(03-15-2017 03:59 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 03:57 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 03:51 PM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 03:49 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 03:37 PM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  It may start with them but it will end right there. A few MAC ADs have already come out indicating their disgust with the scheduling. Does that change anything? No.

It's a quick and easy money grab for the conference and they could give two sh*ts about what the ADs of each school thinks, let alone our personal opinions.

Fine - we still need to let the ADs know. And the ADs can let the Presidents know. If the Presidents don't do anything about it, at least they can't claim ignorance of the state of the fans' loyalty or possible loss of it.

If that happens, I will be pleasantly surprised. It has yet to happen to date though and the schedule gets worse every year.

The presidents need to be so sick of hearing about this issue that when they do have a chance to make a change they will hopefully jump on it.

Its really the ADs that have the Presidents ear though. The pressure needs to be put on Frazier and other MAC ADs for anything to happen. Than again, our fearless AD wants us to go to FCS, so not sure that will do any good either

Give it a rest. Rarely do you post anything accurate which also drives away fans interested in this forum. You should encourage more fan participation by cutting out the baseless rants. Every thread gets hijacked by negative Carey or Frazier talk. Let's stick to the topic which started off as an interesting idea. I agree that the 8:30 Wyoming kickoff was a horrible idea so there's merit to this concept. However, without tv money there are less pay check games and bowl payouts. Makes revenue more difficult and heavily reliant on fan support.

(03-15-2017 11:33 PM)VegasHuskie Wrote:  Did any NIU fans actually bother to read this article?
... the revenue boost and exposure from nationally televised games isn't compensating for lost gate revenue and fan inconvenience. He's probably correct.

The ESPN contract offers each school close to one million annually. MAC schools are not making that up with bigger gate if the games were more conveniently scheduled. With all the nonsense Huskie fans continue to post, I have yet to see anyone offer a salient way these schools will make up that lost revenue should the MAC opt out of the ESPN deal.

The MAC got lucky signing their new lucrative deal when they did. Check out Conference USA, if you will.

Continuing on, how do you think NIU became good and remained good for many years? How do you think they opened the Florida pipeline for recruiting that has been crucial to success? Does anyone really think NIU would have ever played in the Orange Bowl if it were not for ESPN and the MACtion branding?

Question is do you bother to read and understand the posts of everyone upset with the scheduling?
There is no doubt that at one time NIU and the MAC gained valuable exposure and it gave a boost to recruiting. That being said, it has now reached a point of diminishing returns.
No. 1, instead of "close to a million" per school, the figure is $845,000 to be spent by schools to make streaming games possible (--a concept that helps ESPN as much as the schools--) and doesn't increase yearly. No. 2, watch any MACtion event and the first thing you notice (--an continue to notice--) is the empty seats: showcasing a lack of fans is the wrong type of exposure. No. 3, the concept of a major Division I football conference with zero home games in the month of football is ridiculous. At a time of the year when college football interest is peaking, the MAC is not even getting mentioned on Saturdays: no game updates, no score mentions, no chance of a great play getting shown alongside top plays from P5s. No. 4, fulfilling the ESPN-mandated dates in November creates harmful restrictions on scheduling possibilities earlier in the year, hence long-time NIU fans having to debate whether to purchase a season ticket and maintain giving at a level related to parking for basically two Saturdays. No. 5, After investing in the equipment necessary for collegiate level streaming, the remaining dollars get spent much quicker because the budget is losing vast amounts from what should be the cornerstone of the program: season ticket sales, augmented by parking, concessions. No. 6, instead of following Pettibone with a Sadler, NIU wisely chose a succession of coaches who were able to maintain and build upon previous success (Novak to Kill to Doeren). No. 7, for every player from that magical Florida pipeline, there still seems to be a Michael Turner, Garrett Wolfe, Chandler Harnish, Jordan Lynch, etc. that contributed greatly to NIU's success. No. 8, Considering the backlash by Kirk Herbs---t and others, it's a stretch to say MACtion got us to the Orange Bowl. Fulfilling the requirements of the loophole the P5s themselves created thinking it would keep a G5 from slipping through is how the Huskies made the Orange Bowl.

