(08-20-2014 01:40 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  

(08-20-2014 09:38 AM)monarchoptimist Wrote:  But there are serious negatives that come with being a small fish relative to the ocean that is ESPN's programming. The MAC games are on weeknights which greatly diminishes their attendance figures and doesn't allow the schools or conference to put their best foot forward on a great platform. Being a season ticket holder for a MAC school must be near impossible with multiple weeknight (and not Friday) games a year. I'm not sure how attractive looking sparsely attended games appear to recruits, or casual fans. And if you've watched any of those games, you can tell ESPN is simply using it to hook in casual college football fans as a 3 hour advertisement for what ESPN considers their "real" programming on Saturday which consists of cartel conference teams.

You are right about the world-wide leader's platform and all the advantages that come with it, but a hierarchy exists and the benefits are not equally enjoyed.

Actually the weeknight games don't greatly diminish the attendance numbers, league attendance numbers have increased 4 of the last 5 years. And I would argue that it does allow the teams and the conference to put their best foot forward. The exposure from weeknight games has greatly benefited the conference and the recruiting efforts of the teams featured. The general sentiment from your average viewer is not "OMG, look at the attendance" but its more "OMG, there's a college football game on tonight, thank you." And that goes for recruits too, they mention it as nothing but a positive- the chance to play on national television in prime time with no other games on. It can be a slight inconvenience for fans and season ticket holders but as the fan base gets more used to the idea it becomes less of an issue. I agree that ESPN was bad about using these games to talk about other games but that has improved quite a bit over time, as the announcers become more familiar with the programs they are staying more involved with the on field action.

Bottom line, playing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays is far from ideal, you'll get no arguments from me there, but at the end of the day the good far out weigh the bad. At this point, for a conference like the MAC, its a necessary evil.

Tuesday night in Athens, OH-

You can show "A" picture of a section full of fans but...

The MAC's top 4 schools

BG
Tues @Miami (OH) 10,598
Tues vs Ohio 8,527
Friday @ Buffalo 2,622

Buffalo
Tues vs Ohio 22,918
Tues @Toledo 15,036
Tues @Miami (OH) 9,895

Northern Illinois
Wednesday vs Ball State 18,290
Wednesday @Toledo 21,974
Tuesday vs W Michigan 17,679

Balls St
Wednesday@ N Illinois 18,290
Wednesday vs Central Michigan 9,494
Friday vs Miami (OH) 6,784

50% under 11k

(08-21-2014 12:02 PM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  

(08-20-2014 09:26 PM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  And NBCSN does NOT have the MLS.

NBC Sports Network's 2013 MLS schedule (all times ET)

Friday, Sept. 27
Philadelphia at Kansas City 8 p.m., NBCSN

Sunday, Sept. 29
LA Galaxy at Portland 3:30 p.m., NBC

Friday, Oct. 4
Chicago at D.C. United 8 p.m., NBCSN

Saturday, Oct. 5
Seattle at Colorado 10 p.m., NBCSN

Friday, Oct. 18
D.C. United at Kansas City 8 p.m., NBCSN

Saturday, Oct. 19
Seattle at Dallas 4 p.m., NBCSN

Saturday, Oct. 26
Kansas City at Philadelphia 3 p.m., NBCSN
Dallas at San Jose 5:30 p.m., NBCSN

Sunday, Oct. 27
Houston at D.C. United 1:30 p.m., NBC

All games on NBC and NBC Sports Network will consist of on-site, pre-game and post-game coverage.

http://www.nbcsports.com/soccer/mls-nbc-game-schedule

We aren't talking about 2014 so why are you mentioning the 2014 MLS season? ESPN and Fox has rights starting in January.


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I'm happy for the MAC, they're striving to evolve and solidify their conference, what I wouldn't give to see Conference USA get such a deal, perhaps with a rival sports network in the not too distant future , I know that ESPN seems to have an axe to grind with Conference USA, and I'm not that all enamored the arrogant, smug, pompous-assed ESPN myself.

(08-21-2014 04:16 PM)Matrix Wrote:  I'm happy for the MAC, they're striving to evolve and solidify their conference, what I wouldn't give to see Conference USA get such a deal, perhaps with a rival sports network in the not too distant future , I know that ESPN seems to have an axe to grind with Conference USA, and I'm not that all enamored the arrogant, smug, pompous-assed ESPN myself.

