Aggies And Horns Want Part Of Your Electric Bill For Their Struggling Sports Programs

Aggie Energy: Making sure Aggie jokes never go out of style.

​It seems like we've heard a joke before about how many Aggies it takes to change a light bulb.

It wasn't really funny then, but considering that Texas A&M, specifically Aggie athletics, is getting into the energy business, we're sure the joke will finally have some legs.

On September 3, to coincide with the start of the football season, the university will officially launch Aggie Energy, a service for A&M fans that turns part of their monthly electricity bill into revenue for the university's athletic department.

In a press release on the Aggies' website, the school's athletic director, Bill Byrne, came up with this genius pitch: "We want Texas A&M former students and fans to save their energy up for Saturday's at Kyle Field this fall."

But it looks like, once again, the Aggies will play second-fiddle to the University of Texas. (We hope Byrne doesn't want to kick our ass for that one.)

Because a few weeks before the launch of Aggie Energy, the Longhorns will debut a similar electricity program called Texas Longhorns Energy.

Both deals involve Dallas-based Branded Retail Energy Company and Houston's Champion Energy Services. Larry Weil, the guy who runs Branded Retail Energy, is a UT guy -- San Antonio and Dallas campuses -- and Champion Energy's president and CEO, Scott Fordham, is a hardcore Longhorn fan.

In fact, Fordham serves on UT's Longhorn Foundation Advisory Council.

"I've been a 30-year supporter of the school...and have been a life-long orangeblood," Fordham said in a press release about the Longhorn energy service.

Even worse for the Aggie deal, fans living in Bryan-College Station won't even have access to Aggie Energy because the area is a regulated energy market, according to an article in the Bryan-College Station Eagle.

But Aggie fans in Houston and Dallas, you're in luck!

The success of these plans is yet to be determined, but we submit this as another piece of evidence that one day, college football will rule everything in the state of Texas.

(We've got some questions about all this and have put in calls; we'll update if we hear back.)