(10-23-2017 02:16 PM)RutgersGuy Wrote: [ -> ]I was wondering what if larger conference networks aired other conferences? Say the BTN aired BE basketball games? The two conferences geographies almost completely overlap. The B1G are the large state schools and the BE is the smaller city schools in that same region. It would draw more attention to the network as well as draw in more casual regional fans to BE games.
Another interesting one would be airing CUSA and Sun Belt games on a SECN.
It could work I guess with say a partnership between the BTN and P12N where the Pac-12 would produce the games and the BTN would air them.
LHN has carried some Texas State games and presumably some of the FCS schools in Texas (don't know that to be fact).
The three problems
1. Why share your branding with a G5 or an FCS or Division II program?
2. Is it good for your branding as a G5 to be filler content on the P5 branded network?
3. Finding a slot to put the games.
If you have to go dark at 2:30 central (which SECN no longer does) then that's a perfect slot to put a filler game in but the earlier slot you are going to have a conference game and generally you will have a conference game at 6pm central. That covers your Saturday broadcast day.
You aren't likely to pay enough to entice a G5 to move to weeknight.
Basketball if you are locked into a firm Wed/Saturday schedule and say the women are playing Saturday/Monday you could grab a game from a smaller regional league on Thursday or if the women play Thursday/Sunday if a regional league is playing on Mondays you could grab a game there.
But overall there just aren't a lot of slots open where there is a regional non-Power 5 playing in that open slot.
(10-23-2017 03:26 PM)arkstfan Wrote: [ -> ] (10-23-2017 02:16 PM)RutgersGuy Wrote: [ -> ]I was wondering what if larger conference networks aired other conferences? Say the BTN aired BE basketball games? The two conferences geographies almost completely overlap. The B1G are the large state schools and the BE is the smaller city schools in that same region. It would draw more attention to the network as well as draw in more casual regional fans to BE games.
Another interesting one would be airing CUSA and Sun Belt games on a SECN.
It could work I guess with say a partnership between the BTN and P12N where the Pac-12 would produce the games and the BTN would air them.
LHN has carried some Texas State games and presumably some of the FCS schools in Texas (don't know that to be fact).
The three problems
1. Why share your branding with a G5 or an FCS or Division II program?
2. Is it good for your branding as a G5 to be filler content on the P5 branded network?
3. Finding a slot to put the games.
If you have to go dark at 2:30 central (which SECN no longer does) then that's a perfect slot to put a filler game in but the earlier slot you are going to have a conference game and generally you will have a conference game at 6pm central. That covers your Saturday broadcast day.
You aren't likely to pay enough to entice a G5 to move to weeknight.
Basketball if you are locked into a firm Wed/Saturday schedule and say the women are playing Saturday/Monday you could grab a game from a smaller regional league on Thursday or if the women play Thursday/Sunday if a regional league is playing on Mondays you could grab a game there.
But overall there just aren't a lot of slots open where there is a regional non-Power 5 playing in that open slot.
I would think more content that people actually want to watch (FB/Mens BBall) would make the channel more profitable. I'm not saying the SECN take on a whole G5 conferences contract but some games would definitely work. I mean it's not like the Sun Belt or CUSA is getting a ton of money or exposure from ESPN (Yes, I know ESPN owns SECN) and the regional overlap could get casual fans from Georgia to tune into a Weds/Thurs/Fri night Georgia State game or a casual Auburn fan to tune into a weeknight Troy game.
(10-23-2017 03:26 PM)arkstfan Wrote: [ -> ] (10-23-2017 02:16 PM)RutgersGuy Wrote: [ -> ]I was wondering what if larger conference networks aired other conferences? Say the BTN aired BE basketball games? The two conferences geographies almost completely overlap. The B1G are the large state schools and the BE is the smaller city schools in that same region. It would draw more attention to the network as well as draw in more casual regional fans to BE games.
Another interesting one would be airing CUSA and Sun Belt games on a SECN.
It could work I guess with say a partnership between the BTN and P12N where the Pac-12 would produce the games and the BTN would air them.
LHN has carried some Texas State games and presumably some of the FCS schools in Texas (don't know that to be fact).
The three problems
1. Why share your branding with a G5 or an FCS or Division II program?
2. Is it good for your branding as a G5 to be filler content on the P5 branded network?
3. Finding a slot to put the games.
If you have to go dark at 2:30 central (which SECN no longer does) then that's a perfect slot to put a filler game in but the earlier slot you are going to have a conference game and generally you will have a conference game at 6pm central. That covers your Saturday broadcast day.
You aren't likely to pay enough to entice a G5 to move to weeknight.
Basketball if you are locked into a firm Wed/Saturday schedule and say the women are playing Saturday/Monday you could grab a game from a smaller regional league on Thursday or if the women play Thursday/Sunday if a regional league is playing on Mondays you could grab a game there.
But overall there just aren't a lot of slots open where there is a regional non-Power 5 playing in that open slot.
Makes sense. The one place where branding might be fine is using UTEP and UTSA games as regional filler on LHN. They do share the UT name and they are regional schools. I think that might actually be a decent fit for all involved parties in such a deal.
It still baffles me that the intelligent people at ESPN thought it would be worthwhile to have an entire channel devoted to the tier 3 rights of one school and that there would be enough content to fill out a schedule. How many live Texas football games actually air on that channel?
Don't see the mega 20-30 conference ever happening. Heads of conferences such as the SEC, PAC, B1G, ACC, Etc. all have massive egos and will not want to surrender the headship of their domain to be second fiddle in a mega conference. In addition, there would be scheduling issues and other concerns for this to ever happen. The largest I ever see a conference getting is 16, more than that is too cumbersome.
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(10-23-2017 07:55 PM)Jjoey52 Wrote: [ -> ]Don't see the mega 20-30 conference ever happening. Heads of conferences such as the SEC, PAC, B1G, ACC, Etc. all have massive egos and will not want to surrender the headship of their domain to be second fiddle in a mega conference. In addition, there would be scheduling issues and other concerns for this to ever happen. The largest I ever see a conference getting is 16, more than that is too cumbersome.
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I don't think a conference of 20 or more would exist in the way we currently know conferences but rather more like the mega conferences of the early 20th century that served more as regulatory bodies imposing added restrictions in the era when the NCAA did little more than set playing rules.
In that world you might functionally have two or playing groups that we would think of as conferences operating under a central authority but vast groups of schools rarely if ever playing each other.