(03-16-2017 10:05 AM)uiniu57 Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 11:33 PM)VegasHuskie Wrote:  Did any NIU fans actually bother to read this article?
... the revenue boost and exposure from nationally televised games isn't compensating for lost gate revenue and fan inconvenience. He's probably correct.

The ESPN contract offers each school close to one million annually. MAC schools are not making that up with bigger gate if the games were more conveniently scheduled. With all the nonsense Huskie fans continue to post, I have yet to see anyone offer a salient way these schools will make up that lost revenue should the MAC opt out of the ESPN deal.

The MAC got lucky signing their new lucrative deal when they did. Check out Conference USA, if you will.

Continuing on, how do you think NIU became good and remained good for many years? How do you think they opened the Florida pipeline for recruiting that has been crucial to success? Does anyone really think NIU would have ever played in the Orange Bowl if it were not for ESPN and the MACtion branding?

Question is do you bother to read and understand the posts of everyone upset with the scheduling?
There is no doubt that at one time NIU and the MAC gained valuable exposure and it gave a boost to recruiting. That being said, it has now reached a point of diminishing returns.
No. 1, instead of "close to a million" per school, the figure is $845,000 to be spent by schools to make streaming games possible (--a concept that helps ESPN as much as the schools--) and doesn't increase yearly. No. 2, watch any MACtion event and the first thing you notice (--an continue to notice--) is the empty seats: showcasing a lack of fans is the wrong type of exposure. No. 3, the concept of a major Division I football conference with zero home games in the month of football is ridiculous. At a time of the year when college football interest is peaking, the MAC is not even getting mentioned on Saturdays: no game updates, no score mentions, no chance of a great play getting shown alongside top plays from P5s. No. 4, fulfilling the ESPN-mandated dates in November creates harmful restrictions on scheduling possibilities earlier in the year, hence long-time NIU fans having to debate whether to purchase a season ticket and maintain giving at a level related to parking for basically two Saturdays. No. 5, After investing in the equipment necessary for collegiate level streaming, the remaining dollars get spent much quicker because the budget is losing vast amounts from what should be the cornerstone of the program: season ticket sales, augmented by parking, concessions. No. 6, instead of following Pettibone with a Sadler, NIU wisely chose a succession of coaches who were able to maintain and build upon previous success (Novak to Kill to Doeren). No. 7, for every player from that magical Florida pipeline, there still seems to be a Michael Turner, Garrett Wolfe, Chandler Harnish, Jordan Lynch, etc. that contributed greatly to NIU's success. No. 8, Considering the backlash by Kirk Herbs---t and others, it's a stretch to say MACtion got us to the Orange Bowl. Fulfilling the requirements of the loophole the P5s themselves created thinking it would keep a G5 from slipping through is how the Huskies made the Orange Bowl.

+100

(03-16-2017 12:36 AM)Dtownboys Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 03:59 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 03:57 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 03:51 PM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 03:49 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Fine - we still need to let the ADs know. And the ADs can let the Presidents know. If the Presidents don't do anything about it, at least they can't claim ignorance of the state of the fans' loyalty or possible loss of it.

If that happens, I will be pleasantly surprised. It has yet to happen to date though and the schedule gets worse every year.

The presidents need to be so sick of hearing about this issue that when they do have a chance to make a change they will hopefully jump on it.

Its really the ADs that have the Presidents ear though. The pressure needs to be put on Frazier and other MAC ADs for anything to happen. Than again, our fearless AD wants us to go to FCS, so not sure that will do any good either

Give it a rest. Rarely do you post anything accurate which also drives away fans interested in this forum. You should encourage more fan participation by cutting out the baseless rants. Every thread gets hijacked by negative Carey or Frazier talk. Let's stick to the topic which started off as an interesting idea. I agree that the 8:30 Wyoming kickoff was a horrible idea so there's merit to this concept. However, without tv money there are less pay check games and bowl payouts. Makes revenue more difficult and heavily reliant on fan support.

It is quite sad that many long time posters have disappeared from the board recently.

(03-16-2017 10:29 AM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  

(03-16-2017 12:36 AM)Dtownboys Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 03:59 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 03:57 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 03:51 PM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  If that happens, I will be pleasantly surprised. It has yet to happen to date though and the schedule gets worse every year.

