(12-22-2015 02:17 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  

(12-22-2015 09:38 AM)TexanMark Wrote:  

(12-22-2015 12:27 AM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(12-21-2015 11:42 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  Missing from the list is Eastern Michigan. That explains why they are not being shown on tv.

Also UMass was featured in the very lowest rated ESPNU game and they've been dropped from the MAC for next season.

The MAC knows it has issues and is working them.

This is better than CUSA where schools are dropping football in anticipation of a football rights cut, IMO.

But Buffalo is there to save the ratings on that game...aren't there several here banging the drum for UB to the B1G option...well since they are the Flagship of NY?

At least Buffalo does not stick like Eastern Michigan.

Not as bad...but realize this...they have very little brand appeal outside WNY.

(12-21-2015 08:02 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  I'm still waiting for concrete evidence that the so-called exposure helps.

Look no further than the Louisville program. We built interest in our program playing Tues, Weds, Thurs and Fri. If ESPN called we said yes.

ESPN Article

As for MACtion, I love the mid-week game. I have become a huge fan of MAC football because of these games.
CJ

(12-21-2015 07:29 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(12-21-2015 06:52 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(12-21-2015 06:41 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(12-21-2015 06:32 PM)NIUSox10 Wrote:  

(12-21-2015 06:26 PM)Wedge Wrote:  He's missing several Boise State games, as well.

Boise-BYU had 1.027M viewers. Boise-Hawaii 610K, and Boise-Wyoming 605K look like the most-watched of the rest of their games.

Once again these are Saturday games, excluded from this sample.

In other words, you excluded the best AAC and MWC games, and included only their games on Thursday when their games have to compete with both NFL and P5 games, and Friday when they usually have competition with P5 games.

That was the point of the thread - since #MACtion generally referred to the Weeknight games...

There's no CFB or NFL competition for the MAC on Tuesday and Wednesday. The comparison in the OP is between Tuesday/Wednesday broadcasts with no competition, versus Friday broadcasts with strong competition and Thursday broadcasts with unbeatable competition.

Yeah ... but again, isn't that the point of "MACtion" that the MAC made a "deal with the devil", so as to provide an inventory of MAC conference games to be played on Tues and Wed nights, at the expense of ticket holders??

I'm not saying the Tues/Wed games are rightly compared to Thurs/Fri games. But one should be in the right to look at Tues/Wed MACtion games, note their viewership and say something like "well, that looks like some relatively nice viewership!"

(12-22-2015 03:32 PM)CardinalJim Wrote:  

(12-21-2015 08:02 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  I'm still waiting for concrete evidence that the so-called exposure helps.

Look no further than the Louisville program. We built interest in our program playing Tues, Weds, Thurs and Fri. If ESPN called we said yes.

ESPN Article

As for MACtion, I love the mid-week game. I have become a huge fan of MAC football because of these games.
CJ

Let me re-phrase that, I'm not convinced yet that it's helping us. We aren't getting that much money for playing on weeknights, and we lose some money from people not showing up at the games - and the effects are cumulative over time - you can't develop a season-ticket base or even regular attendees. The community also loses, since fans don't go to the bars and restaurants before or after the game. Has it helped recruiting? If we start beating out big-name schools for recruits - or for that matter, other MAC schools, then I'll agree it's helping. For now we're still just trying to find diamonds in the rough, guys that supposedly aren't good enough to play elsewhere.

Also, our weeknight games are in November, and it's usually pretty cold on November nights here. And we always end up playing our biggest games then. And, it's harder to draw attendance since NIU is in a pretty small town and people living in Chicago can't get to the game on time, at least not without taking time off of work.

(12-23-2015 03:47 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  ... Has it helped recruiting? If we start beating out big-name schools for recruits - or for that matter, other MAC schools, then I'll agree it's helping. ...

No matter how much it helps recruiting, it wouldn't help recruiting against other MAC schools ... they get MACtion games too.

Quote: For now we're still just trying to find diamonds in the rough, guys that supposedly aren't good enough to play elsewhere.

I doubt someone who was not inside the recruiting process for MAC school could tell whether it was helping with recruiting. You'd have to know which high school athletes are where on the target board, and which schools we are going up against to get them. But lots of Go5 schools are looking for those diamonds in the rough, and some diamonds in the rough are rougher than others. So the description given is clearly not any clear evidence that it provides no help.

And it's not the AD's making the decision, it's the Presidents. The reason for a MAC school to make the decision are the same as the reason to spend the money to subsidize FBS football in the first place: to promote the University. It's a marketing spend.

So the core issue is not whether the MACtion games help the MAC teams, but whether the MACtion games help the MAC teams deliver value to the MAC schools to help justify the money that the MAC schools lose in supporting the MAC teams.

(12-24-2015 12:14 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(12-23-2015 03:47 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  ... Has it helped recruiting? If we start beating out big-name schools for recruits - or for that matter, other MAC schools, then I'll agree it's helping. ...

No matter how much it helps recruiting, it wouldn't help recruiting against other MAC schools ... they get MACtion games too.

Quote: For now we're still just trying to find diamonds in the rough, guys that supposedly aren't good enough to play elsewhere.

I doubt someone who was not inside the recruiting process for MAC school could tell whether it was helping with recruiting. You'd have to know which high school athletes are where on the target board, and which schools we are going up against to get them. But lots of Go5 schools are looking for those diamonds in the rough, and some diamonds in the rough are rougher than others. So the description given is clearly not any clear evidence that it provides no help.

And it's not the AD's making the decision, it's the Presidents. The reason for a MAC school to make the decision are the same as the reason to spend the money to subsidize FBS football in the first place: to promote the University. It's a marketing spend.

So the core issue is not whether the MACtion games help the MAC teams, but whether the MACtion games help the MAC teams deliver value to the MAC schools to help justify the money that the MAC schools lose in supporting the MAC teams.

NIU has been playing MORE MACtion games than many of the other MAC schools. Presumably because of the recent success. So yes, it should hav e a little impact vs. other schools, especially when our games have often determined the winner of the MAC West.

And your argument about helping the MAC schools is one thing - but there is cost to the teams regardless. So there better be a benefit. And I don't see it. The coaches or AD can claim publicly that recruits know about us because they've seen us on TV - but unless we start getting recruits that we wouldn't otherwise, it's meaningless. And so far, that's the case for us.

Finally, the evidence needs to be produced that the weeknight games help, not that they don't help. If it's all about the money, fine, admit it. Don't act like the exposure is actually helping the team somehow if it isn't. I know our attendance has dropped a lot since we started playing a lot of the games on TV, but that's a whole separate argument.