If the rumors are true that ESPN may have to pay the ACC $45 million per year as a result of not having a network in place, on top of financial pressure from cord cutting and high contractual payouts for rights fees for the NFL, SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12, American Athletic, NBA, etc. then there will be pressure from Disney to cut costs or bring in new revenue streams.

If I were sitting in a big chair ESPN and the bosses from Disney were starting to get in my shorts, I would immediately push some levers that are at my disposal.

First, I would do everything humanly possible to get Comcast to carry the Longhorn Network in Texas. The network cannot be financially viable without those Texas TV sets.

Second, if I cannot get carriage in Texas, I negotiate my way out of the LHN and kill it...or re-purpose it...to maybe an ACC Network which would be much more financially viable.

Third, I kill ESPN Classic and sell it off.

Fourth, I would explore selling off some of my content. Maybe Fox will want to buy the ESPN Big 10 content. Maybe Comcast will want to buy the ACC content.

Now...my thinking is that Comcast can play hardball with ESPN and can potentially negotiate a deal where they buy off their ACC content in return for cash and carriage of the LHN.

If I were ESPN that is a deal I would take.