Texas AD seeking games outside U.S., not focused on renewing A&M rivalry

The departure of the Texas A&M Aggies from the Big 12 conference to the SEC has been a rousing success for the Aggies, but two years later, losing the rivalry game with the Texas Longhorns remains the biggest sacrifice of  realignment, and don’t look for it to come back any time soon if you ask Texas athletic director Steve Patterson.

Patterson, in his first-year as the athletic director is not interested in scheduling a non-conference football game with the Aggies and instead is focused on building the Longhorn brand with games outside the United States, according to Max Olson of ESPN.com.

"“There’s a lot of great tradition with Texas A&M. At some point in time, does it make some business sense, some branding sense to play again? I don’t know,” Patterson said. “It’s not at the top of my list. I’m really more focused on how we grow the footprint of the department.”"

Texas ranked No. 1 on the list of most valuable football programs according to a Forbes report earlier this year, and Patterson is looking to build on that status with potential games in Mexico City, Mexico or Dubai, United Arab Emirates according to Olson.

“We have a lot of folks in the oil and gas industry,” Patterson said. “Houston is the center of the world in terms of the gas industry. A lot of those alums spend time in the Middle East, and Dubai is a place that wants to use sports to help put itself on the map. So we’ll have some conversations, and we’ll see where they lead.”

Dubai hosts PGA tour events and the picturesque setting is second to none, so could you imagine one of the most-recognized brands in college football taking their brand to the UAE?

While a non-conference game does not look to be happening any time soon, the possibility exists for the two programs to meet in a bowl game.