http://www.ubbullrun.com/2014/8/19/60445...ive-thread

IF the reports of a 100 million dollar deal are true its a rather disappointing effort from the MAC.

* No financial terms were revealed. While Dr. Jon Steinbrecher would go so far as to say it puts us with the other GO5 conferences he stated all parties involved were contractually obligated to keep the compensation package a private matter. I've seen articles which says the deal is "more than 100 million", that would put the floor at about 700K per year per school. Hopefully it's closer to 120 million which would bring the MAC in line with CUSA and the Sun Belt.

* All This ends the current Time Warrner Deal: The new contract hands over the entire MAC inventory of Football and Basketball along with some womens hoops and unnamed olympic sports over to ESPN.

* This Deal puts every MAC home football game on ESPN (Sort of): ESPN has committed to broadcasting every MAC home football game but they *MAY* sell that game to another broadcaster like Sports Time Ohio or Time Warrner or what have you.

* The Deal will eventually put every MAC home Basketball game on ESPN (Sort of): ESPN has committed that within 3 years they will broadcast every MC home hoops game but they *MAY* sell that game to another broadcaster like Sports Time Ohio or Time Warrner or what have you. Specifically Wednesday and Saturday games will be looked at as stock to be sold to other venues.

* Schools have to ramp up their quality of coverage: There was an emphasis that each school should own a bigger stake in their own production value. We all know some MAC schools have terrible broadcasts, this aims to fix that.

(08-19-2014 12:59 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  http://www.ubbullrun.com/2014/8/19/60445...ive-thread

IF the reports of a 100 million dollar deal are true its a rather disappointing effort from the MAC.

* No financial terms were revealed. While Dr. Jon Steinbrecher would go so far as to say it puts us with the other GO5 conferences he stated all parties involved were contractually obligated to keep the compensation package a private matter. I've seen articles which says the deal is "more than 100 million", that would put the floor at about 700K per year per school. Hopefully it's closer to 120 million which would bring the MAC in line with CUSA and the Sun Belt.

* All This ends the current Time Warrner Deal: The new contract hands over the entire MAC inventory of Football and Basketball along with some womens hoops and unnamed olympic sports over to ESPN.

* This Deal puts every MAC home football game on ESPN (Sort of): ESPN has committed to broadcasting every MAC home football game but they *MAY* sell that game to another broadcaster like Sports Time Ohio or Time Warrner or what have you.

* The Deal will eventually put every MAC home Basketball game on ESPN (Sort of): ESPN has committed that within 3 years they will broadcast every MC home hoops game but they *MAY* sell that game to another broadcaster like Sports Time Ohio or Time Warrner or what have you. Specifically Wednesday and Saturday games will be looked at as stock to be sold to other venues.

* Schools have to ramp up their quality of coverage: There was an emphasis that each school should own a bigger stake in their own production value. We all know some MAC schools have terrible broadcasts, this aims to fix that.

Good luck to the SBC in their next negotiation but they are currently no where near what the MAC just received and what C-USA currently gets.

(08-19-2014 12:59 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  http://www.ubbullrun.com/2014/8/19/60445...ive-thread

IF the reports of a 100 million dollar deal are true its a rather disappointing effort from the MAC.

* No financial terms were revealed. While Dr. Jon Steinbrecher would go so far as to say it puts us with the other GO5 conferences he stated all parties involved were contractually obligated to keep the compensation package a private matter. I've seen articles which says the deal is "more than 100 million", that would put the floor at about 700K per year per school. Hopefully it's closer to 120 million which would bring the MAC in line with CUSA and the Sun Belt.

* All This ends the current Time Warrner Deal: The new contract hands over the entire MAC inventory of Football and Basketball along with some womens hoops and unnamed olympic sports over to ESPN.

* This Deal puts every MAC home football game on ESPN (Sort of): ESPN has committed to broadcasting every MAC home football game but they *MAY* sell that game to another broadcaster like Sports Time Ohio or Time Warrner or what have you.

* The Deal will eventually put every MAC home Basketball game on ESPN (Sort of): ESPN has committed that within 3 years they will broadcast every MC home hoops game but they *MAY* sell that game to another broadcaster like Sports Time Ohio or Time Warrner or what have you. Specifically Wednesday and Saturday games will be looked at as stock to be sold to other venues.

* Schools have to ramp up their quality of coverage: There was an emphasis that each school should own a bigger stake in their own production value. We all know some MAC schools have terrible broadcasts, this aims to fix that.

Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

(08-19-2014 01:15 PM)bullet Wrote:  Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

IMO that's a way-overblown issue. How hard is it to hook a tablet up to a HDTV via an HDMI cable?

I watch plenty of ESPN3 stuff and all of it on a 42" HDTV.

(08-19-2014 01:18 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:15 PM)bullet Wrote:  Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

IMO that's a way-overblown issue. How hard is it to hook a tablet up to a HDTV via an HDMI cable?

I watch plenty of ESPN3 stuff and all of it on a 42" HDTV.

I don't know about that statement. I think their is still a difference between broadcast TV (don't need anything special to view it) and ESPN3. I watch a lot of ESPN3 thru my Chromecast but that doesn't mean the average Wal-Mart fan even knows this content exists.

(08-19-2014 01:18 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:15 PM)bullet Wrote:  Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

IMO that's a way-overblown issue. How hard is it to hook a tablet up to a HDTV via an HDMI cable?

I watch plenty of ESPN3 stuff and all of it on a 42" HDTV.

Except for ESPN3 its tied to a specific cable or sat provider which means that you won't get ESPN3 in a lot of cases.

(08-19-2014 01:32 PM)Georgia_Power_Company Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:18 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:15 PM)bullet Wrote:  Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

IMO that's a way-overblown issue. How hard is it to hook a tablet up to a HDTV via an HDMI cable?

I watch plenty of ESPN3 stuff and all of it on a 42" HDTV.

I don't know about that statement. I think their is still a difference between broadcast TV (don't need anything special to view it) and ESPN3. I watch a lot of ESPN3 thru my Chromecast but that doesn't mean the average Wal-Mart fan even knows this content exists.

That's the main difference. Your average sports fan flips through ESPN and ESPN2 instinctively and may end up just watching whatever is on those channels. Watching a game on ESPN3 takes a conscious effort, which is a huge difference. I agree with quo that it's not hard at all to stream ESPN3 from a technical standpoint, but it's "hard" for the average person that is just flipping channels (as they'll never look to see what's on ESPN3 in the first place). The dollars aren't made from the relatively small handful of people that specifically want to watch Buffalo vs. Bowling Green and will end up finding the game on ESPN3. The real dollars are from the much larger audience that won't ever end up scrolling through the ESPN3 options.

(08-19-2014 01:32 PM)Georgia_Power_Company Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:18 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:15 PM)bullet Wrote:  Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

IMO that's a way-overblown issue. How hard is it to hook a tablet up to a HDTV via an HDMI cable?

I watch plenty of ESPN3 stuff and all of it on a 42" HDTV.

I don't know about that statement. I think their is still a difference between broadcast TV (don't need anything special to view it) and ESPN3. I watch a lot of ESPN3 thru my Chromecast but that doesn't mean the average Wal-Mart fan even knows this content exists.

It's now less and less an issue.. Between my ps3 and my roku I don't have to hook my comp up to watch anything.

(08-19-2014 01:34 PM)MWC Tex Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:18 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:15 PM)bullet Wrote:  Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

IMO that's a way-overblown issue. How hard is it to hook a tablet up to a HDTV via an HDMI cable?

I watch plenty of ESPN3 stuff and all of it on a 42" HDTV.

Except for ESPN3 its tied to a specific cable or sat provider which means that you won't get ESPN3 in a lot of cases.

If you get ESPN you get ESPN3 90% of the time...

(08-19-2014 01:34 PM)MWC Tex Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:18 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:15 PM)bullet Wrote:  Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

IMO that's a way-overblown issue. How hard is it to hook a tablet up to a HDTV via an HDMI cable?

I watch plenty of ESPN3 stuff and all of it on a 42" HDTV.

Except for ESPN3 its tied to a specific cable or sat provider which means that you won't get ESPN3 in a lot of cases.

Which is a big issue. And even if you do get it, I wonder how many will look through ESPN3 games for something to watch rather than just flip through the TV channels and if nothing is on there, nothing gets watched.

(08-19-2014 01:38 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:32 PM)Georgia_Power_Company Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:18 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:15 PM)bullet Wrote:  Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

IMO that's a way-overblown issue. How hard is it to hook a tablet up to a HDTV via an HDMI cable?

I watch plenty of ESPN3 stuff and all of it on a 42" HDTV.

I don't know about that statement. I think their is still a difference between broadcast TV (don't need anything special to view it) and ESPN3. I watch a lot of ESPN3 thru my Chromecast but that doesn't mean the average Wal-Mart fan even knows this content exists.

