Every time I say I’m done with the college football realignment talk, those magnificent bastards down in Texas find a way to pull me back in.
While Texas A&M proceeds towards the Southeastern Conference with the precision and pacing of a Grateful Dead show, its rivals continue circling the wagons to mount a political challenge to the Aggies’ intentions. After A&M president R. Bowen Loftin went out of his way Monday to accentuate the positives of sailing on to the SEC, the latest salvo in the public perception battle came Tuesday in the form of that most hallowed of lobbying/PR ploys, the economic impact analysis.
It’s about as disturbing as the United States’ credit report, so I’ll give you the upshot if you can’t get through it on your own: Texas A&M leaving the Big 12 is likely” to result in annual economic losses between $217 million and $590 million for the state of Texas, as well as somewhere between 3,000 and 8,500 jobs. The state government would be out between $28 million and $55 million in tax revenues every year, while local governments would lose between $13 million in and $23 million.
Cue Helen Lovejoy:
So, aside from just being butthurt babies, it appears as though the Aggies are willing to screw thousands of people out of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars all because of the Longhorn Network. Nice work, guys.
Now, I was born in Texas. I have friends and family who live there. Naturally, my first thoughts when I read the report were about them and their well-being. So, I decided to check out the facts and figures underlying the study to get a better idea of what we’re dealing with – no sense in scaring the bejeezus out of them over a little misunderstanding. I mean, is it possible the authors could have made a mistake with their numbers? That letterhead looked pretty important, but still…
So, would it surprise you to learn that The Perryman Group, which conducted the study, failed to provide any supporting material to back up its conclusions? Or that it is headquartered in Waco, Texas? Or that its founder is an alumnus of Baylor University?
Yes, that would be the same Baylor that would almost certainly be left on the outside looking in if the conference realigning started flying around the country.