The presidents need to be so sick of hearing about this issue that when they do have a chance to make a change they will hopefully jump on it.

Its really the ADs that have the Presidents ear though. The pressure needs to be put on Frazier and other MAC ADs for anything to happen. Than again, our fearless AD wants us to go to FCS, so not sure that will do any good either

Give it a rest. Rarely do you post anything accurate which also drives away fans interested in this forum. You should encourage more fan participation by cutting out the baseless rants. Every thread gets hijacked by negative Carey or Frazier talk. Let's stick to the topic which started off as an interesting idea. I agree that the 8:30 Wyoming kickoff was a horrible idea so there's merit to this concept. However, without tv money there are less pay check games and bowl payouts. Makes revenue more difficult and heavily reliant on fan support.

It is quite sad that many long time posters have disappeared from the board recently.

Yes the fair weather fans have started to jump ship, but this is always a slow time of year, especially to be expected when both sports are headed downward.

(03-16-2017 10:32 AM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(03-16-2017 10:29 AM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  

(03-16-2017 12:36 AM)Dtownboys Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 03:59 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 03:57 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  The presidents need to be so sick of hearing about this issue that when they do have a chance to make a change they will hopefully jump on it.

Its really the ADs that have the Presidents ear though. The pressure needs to be put on Frazier and other MAC ADs for anything to happen. Than again, our fearless AD wants us to go to FCS, so not sure that will do any good either

Give it a rest. Rarely do you post anything accurate which also drives away fans interested in this forum. You should encourage more fan participation by cutting out the baseless rants. Every thread gets hijacked by negative Carey or Frazier talk. Let's stick to the topic which started off as an interesting idea. I agree that the 8:30 Wyoming kickoff was a horrible idea so there's merit to this concept. However, without tv money there are less pay check games and bowl payouts. Makes revenue more difficult and heavily reliant on fan support.

It is quite sad that many long time posters have disappeared from the board recently.

Yes the fair weather fans have started to jump ship, but this is always a slow time of year, especially to be expected when both sports are headed downward.

LOL point proven

(03-16-2017 10:35 AM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  

(03-16-2017 10:32 AM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(03-16-2017 10:29 AM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  

(03-16-2017 12:36 AM)Dtownboys Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 03:59 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  Its really the ADs that have the Presidents ear though. The pressure needs to be put on Frazier and other MAC ADs for anything to happen. Than again, our fearless AD wants us to go to FCS, so not sure that will do any good either

Give it a rest. Rarely do you post anything accurate which also drives away fans interested in this forum. You should encourage more fan participation by cutting out the baseless rants. Every thread gets hijacked by negative Carey or Frazier talk. Let's stick to the topic which started off as an interesting idea. I agree that the 8:30 Wyoming kickoff was a horrible idea so there's merit to this concept. However, without tv money there are less pay check games and bowl payouts. Makes revenue more difficult and heavily reliant on fan support.

It is quite sad that many long time posters have disappeared from the board recently.

Yes the fair weather fans have started to jump ship, but this is always a slow time of year, especially to be expected when both sports are headed downward.

LOL point proven

And also we are out of AAC football season, that drops 75% of our traffic right there lol

(03-16-2017 10:05 AM)uiniu57 Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 11:33 PM)VegasHuskie Wrote:  Did any NIU fans actually bother to read this article?
... the revenue boost and exposure from nationally televised games isn't compensating for lost gate revenue and fan inconvenience. He's probably correct.

The ESPN contract offers each school close to one million annually. MAC schools are not making that up with bigger gate if the games were more conveniently scheduled. With all the nonsense Huskie fans continue to post, I have yet to see anyone offer a salient way these schools will make up that lost revenue should the MAC opt out of the ESPN deal.

The MAC got lucky signing their new lucrative deal when they did. Check out Conference USA, if you will.

Continuing on, how do you think NIU became good and remained good for many years? How do you think they opened the Florida pipeline for recruiting that has been crucial to success? Does anyone really think NIU would have ever played in the Orange Bowl if it were not for ESPN and the MACtion branding?