You want C-USA to get a deal for less money than we get now, appear on real tv on Tuesday, Wednesday but never on Saturday and have most of our coverage on the Internet? Why?

(08-21-2014 06:30 AM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 02:47 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(08-20-2014 09:27 PM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  

(08-20-2014 12:14 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 08:39 PM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  MAC screwed up, they could've gotten a huge payday taking it to the open market and getting NBC/NBCSN involved in a bidding war.

Really? How do you know this? Do you have any proof or evidence to support what you're stating?

Cause NBC is desperate to get an FBS tv property.

How do you know they are desperate? Do you even know if NBC was interested in the MAC?

Their football deals are: Notre Dame (mostly on NBC) and the CAA
We know for sure that they went after: AAC

If NBC wasn't interested then someone should be fired. However we may never know as the MAC didn't take it to the free market.


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My point is NBC isn't acting like they are desperate for football. Otherwise, they would have overpaid to get the AAC. I think the MAC look at all of their options and did what works best for them. I believe if the MAC knew they could have gotten more money from another network they would have went with that option.

(08-21-2014 04:25 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 04:16 PM)Matrix Wrote:  I'm happy for the MAC, they're striving to evolve and solidify their conference, what I wouldn't give to see Conference USA get such a deal, perhaps with a rival sports network in the not too distant future , I know that ESPN seems to have an axe to grind with Conference USA, and I'm not that all enamored the arrogant, smug, pompous-assed ESPN myself.

You want C-USA to get a deal for less money than we get now, appear on real tv on Tuesday, Wednesday but never on Saturday and have most of our coverage on the Internet? Why?

I can't speak for your neck of the woods, but I'm not seeing a heck of a lot of Conference USA sports coverage here in mine. Every now and then a game will come on, but, not as often as I'd like, just thought one of the new networks, Fox Sports One or NBCSN, would take on featuring more Conference USA Football and basketball games, to include Saturday. Apparently, your knowledge of the inner workings of sports network television eclipses that of mine...Please to enlighten???

@MinerInWisconsin: Must be tough waving a pickax (rooting for UTEP) in Badger Country. :-)

Crediting the visiting team with attendance numbers of the home team is a blatantly deceptive way of presenting the data.

Where the games are played has a much larger impact on when the games are played. This can be observed at looking at the times when 2 or more weeknight MACtion games were played on the same night, at the same time. Starting with-

Tuesday, Nov 5th, 2013
22,918 @Buffalo (7-1)
10,598 @Miami (0-8)

What is more likely the cause of Miami's low attendance number, the date or their record? Conversely, if the day of the week is detrimental to attendance how is that Buffalo is able to have a near sell out on the same night?


Tuesday, Nov 12th, 2013
15,036 @Toledo (6-3)
8,527 @BGSU (6-3)

Two schools with the same records, playing schools with the same records, on the same night, only 26 miles apart. Can't blame it on the date.


Wednesday, Nov 13th, 2013
18,290 @NIU (9-0)
8,573 @Kent St (2-8)

Again, same night, same time, 2.5x more at one over the other.


Tuesday, Nov 19th, 2013
17,181 @Ohio (6-4)
9,895 @Miami (0-10)

And once again..

Its possible that there is some loss in attendance in these specific games but the net for the season is a positive. What is for certain, however, is that weeknight games are not the reason for low attendance numbers, other factors have a much greater impact.

(08-21-2014 04:28 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 06:30 AM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 02:47 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(08-20-2014 09:27 PM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  

(08-20-2014 12:14 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  Really? How do you know this? Do you have any proof or evidence to support what you're stating?

Cause NBC is desperate to get an FBS tv property.

How do you know they are desperate? Do you even know if NBC was interested in the MAC?

Their football deals are: Notre Dame (mostly on NBC) and the CAA
We know for sure that they went after: AAC

If NBC wasn't interested then someone should be fired. However we may never know as the MAC didn't take it to the free market.


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My point is NBC isn't acting like they are desperate for football. Otherwise, they would have overpaid to get the AAC. I think the MAC look at all of their options and did what works best for them. I believe if the MAC knew they could have gotten more money from another network they would have went with that option.