That's the main difference. Your average sports fan flips through ESPN and ESPN2 instinctively and may end up just watching whatever is on those channels. Watching a game on ESPN3 takes a conscious effort, which is a huge difference. I agree with quo that it's not hard at all to stream ESPN3 from a technical standpoint, but it's "hard" for the average person that is just flipping channels (as they'll never look to see what's on ESPN3 in the first place). The dollars aren't made from the relatively small handful of people that specifically want to watch Buffalo vs. Bowling Green and will end up finding the game on ESPN3. The real dollars are from the much larger audience that won't ever end up scrolling through the ESPN3 options.

That is exactly on the point. ESPN3 is great for all of us destination sports fans who want to follow a specific team but for the casual Wal-Mart fan who scrolls through the channels to see what's on ESPN3 isn't even an afterthought. So I while I am thankful that all of my team's games can be found on ESPN3 I also realize that broadcast TV is still king.

(08-19-2014 01:18 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:15 PM)bullet Wrote:  Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

IMO that's a way-overblown issue. How hard is it to hook a tablet up to a HDTV via an HDMI cable?

I watch plenty of ESPN3 stuff and all of it on a 42" HDTV.

Its not hard BUT casual football fans are much less likely to tune into our games if they have to do that rather than just flipping to a channel.

(08-19-2014 01:42 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:34 PM)MWC Tex Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:18 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:15 PM)bullet Wrote:  Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

IMO that's a way-overblown issue. How hard is it to hook a tablet up to a HDTV via an HDMI cable?

I watch plenty of ESPN3 stuff and all of it on a 42" HDTV.

Except for ESPN3 its tied to a specific cable or sat provider which means that you won't get ESPN3 in a lot of cases.

Which is a big issue. And even if you do get it, I wonder how many will look through ESPN3 games for something to watch rather than just flip through the TV channels and if nothing is on there, nothing gets watched.

Exactly. The upside is the games are available for the fans that want to watch them. The down side is that the games are not where the casual fan will accidentally stumble upon the game and maybe become familiar with seeing the name and schools. If a casual fan stumbles across the games enough--he begins to associate the schools with "big time" televised product and has a better opportunity to become interested in the style of play in the league. Over time, a league can build a larger fan base by adding the casual fans who used to have little interest in the product---but now find it a familiar and entertaining second choice when their favorite team isn't playing.

(08-19-2014 02:01 PM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:02 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 12:59 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  * No financial terms were revealed. While Dr. Jon Steinbrecher would go so far as to say it puts us with the other GO5 conferences he stated all parties involved were contractually obligated to keep the compensation package a private matter. I've seen articles which says the deal is "more than 100 million", that would put the floor at about 700K per year per school. Hopefully it's closer to 120 million which would bring the MAC in line with CUSA and the Sun Belt.

Good luck to the SBC in their next negotiation but they are currently no where near what the MAC just received and what C-USA currently gets.

What exactly would be the big driver behind the Sun Belt getting C-USA or MAC like money? I am not sure I see it.

I'm not sure the Sun Belt can command MAC like money but we have added good football-centric schools, we are often beating our G5 brothers in head to head competition and we do have several top 100 TV markets in our conference so I think we can at least get a raise.

(08-19-2014 01:42 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:34 PM)MWC Tex Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:18 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:15 PM)bullet Wrote:  Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

IMO that's a way-overblown issue. How hard is it to hook a tablet up to a HDTV via an HDMI cable?

I watch plenty of ESPN3 stuff and all of it on a 42" HDTV.

Except for ESPN3 its tied to a specific cable or sat provider which means that you won't get ESPN3 in a lot of cases.

Which is a big issue. And even if you do get it, I wonder how many will look through ESPN3 games for something to watch rather than just flip through the TV channels and if nothing is on there, nothing gets watched.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the contract pay out is the same whether your game get a 10.0 rating or a .1 rating. As long as you can see NIU @ Buffalo, who cares if a Fresno State fan flipping through the channels is watching?

(08-19-2014 02:23 PM)UpStreamRedTeam Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:42 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:34 PM)MWC Tex Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:18 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:15 PM)bullet Wrote:  Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

IMO that's a way-overblown issue. How hard is it to hook a tablet up to a HDTV via an HDMI cable?

I watch plenty of ESPN3 stuff and all of it on a 42" HDTV.

Except for ESPN3 its tied to a specific cable or sat provider which means that you won't get ESPN3 in a lot of cases.

