEC Network, which is also a product of ESPN, selects which games it wants to carry from which schools.
“We’re going to have a little bit less control over which games go on what network and when,” Martin says. “But we’re going to have a much broader distribution across the country.”
Productions that don’t air on the network will go on the digital platform SEC Network+, Martin says.
“It’s so satisfying to me to see a young person learn and grow in a role, knowing that they’re gaining skills by what we’re doing,” Martin says. “It’s an opportunity to go out in the world and have this as a career path.”
A reimagined digital version of Longhorn Network will air coaches’ shows, series and other original content produced by Athletics staff, Moody College students and Learfield Studios. It is available free on phones, tablets, computers and streaming TV devices.
“It gives us a chance to refresh and rethink what fans want to see, what is really attracting the audience,” Martin says.
With Texas Athletics now in an even bigger national spotlight, Charles Branch, assistant athletics director for marketing, and his staff, who orchestrate the Bevo Blvd. pregame street party, the Longhorn City Limits game-day concerts and more, are working to further elevate those events as well as in-game elements, Martin says.
“We’re really looking forward to continuing to amplify what I consider to be the best pregame experience in college football, and really the best in-game experience in college, across all of our sports,” Martin says. “I think we’re seeing that right now with block parties between baseball games, softball games and tennis matches, bringing those traditional football elements out to the East Campus to our spring sports.”
The competition in the SEC is more elevated, and Texas will be welcoming new fan bases from South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky and Mississippi while renewing rivalries with Arkansas and Texas A&M, as well as new-to-the-SEC Oklahoma.
“I’m excited to see us put the burnt orange pride on full display for some of our new and renewed rivalries,” Martin says. “Ultimately, regardless of what league we’re in or who our opponent is, we’re after the best fan experience in the country.”
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