"So ESPN will take a total freaking gamble on a one school network, something that is quite suspect from the get go, and it wouldn't on an entire league?"

Yes, Texas is the single most valuable property in college sports and ESPN owns it for another decade and a half. I suspect it was viewed as an opportunity to buy Boardwalk. Where they erred was the terms of the deal...IMG took ESPN to the cleaners. But relative to the posit, the ACC was a much more complex scenario. The two are not analogous. You haven't dispelled the notion that ESPN wouldn't have done an ACCN in 2009, or ahead of or concurrent with the SECN.

"A league that includes a ton of valuable properties, including FSU football and Duke and Carolina basketball. All three alone are of comparable value to anything Texas U provides."

You are shooting from the hip. #'s? Do you have any basis at all?

"And BTW, Texas has an out of the LHN at some point. Been discussed here."

Your cite is "been discussed here"? I've read the LHN agreement. Where is the "out"? If they have one, I'll eat crow.

"And furthermore, the LHN doesn't prevent them from joining another league necessarily. they could work something out and keep their network while competing in the B1G, Pac12, or ACC for that matter."

Red herring...has anyone ever said Texas "can't" join another conference? The discussions typically focus on the difficulties associated with the GoR and what the conditions would have to be for another conference to be a willing partner with UT; and it's desire to retain the LHN and the disparate income it provides.

"So if Texas does join the B1G, something I think it probably at this point..."

If it happens, you can finally take a bow.