Which is a big issue. And even if you do get it, I wonder how many will look through ESPN3 games for something to watch rather than just flip through the TV channels and if nothing is on there, nothing gets watched.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the contract pay out is the same whether your game get a 10.0 rating or a .1 rating. As long as you can see NIU @ Buffalo, who cares if a Fresno State fan flipping through the channels is watching?

Because we're doing it for the exposure. A bunch of these games get moved to weeknights so we can be "on TV" (which sucks attendance-wise and also for season ticket holders). Recruits also see the game if we're on TV. But likely not if we're on ESPN3. And the ratings would drive the next contract.

NIU is already playing 5 of it's 12 games on weeknights this year, mostly so we can be on TV. That's more than enough.

(08-19-2014 02:23 PM)UpStreamRedTeam Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:42 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:34 PM)MWC Tex Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:18 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:15 PM)bullet Wrote:  Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

IMO that's a way-overblown issue. How hard is it to hook a tablet up to a HDTV via an HDMI cable?

I watch plenty of ESPN3 stuff and all of it on a 42" HDTV.

Except for ESPN3 its tied to a specific cable or sat provider which means that you won't get ESPN3 in a lot of cases.

Which is a big issue. And even if you do get it, I wonder how many will look through ESPN3 games for something to watch rather than just flip through the TV channels and if nothing is on there, nothing gets watched.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the contract pay out is the same whether your game get a 10.0 rating or a .1 rating. As long as you can see NIU @ Buffalo, who cares if a Fresno State fan flipping through the channels is watching?

Well the advertisers who pay ESPN care so if your teams consistently get a .1 rating compared to another conference's teams who get a 10.0 ESPN has no reason to pay you big bucks to show your games.

(08-19-2014 01:32 PM)Georgia_Power_Company Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:18 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:15 PM)bullet Wrote:  Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

IMO that's a way-overblown issue. How hard is it to hook a tablet up to a HDTV via an HDMI cable?

I watch plenty of ESPN3 stuff and all of it on a 42" HDTV.

I don't know about that statement. I think their is still a difference between broadcast TV (don't need anything special to view it) and ESPN3. I watch a lot of ESPN3 thru my Chromecast but that doesn't mean the average Wal-Mart fan even knows this content exists.

And on top of that, not everyone has consistent high speeds, so it is spottier than cable for most.

(08-19-2014 01:02 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 12:59 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  http://www.ubbullrun.com/2014/8/19/60445...ive-thread

IF the reports of a 100 million dollar deal are true its a rather disappointing effort from the MAC.

* No financial terms were revealed. While Dr. Jon Steinbrecher would go so far as to say it puts us with the other GO5 conferences he stated all parties involved were contractually obligated to keep the compensation package a private matter. I've seen articles which says the deal is "more than 100 million", that would put the floor at about 700K per year per school. Hopefully it's closer to 120 million which would bring the MAC in line with CUSA and the Sun Belt.

* All This ends the current Time Warrner Deal: The new contract hands over the entire MAC inventory of Football and Basketball along with some womens hoops and unnamed olympic sports over to ESPN.

* This Deal puts every MAC home football game on ESPN (Sort of): ESPN has committed to broadcasting every MAC home football game but they *MAY* sell that game to another broadcaster like Sports Time Ohio or Time Warrner or what have you.

* The Deal will eventually put every MAC home Basketball game on ESPN (Sort of): ESPN has committed that within 3 years they will broadcast every MC home hoops game but they *MAY* sell that game to another broadcaster like Sports Time Ohio or Time Warrner or what have you. Specifically Wednesday and Saturday games will be looked at as stock to be sold to other venues.

* Schools have to ramp up their quality of coverage: There was an emphasis that each school should own a bigger stake in their own production value. We all know some MAC schools have terrible broadcasts, this aims to fix that.

Good luck to the SBC in their next negotiation but they are currently no where near what the MAC just received and what C-USA currently gets.

Sun Belt (if Benson is smart) won't reopen until 2018. ESPN has too much leverage to make it worthwhile before then.

(08-19-2014 01:18 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 01:15 PM)bullet Wrote:  Every game on could mean ESPN3. In that case you can get it over the internet, but not necessarily over the air.

IMO that's a way-overblown issue. How hard is it to hook a tablet up to a HDTV via an HDMI cable?

I watch plenty of ESPN3 stuff and all of it on a 42" HDTV.

I've got Apple TV and we use Direct to watch the Today Show before work, DVR a few shows, my wife uses it to see her HBO shows and I watch sports, but I watch more sports on WatchESPN and the MLS app on Apple TV than I thought I would. We probably watch about as much on Apple TV as Direct.