http://www.niuhuskies.com/sports/m-baskb...sched.html

A lot of games scheduled on ESPN3 this season, compared to the few last year, I know the new MAC-ESPN rules talked about this but I didn't think that it would be this big in its first season! Even NIU vs Aurora is on there!

This is fantastic news! Awesome to see.

All home games are on. They are produced by NIU. Bill Baker is on the call. ESPN3 is a great thing for NIU Athletics!

Perhaps you've missed this.

http://www.niuhuskies.com/genrel/092414aaa.html

it will be especially high this year because we are one of the few MAC schools with a media department capable of showing all the ESPN 3 games...correct?

It's about time NIU exposed themselves.

(11-15-2014 12:06 PM)niubrad00 Wrote:  Perhaps you've missed this.

http://www.niuhuskies.com/genrel/092414aaa.html

No I saw it, I just didn't expect this much Bball coverage this year.

(11-15-2014 01:50 PM)WeAreHuskies Wrote:  

(11-15-2014 12:06 PM)niubrad00 Wrote:  Perhaps you've missed this.

http://www.niuhuskies.com/genrel/092414aaa.html

No I saw it, I just didn't expect this much Bball coverage this year.

Well here's the first sentence from that release...........

At least 35 Northern Illinois University athletic events, including nearly every home men's and women's basketball game, will be available to fans across the nation for free on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app in 2014-15,

Plan on making it out to Allstate for the DePaul game. Hope we have a great turnout of red there

to me, this was the most significant part of the contract renewal with ESPN. The MAC has up to 4 years to get every school's bball broadcasts up to ESPN's standards. A tentative schedule of 3 teams per year for 4 years has been implemented with NIU, CMU and Buffalo making the upgrades in year 1 (2014-2015). I haven't seen a CMU broadcast yet but the NIU and UB games have been crazy good. My fear was that the production value would mimic that of the regional channels like Sports Time Ohio with the cheesy graphics and slow replay options but these are full blown ESPN quality broadcasts.

This will be the new normal going forward, every MAC bball game will be on ESPN3 and archived for rewatching at your convenience. This will also make it possible for ESPN to upgrade matchups at the last minute to one of their channels if needed. This will be great for recruiting, for fans, and for the overall perception of the league.