There's little about Times Square that reminds anyone of Eugene, Ore. That is, except the billboard that is becoming an annual Oregon football tradition.

A year after its 80-by-100 foot, $250,000 billboard of quarterback Joey Harrington caused a stir, the Ducks are at it again. Anchored by the simple phrase "We're back," Oregon erected a 53-by-172 foot billboard of wide receiver Keenan Howry in Times Square on Monday.

	An illustration of the Oregon billboard in Times Square.

While Harrington's sign was meant to promote his candidacy for the Heisman Trophy, this year's billboard is announcing Oregon's alliance with the YES network, the newly formed cable channel partially owned by the Yankees. The deal will be officially introduced later this week. Replays of all 12 Oregon games will be on the network from 2 a.m to 6 a.m. on Sundays, according to YES spokesman Bob Davis.

The billboard -- which is on the side of the W Hotel at 47th and Broadway -- and the cost to produce the replays will be about $300,000, said David Williford, the school's director of media relations.

"People criticized us last year because it cost so much money," Williford said. "But it's not taking away from anything because this is money that the alumni has earmarked for a specific cause. What we did last year paid for itself 10 times over. Every time someone mentions what happened at Washington State, we get a mention too. It's free advertising."

Last week, Washington State University spoofed the Harrington ad by placing a 25-by-15 foot banner of their Heisman candidate quarterback Jason Gesser on the side of a concrete grain elevator in Dusty, Wash.

Howry said he posed for the shot in early May, but didn't know he was going to be made big in New York City until three weeks ago. "They told me I could only tell my family and that's pretty much what I've done," Howry said.

"I've been on two billboards in Eugene," he said. "But this is national. New York is the center of everything."

Howry's picture has six Nike swooshes compared to Harrington's four last year. Nike chairman and CEO Phil Knight is a graduate of the school.

Williford said there are about 4,000 Oregon alums in the New York area.

"I think it's safe to say that college football in the city of New York consists of Rutgers and Oregon," Williford said.

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espnpub.com