Question is do you bother to read and understand the posts of everyone upset with the scheduling?
There is no doubt that at one time NIU and the MAC gained valuable exposure and it gave a boost to recruiting. That being said, it has now reached a point of diminishing returns.
No. 1, instead of "close to a million" per school, the figure is $845,000 to be spent by schools to make streaming games possible (--a concept that helps ESPN as much as the schools--) and doesn't increase yearly. No. 2, watch any MACtion event and the first thing you notice (--an continue to notice--) is the empty seats: showcasing a lack of fans is the wrong type of exposure. No. 3, the concept of a major Division I football conference with zero home games in the month of football is ridiculous. At a time of the year when college football interest is peaking, the MAC is not even getting mentioned on Saturdays: no game updates, no score mentions, no chance of a great play getting shown alongside top plays from P5s. No. 4, fulfilling the ESPN-mandated dates in November creates harmful restrictions on scheduling possibilities earlier in the year, hence long-time NIU fans having to debate whether to purchase a season ticket and maintain giving at a level related to parking for basically two Saturdays. No. 5, After investing in the equipment necessary for collegiate level streaming, the remaining dollars get spent much quicker because the budget is losing vast amounts from what should be the cornerstone of the program: season ticket sales, augmented by parking, concessions. No. 6, instead of following Pettibone with a Sadler, NIU wisely chose a succession of coaches who were able to maintain and build upon previous success (Novak to Kill to Doeren). No. 7, for every player from that magical Florida pipeline, there still seems to be a Michael Turner, Garrett Wolfe, Chandler Harnish, Jordan Lynch, etc. that contributed greatly to NIU's success. No. 8, Considering the backlash by Kirk Herbs---t and others, it's a stretch to say MACtion got us to the Orange Bowl. Fulfilling the requirements of the loophole the P5s themselves created thinking it would keep a G5 from slipping through is how the Huskies made the Orange Bowl.

Good evening UINIU,

I consider you one of the most thoughtful posters on this site, however I feel you are off base on this one.

1. Saying close to one million instead of 850K sounded snappier. But the numbers ARE close

2. Agreed. Watching MACtion games with empty seats isn't great. But at least we're watching them. No one will see these games when they are buried on a Saturday afternoon

3. You really think MAC games are going to get the time of day from the national media on a busy Saturday loaded with games? You're kidding yourself if you think they will show highlights or pay a lick of attention to a random Buffalo/Kent State game - or even a good Toledo/NIU one. The MAC not playing on a Saturday is no different than if they did

4. I'm not sure what you are getting at here. I apologize if it's clear and I'm just missing an obvious point

5. Can you cite sources for this point? Is NIU really losing vast amounts of revenue from season ticket sales, concessions, parking? Perhaps you are correct and I may alter my views. However, I tend to think there has not been a dramatic decrease in gate and ancillary income

6. Yes, NIU was very on point with their coaching choices until the shortsighted and disastrous hiring of Coach Rod Carey

7. The core of NIU recruits will always be local players. I didn't intend to suggest otherwise. Very few players from out of state, however, will ever have interest in NIU if the games are never televised. ESPN helps out of state recruiting nationally

8. NIU was featured prominently during the Orange Bowl season on ESPN and ESPN2. There is NO WAY Jordan Lynch makes it to the Heisman presentation and a one loss NIU team makes it to #16 nationally if they don't have all those voting eyes on them. ESPN played up the Lynch mystique and made the Huskies relevant nationally

9. May I also add one more comment? I have a suspicion there are a number of fans, such as me, who love the games on week nights. Saturdays are difficult. We have youth sports, work obligations, family outings. It is not always easy to find time to watch a football game on a Saturday. Weeknights are far more convenient

One thing no one can argue is that our fanbase is dwindling at an alarming rate because of the ESPN deal. What are we even doing if we do not have any fans left to present the product to? It is really that simple. The weeknight games may be convenient for you Vegas, and actually at times they are for me to because of a non-traditional work schedule, but the vast vast majority of NIU fans want games on Saturdays because those are the ones they can attend. It pains me to say having 100 to 200 people there on weeknights like yourself or myself is just not going to cut it.