NBC did overpay in the exposure department HOWEVER ESPN had the right to match any competing offers and they did.


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(08-21-2014 09:54 PM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 04:28 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 06:30 AM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 02:47 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(08-20-2014 09:27 PM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  Cause NBC is desperate to get an FBS tv property.

How do you know they are desperate? Do you even know if NBC was interested in the MAC?

Their football deals are: Notre Dame (mostly on NBC) and the CAA
We know for sure that they went after: AAC

If NBC wasn't interested then someone should be fired. However we may never know as the MAC didn't take it to the free market.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

My point is NBC isn't acting like they are desperate for football. Otherwise, they would have overpaid to get the AAC. I think the MAC look at all of their options and did what works best for them. I believe if the MAC knew they could have gotten more money from another network they would have went with that option.

NBC did overpay in the exposure department HOWEVER ESPN had the right to match any competing offers and they did.


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Really? So the AAC was ecstatic with the current ESPN TV deal?

(08-21-2014 04:16 PM)Matrix Wrote:  I'm happy for the MAC, they're striving to evolve and solidify their conference, what I wouldn't give to see Conference USA get such a deal, perhaps with a rival sports network in the not too distant future , I know that ESPN seems to have an axe to grind with Conference USA, and I'm not that all enamored the arrogant, smug, pompous-assed ESPN myself.

CUSA left ESPN and it ended in a lawsuit. Sometimes coverage is more important than money. Back in the 80s the NHL was becoming more popular in the states. They had Thursday night games on ESPN during football season then Sunday night games. In 1988 they signed a tv contract for twice as much money with Sports Channel America and an increase from 33 to 140 televised games. the only problem is unless you lived in a few major markets you had to have a satellite dish the size of a minivan in you yard to watch (pre dish/direct). MO MONEY MO MONEY MO MONEY no coverage. buy the time they hit mainstream tv again in 1992 all the momentum they had gained in the 80s was lost. Worse not only did they lose the positive trend the vanished from the collective sports mind of most of the country.

The biggest problem in leaving ESPN is lack of coverage. CUSA is ignored whenever possible by ESPN. A lot of average sports fans get most if not all of their sports news from ESPN formats. When ESPN ran UAB sports marketing ESPN TV gave us more coverage and set up some attractive TV basketball games IN BIRMINGHAM. When UAB switched that stopped and we lost what little national basketball presence we had.

There is a cost to not being part of the ESPN cartel

(08-21-2014 10:19 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 09:54 PM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 04:28 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 06:30 AM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 02:47 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  How do you know they are desperate? Do you even know if NBC was interested in the MAC?

Their football deals are: Notre Dame (mostly on NBC) and the CAA
We know for sure that they went after: AAC

If NBC wasn't interested then someone should be fired. However we may never know as the MAC didn't take it to the free market.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

My point is NBC isn't acting like they are desperate for football. Otherwise, they would have overpaid to get the AAC. I think the MAC look at all of their options and did what works best for them. I believe if the MAC knew they could have gotten more money from another network they would have went with that option.

NBC did overpay in the exposure department HOWEVER ESPN had the right to match any competing offers and they did.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Really? So the AAC was ecstatic with the current ESPN TV deal?

In EXPOSURE yes.


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(08-21-2014 04:52 PM)Matrix Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 04:25 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 04:16 PM)Matrix Wrote:  I'm happy for the MAC, they're striving to evolve and solidify their conference, what I wouldn't give to see Conference USA get such a deal, perhaps with a rival sports network in the not too distant future , I know that ESPN seems to have an axe to grind with Conference USA, and I'm not that all enamored the arrogant, smug, pompous-assed ESPN myself.

You want C-USA to get a deal for less money than we get now, appear on real tv on Tuesday, Wednesday but never on Saturday and have most of our coverage on the Internet? Why?

I can't speak for your neck of the woods, but I'm not seeing a heck of a lot of Conference USA sports coverage here in mine. Every now and then a game will come on, but, not as often as I'd like, just thought one of the new networks, Fox Sports One or NBCSN, would take on featuring more Conference USA Football and basketball games, to include Saturday. Apparently, your knowledge of the inner workings of sports network television eclipses that of mine...Please to enlighten???

