very informative piece. kudos to all involved.
a couple of thoughts on the patterson related info.
first...the mexico city game. as a fan, that does virtually nothing for me. and if it's at the expense of an attractive home game, it does less than nothing. i get it...branding, globalization, international marketing, thousands of little mexican kids wearing 'los longhorn' t-shirts. fine. mexico city is not a tourist destination and i won't spend thousands on airfare, tickets, hotel and transportation to choke on Mexican smog. i won't be going. not that anybody cares.
as for The Summit II. The summit was such a great sports arena it's now a church. if there's one thing UT hoops fans have shown it's there's zero chance of consistently filling a 16K size arena, assuming that's the plan for a multi-use 'Summit-type' facility. again, i get it. concerts, circuses etc....lot of money out there and partnering with the city/county for this type of venue is probably good for business. but as a fan...meh. again, not that anybody cares.
patterson is doing his job. but it's pretty obvious now more than ever, that the job of a modern AD has little to do with the concerns of the average fan and can often be at cross purposes to the wishes of the average fan. that's not new, but these two items sum it all up pretty clearly.
anyway, that's sports business in 2014. it is what it is i suppose.