(03-16-2017 11:16 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  One thing no one can argue is that our fanbase is dwindling at an alarming rate because of the ESPN deal. What are we even doing if we do not have any fans left to present the product to? It is really that simple. The weeknight games may be convenient for you Vegas, and actually at times they are for me to because of a non-traditional work schedule, but the vast vast majority of NIU fans want games on Saturdays because those are the ones they can attend. It pains me to say having 100 to 200 people there on weeknights like yourself or myself is just not going to cut it.

LOL. I like you MadDawgz! So now we have only 200 or so people at these weeknight games?

I think I WILL argue that our fanbase is not dwindling at an alarming rate. Attendance is down because of it, but for all the people that live out of the area, ESPN games give us the opportunity to watch games. Has donor money diminished, is there less activity from NIU fans on social media? Show me how our fanbase has dwindled at an alarming rate.

Does anyone have numbers for the past few seasons with differences in gate from the weeknight and Satruday games? I'm curious just how much fan attrition there truly is. I suspect it really isn't all that much, but perhaps that assumption is misguided

(03-16-2017 11:37 PM)VegasHuskie Wrote:  

(03-16-2017 11:16 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  One thing no one can argue is that our fanbase is dwindling at an alarming rate because of the ESPN deal. What are we even doing if we do not have any fans left to present the product to? It is really that simple. The weeknight games may be convenient for you Vegas, and actually at times they are for me to because of a non-traditional work schedule, but the vast vast majority of NIU fans want games on Saturdays because those are the ones they can attend. It pains me to say having 100 to 200 people there on weeknights like yourself or myself is just not going to cut it.

LOL. I like you MadDawgz! So now we have only 200 or so people at these weeknight games?

I think I WILL argue that our fanbase is not dwindling at an alarming rate. Attendance is down because of it, but for all the people that live out of the area, ESPN games give us the opportunity to watch games. Has donor money diminished, is there less activity from NIU fans on social media? Show me how our fanbase has dwindled at an alarming rate.

Does anyone have numbers for the past few seasons with differences in gate from the weeknight and Satruday games? I'm curious just how much fan attrition there truly is. I suspect it really isn't all that much, but perhaps that assumption is misguided

Going from 2009 weeknight games to weeknight games today, My suspicion is that we are down by at least 50%. The problem is that it is a cumulative thing, we lose some of our season ticket base every year that people make the judgment that season tickets are no longer worth it anymore. The growth rate of this attrition is really going to increase this year, I honestly think we are in for a huge huge shock with attendance numbers. People I never dreamt would consider giving up tickets, are seriously considering or have decided not to renew.

Mountain West will have six games air exclusively on Facebook.

College football on Facebook: Site to stream 15 games in '17

I think NIU should consider streaming their games exclusively on Gas Station TV, so we can watch the games on the video screens at gas pumps. That way, we can get gas in more ways than one while watching the Huskie games.

(08-23-2017 01:23 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  I think NIU should consider streaming their games exclusively on Gas Station TV, so we can watch the games on the video screens at gas pumps. That way, we can get gas in more ways than one while watching the Huskie games.

Pros would be most gas stations have plenty of hot dogs.

Cons would be the screen is too small.

Facebook is a pretty good platform. People spend so much time on social media nowadays. If this allows them to have Saturday games then even better.

(08-23-2017 01:33 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  Facebook is a pretty good platform. People spend so much time on social media nowadays. If this allows them to have Saturday games then even better.

I agree on the Saturday reasoning, but if our games were exclusively on Facebook, I would not watch any of them. I am not on any social media, not a member of Facebook, and refuse to sign up.

(08-23-2017 01:42 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(08-23-2017 01:33 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  Facebook is a pretty good platform. People spend so much time on social media nowadays. If this allows them to have Saturday games then even better.

I agree on the Saturday reasoning, but if our games were exclusively on Facebook, I would not watch any of them. I am not on any social media, not a member of Facebook, and refuse to sign up.

Yeah, i'm not on that garbage either. But if NIU went to exclusive facebook streaming I would create some made up name and such just to stream the games.

Meanwhile, Louisville's new Adidas deal is only a little less than the entire TV contract for the MWC. Another reason why 35 schools tried to get into the Big12, the writing is on the wall.

been saying this for years. you pick when you have a school the size of niu.... a lukewarm loyal national fanbase, or a dedicated local fanbase. you don't get both.