By Tim Taliaferro in 40 Acres, Special, Sports on |

Texas A&M could have partnered with the University of Texas at Austin in what ultimately became the Longhorn Network, Texas athletics director DeLoss Dodds confirmed today.

Back when the idea for a network was first conceived four years ago, Dodds approached his counterpart at Texas A&M, Bill Byrne, about teaming up on it.

Byrne wasn’t interested.

Then, once momentum started to grow around the UT network, the Aggies wanted in. By then it was too late, Dodds said.

“I said we were too far down the road,” Dodds told the Associated Press. “We had figured out how to do it by ourselves.”

What ultimately developed into a $300 million deal between ESPN and Texas has become a point of contention between the Aggies and Texas.

This week Texas A&M announced it was leaving the Big 12, in part because they think the Longhorn Network offers an unfair recruiting advantage to Texas.

Turns out, it could have been an advantage the Aggies and the Longhorns would have shared.

File photo courtesy UT Athletics.