Texas Longhorns' outrageous $2,300,000 SEC expense turning heads

The Texas Longhorns threw a massive $2.3 million party to celebrate joining the Southeastern Conference (SEC) on June 30. The event, held on the Main Mall in front of the iconic UT Tower, featured live music, a parade and interactive games.

Highlighting the celebration was a performance by Grammy-winning artist Pitbull, for which the Longhorns paid $610,000. The party also included $35,000 spent on Times Square advertising.

Athletics Director Chris Del Conte had shared plans for this grand event back in February, with the university covering $889,000 of the costs. The remaining $1.07 million was provided by Learfield, the school's multimedia rights partner.

The celebration drew a crowd of 50,000 fans, though it saw three attendees hospitalized due to injuries during Pitbull's performance, as per Sportico.

“This is a day we have been building towards for years,” Del Conte said earlier [H/t SB Nation]. “We can’t wait to see the Burnt Orange-and-White come out for a jam-packed day of activities celebrating all of our traditions and create new memories as we join the SEC.”

Fans enjoyed music, games, photo ops with the mascot Bevo and autograph sessions with coaches. They did this all while donning their burnt orange to mark this historic day for the Texas Longhorns.

The University of Texas reported $232.3 million in athletics expenses in fiscal 2023, the highest in the SEC and second only to Ohio State in the Big Ten.

Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian discusses trends in players leaving home states

Coach Steve Sarkisian shared his thoughts on the upcoming season at the Texas High School Coaches Association Conference in San Antonio. He highlighted the shift towards national recruiting and the increasing trend of players leaving their home states for new opportunities.

"I think there's a lot of layers to it. I think social media, access to more players for more schools, historically back in the day, you had to go to the school to get to know the coach, to get to know the kid,” Texas Longhorns coach said. “It was much more difficult when they had to just call the house, the home phone, to try to get the kid." [Timestamp - 1:15]

Sarkisian told the media how modern technology has expanded the reach of schools.

“Now the reach that schools have to get the young men, whether it's through text messages, direct messages on social media, different things, ability to see their film,” Sarkisian added. “Film can get shared through Twitter or any other format like that, so I think the reach is a little bit better for the schools. I think seven-on-seven has played a part in that.”

He also talked about the impact of conference realignment and NIL deals.

“I think conference realignment, to some degree, has something to do with that,” Sarkisian said. “Players are moving around, and I think NIL has something to do with that.”

According to Sarkisian, the team is working hard to keep players in Texas, with the main goal of building the best football team for the Texas Longhorns.