No one feels threatened. You do not win people over to your side by disingenuously spinning what people are saying into something they are not saying. Texas fans do not have issue with the terms of this compromise. In fact, I think 99% of alumni strongly prefer the field being named after Ricky Williams and Earl Campbell over Joe Jamail. I do not know anyone that ever called it "Joe Jamail Field" or liked the name. The fans have an issue that UT has shown they will give into the players and this will continue until the Eyes of Texas are gone, the Texas flag is removed, etc, etc. UT has already removed the Six Flags of Texas from the Stadium. The UT Band has already stopped playing the Yellow Rose of Texas. Herman and the players described this as "a good first step". That means more demands to follow until we became a traditionless, bland program without identity. With players saying that they will not sing the eyes of texas, you can bet protests will follow, possibly in game. As many posters above say, they are here for football, not politics.
A lot of us, especially those that paid (or have kids or grandkids that paid) outrageous student loans so UT's overblown, wasteful and worthless administration can live fat and happy on the backs of its students do not appreciate a bunch of mostly academically unqualified students getting free tuition, food, housing, tutoring, and physical training (plus getting cost of living payments in addition to other perks) complaining like they are being done wrong in some way. Playing football is a fun game. It is optional and not service like the military. None of these players are putting themselves "in danger" for anyone but themselves. They are playing a game either because they enjoy it or they hope they go to the NFL and make big time money on it.
The truth is, there are not many new people yearning to pay high dollar for season tickets. How do I know? In my section, no one has ever replaced those that left due to Steve Patterson. UT continually sells upper deck tickets for $90 a game. Even after winning the Sugar Bowl, no one has replaced those that left from Patterson. The past 6 years, I have never seen the upper deck so consistently empty. It was never like that from 1994-2013. With the past 10+ years of students and future students taking on crippling student debt, no one will be showing up to replace the season ticket holders anytime soon. Last year I sold my season tickets, only attended the Kansas State and Oklahoma State and scalped tickets for under $40 each for both games in my same section rows below my actual seats. I could actually buy seats in my same section online for $90 each without a donation if I wanted to do so. Anyone paying foundation dues at this point is a sucker.
UT HAS to get the old-timers with money. I think UT is aware of this which is why they are shrinking the stadium and adding more suites in the south end zone. UT knows it has lost the middle class/average alumni (see how low the donations are) and is only going to cater to few 1%ers and corporations. I expect the suites and tickets the 1% and corporations buy to get more expensive and the other seats to get cheaper and cheaper.
I think UT also thinks it can sell to non-Longhorn Austinites (which is why there is more of a focus on "Austin" than "Texas" at the game than in years past). The problem they have is that these new Austinites do not care about UT Football. UT is not an NFL team and transplants do not treat college teams the same way. The new Austinites will attend one game to say they did, may get interested in a big game like LSU, Notre Dame or USC, but otherwise will not care. If they do care about college football, it is their own school not UT.
UT may be able to get away with a lot more if it was the only show in the state like with Arkansas or Nebraska. However, this state has 2 NFL teams, 2 MLB teams, 3 NBA teams, and 11 other D1 college football programs. On top of that, Austin hotels have become outrageous and traveling to, from and inside Austin has become very painful.
While DKR will still sell out for big games, I expect season tickets sales and attendance to drop significantly over the next 10 years. Alumni that are long time ticket holders are the backbone of college sports. Piss them off and you will never see that money again.
UT in general is operated by non-longhorns and, for the most part, non-Texans. They do not care about alienating the population of this state. For the most part, the population ignores them (and if an actual alum like Wallace Hall tries to fix things, they run a smear campaign against him). This will not last forever and at some point UT will be knocked down a peg. Unfortunately, the non-longhorns and non-Texans that run it will not care and will just move on to ruin someone else's university.
I have points of disagreement and agreement with you HTown--I do respect you as a fellow alum.
I do think when fans use melodramatic terms like "extortionists," "communism," and spin dramatic tales of woe, they are feeling threatened by something-- perhaps more related to our volunteer athletes learning to play the larger game better, and not remaining totally confined to the "shut up and play" or "entertain us or else" box where many of our fans seem to want them to remain...
You also seem to be saying that football is entertainment, and I agree with that. With 500 cable channels and 50 channels of sports at home on a fan's television, there is a huge "free" market of entertainment for any UT fan to choose from. Personally, I think there is way too much money in big college football at taxpayer funded institutions, with the coaches living in mansions, and ticket prices going up so high.
I agree that if the coaches get too rich, the players get too entitled and self important, tradition goes out the window, and the ticket prices too high, fans are going to choose some other entertainment choice, or maybe go fishing, or hiking, or mountain biking on Saturday fall afternoons (which is a lot healthier anyway.) Fans do not have to buy tickets to see this Broadway show... they can find another show, or create their own show...
I disagree though that none of the players are putting themselves in danger for anyone but themselves. That's too cynical. I think players like Earl, or now Sam Ehlinger also play for their friends, their families, their teammates, their coaches, their school, their state, for honor, and to share their particular creativity, talent, and art with the world. Kids from poor neighborhoods (Earl, not Sam) with athletic talent play because it feels good to excel and be noticed, and it is a way to achieve, and move forward. There was some truth in "The Blind Side" --that movie was not just all Hollywood.
With respect to BevoJoe's comments, It's admirable that TCU and USC are getting in academically qualified athletes. 80% of my brain says that all college athletics should be a lot more Ivy League. But the reality is that because of CTE awareness and other football-associated dangers, a lot of wealthier multigenerational academically-achieving families are moving their kids into "safer" sports like soccer.
UT is not going to win against SEC teams like Alabama, or against A&M (if we ever play them again), or against Oklahoma, by fielding an Ivy League team. And, unless I am mistaken about all of the negative comments I read on this board when Charlie Strong was coaching, UT football fans want to win football games. Period.
Thus we have an inescapable trade off, because nothing kills off Texas football fans faster than running a perennially losing program. Find the best high school players, and recruit them as they are (and respect that they may have different backgrounds and perspectives, and respect that they may not be motivated exactly the same way you would be motivated), even if they are not highly qualified UT academic applicants at the time UT Football recruits them.
I'm OK with this, as long as athletic sales proceeds are used to help these young people catch up if needed, and really learn the academics at UT, and the program is working hard to help these students graduate with a meaningful degree. Duke men's basketball runs a perennially winning program and gets many of the best high school recruits in the country--with 97% of its basketball players graduating with a Duke undergraduate degree... Having young people share their athletic talents with fans while in college, and helping them get a good college education at the same time is certainly not impossible...
