 "Photo: Mary Kottlawski")
For more than a century, the Texas/Texas A&M rivalry has been fought for bragging rights of the Lone Star State. Now, it's finally official.
In a joint press conference in Austin on Tuesday, UT Men's Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds and A&M Director of Athletics Bill Byrne announced the creation of the Lone Star Showdown Rivalry Series. State Farm will endorse the series by making a major contribution to both school's athletic programs in order to finance and title the trial two-year program.
The Lone Star Showdown consists of a system of points awarded to each school depending on the outcome of athletic events where Texas and Texas A&M meet. The university that wins the head-to-head competition in football, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's swimming and diving, baseball and men's and women's tennis gets one point per sport. The winner of each match-up in men's and women's basketball, volleyball and softball wins half a point per contest since the teams meet twice a season. In sports where the two universities do not meet head-to-head, the team that places higher in the Big 12 Conference Championship wins one point. The school that has the most points after the last athletic competition of the year wins the series.
Talk of the series began six months ago between Byrne and Dodds after Byrne broached the idea. The deal was negotiated by Host Communications, a Lexington, Ky.-based media and marketing company.
"Host Communication takes a percentage of the funds, but the rest is split evenly between UT and A&M," Dodds said.
According to Byrne, State Farm can request how the money is allocated, but to his knowledge no requests have been made.
While the historic Longhorn/Aggie rivalry has been played out across many sports for years, it has, for the most part, been presented as primarily football-centric. This new series is an attempt by both universities to carry the excitement from Thanksgiving weekend to other sports.
"The rivalry was not going anywhere, so we decided to heat things up," Dodds said jokingly.
The Lone Star Showdown aims for "an increase in attention and sponsorship whenever these two schools meet in competition," Bryne said. Byrne hopes the added attention the Showdown brings will aid recruitment of student athletes.
Both schools and State Farm hope the Rivalry Series will merit an extension after the initial two years and have high hopes for future expansion and development.
"Perhaps eventually we could have something of a Ryder Cup-type event with the golf teams, though nothing like that is planned as of yet," said Ron Dodd, senior vice president for State Farm Insurace in Texas.
The Series is based on successful counterparts such as the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State's "Bedlam Series." Likewise for that series, each individual sporting event accrues one point for the victor. The winner is awarded the "Bedlam Bell Trophy" at the end of the series each year. There will be a trophy for the Lone Star Showdown, but as of now the design has not been finalized, although Byrne says it will have a "Texas feel."
Friday's soccer match between the two Universities will be the first event in the series.
"The Showdown makes the rivalry better," Dodds said. "It's a good family to be a part of. We just got one member out of line."
State Farm Lone Star Showdown Rivalry Series Point System
Explanation: Each sport is worth one point toward the Rivalry Series championship. A total of 19 points can be won. Should the teams split or tie in regular season competition, the point is split between the universities.
Tie Breaker: If at the conclusion of the Lone Star Showdown Rivalry Series, the universities are tied at 9.5 points, the team who last won the Rivalry Series championship retains the title (in the first contract year, points for the previous year will be tallied as if the Rivalry Series had been in effect).
*The university that wins 2-of-the-3 baseball games wins one point. **If the universities do not compete in head-to-head regular season competition, the university that places higher at the Big XII Conference Championship will earn the point. In the sport of track & field, multi-school meets do not count as head-to-head competition.
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