Inner workings? No, I have no knowledge of that. What games I can see this coming season? I do understand that. I have DirecTV and I will be able to see all 37 games on the various Fox outlets and CBSSN; FS1, FSN ( I get all of them), FCS. When espn had our contract, we had fewer games I could watch by a lot. We also make more money than we were making with espn.

(08-21-2014 04:53 PM)Matrix Wrote:  @MinerInWisconsin: Must be tough waving a pickax (rooting for UTEP) in Badger Country. :-)

The tough part is not being able to attend games in person. But because of our conference tv deals, I will be able to see UTEP fb 5 time plus the one at Kansas St via the Big 12 tv deal. The 5 additional games on Sinclair's ASN will likely not be available up here but I will be searching the local digital outlets and I can resort to the Internet if I have too. Much rather have them available OTA or on DTV. All in all, much better to be able to see my Miners 6 times in fb on tv than the old espn deal when I might see them twice. Our basketball coverage is very poor though and that needs to improve.

I am secondarily a Badger fan but 2 years ago when UTEP came here and gave the Badger fb team all it could handle, I was pulling so hard for the Miners that I almost blew a gasket. Badger fans didn't bother me but I wasn't sitting with their students, so I'm sure that helped.

(08-22-2014 07:16 AM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 04:53 PM)Matrix Wrote:  @MinerInWisconsin: Must be tough waving a pickax (rooting for UTEP) in Badger Country. :-)

The tough part is not being able to attend games in person. But because of our conference tv deals, I will be able to see UTEP fb 5 time plus the one at Kansas St via the Big 12 tv deal. The 5 additional games on Sinclair's ASN will likely not be available up here but I will be searching the local digital outlets and I can resort to the Internet if I have too. Much rather have them available OTA or on DTV. All in all, much better to be able to see my Miners 6 times in fb on tv than the old espn deal when I might see them twice. Our basketball coverage is very poor though and that needs to improve.

I am secondarily a Badger fan but 2 years ago when UTEP came here and gave the Badger fb team all it could handle, I was pulling so hard for the Miners that I almost blew a gasket. Badger fans didn't bother me but I wasn't sitting with their students, so I'm sure that helped.

I enjoy sitting in "enemy territory" to root for the team I want to win, matter of fact, when the Blazers play "the marching condoms" of Troy next weekend, I intend on paying the Troy fans a visit and "welcome" them to "The Fall Of Troy". I have family in Madison and they're all diehard Badger fans, and I root for them as well but my favorite Big 10 team is Northwestern, had a brother graduate from there. Have fun up there this season!

(08-22-2014 07:53 AM)Matrix Wrote:  

(08-22-2014 07:16 AM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 04:53 PM)Matrix Wrote:  @MinerInWisconsin: Must be tough waving a pickax (rooting for UTEP) in Badger Country. :-)

The tough part is not being able to attend games in person. But because of our conference tv deals, I will be able to see UTEP fb 5 time plus the one at Kansas St via the Big 12 tv deal. The 5 additional games on Sinclair's ASN will likely not be available up here but I will be searching the local digital outlets and I can resort to the Internet if I have too. Much rather have them available OTA or on DTV. All in all, much better to be able to see my Miners 6 times in fb on tv than the old espn deal when I might see them twice. Our basketball coverage is very poor though and that needs to improve.

I am secondarily a Badger fan but 2 years ago when UTEP came here and gave the Badger fb team all it could handle, I was pulling so hard for the Miners that I almost blew a gasket. Badger fans didn't bother me but I wasn't sitting with their students, so I'm sure that helped.

I enjoy sitting in "enemy territory" to root for the team I want to win, matter of fact, when the Blazers play "the marching condoms" of Troy next weekend, I intend on paying the Troy fans a visit and "welcome" them to "The Fall Of Troy". I have family in Madison and they're all diehard Badger fans, and I root for them as well but my favorite Big 10 team is Northwestern, had a brother graduate from there. Have fun up there this season!

As you well know, fun during fb season is a relative thing when it comes to long suffering fans like our 2 fanbases. So I do hope we both have fun this year in a way we are not used to. Lots of wins!