You can spin and debate which contract is better. This is just my personal opinion, but I like the SBC deal a lot better. I'm going to cut the cord this fall and this works out perfectly. I use ROKU and will pick up SLING TV, all the sports channels I want, netflix, Prime, and maybe something else. I'm hoping to be able to attach an digital antenna to one TV to get local channels for news coverage. Other than that never watch local stuff or the big networks. My problem is I'm limited to only Att and Comcast for internet. ATT and DirecTV is what I currently have and will drop that for Xfinity internet. That's the plan anyway.
So paying $5/month to get all my SBC, plus a lot of MLS games in one place is a no brainer. I just don't think I could watch games on my phone or tablet and pairing that with my TV would be cumbersome. Also, there is no Stadium channel that I know of in my area so that would suck, even if they decided to air any games locally.
I should be ok at 100Mbs speeds so ESPN shouldn't buffer like it does now (16Mbs with ATT, supposed to be 24Mbs but it never gets that fast) but ESPN does need to do something with the compression to reduce that. They are the worst, but I think it is because they are mostly live events and can't do spontaneous compression of the feed (the commercials play just fine, but live action pixelates and stutters)

I suspect that Stadium will roll out “channels” for many of the CUSA team cities. Stadium Charlotte, Stadium Tide Water, Stadium Birmingham, etc, etc. This may actually turn into a good platform but in the meantime ESPN is the only power brand to be associated with and it is fantastic that we are on and associated with ESPN along with the big boys.

I noticed that Mobile gets Stadium network on one of the subchannels a few weeks ago when the satellite went out during a rain storm. For this to work well for CUSA, they need Stadium on DirectTV, Dish, Comcast, Mediacomm, U-Verse, etc lineups. CBS Sportschannel isn't that bad to find/get. My question is are those TV games on Saturday or they getting midweek games too?

(03-15-2018 01:48 PM)kevinwmsn Wrote:  I noticed that Mobile gets Stadium network on one of the subchannels a few weeks ago when the satellite went out during a rain storm. For this to work well for CUSA, they need Stadium on DirectTV, Dish, Comcast, Mediacomm, U-Verse, etc lineups. CBS Sportschannel isn't that bad to find/get. My question is are those TV games on Saturday or they getting midweek games too?

Read a poster over on the CUSA board who said most would be Saturday games but some would be Friday.

(03-15-2018 01:53 PM)Georgia_Power_Company Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 01:48 PM)kevinwmsn Wrote:  I noticed that Mobile gets Stadium network on one of the subchannels a few weeks ago when the satellite went out during a rain storm. For this to work well for CUSA, they need Stadium on DirectTV, Dish, Comcast, Mediacomm, U-Verse, etc lineups. CBS Sportschannel isn't that bad to find/get. My question is are those TV games on Saturday or they getting midweek games too?

Read a poster over on the CUSA board who said most would be Saturday games but some would be Friday.

To each their own but I prefer Tue-Thu to Friday. Our Friday game at home drew worse than a Tue-Thu because of high school football.

(03-15-2018 01:29 PM)HighlandsApp Wrote:  I suspect that Stadium will roll out “channels” for many of the CUSA team cities. Stadium Charlotte, Stadium Tide Water, Stadium Birmingham, etc, etc. This may actually turn into a good platform but in the meantime ESPN is the only power brand to be associated with and it is fantastic that we are on and associated with ESPN along with the big boys.

No not the big boys, Sunbelt and FCS will be regeleted to ESPN+

"ESPN’s new subscription app will cost $5 a month. It will not be a huge hit.
It will cost $5 a month. Tough sell.

That’s because if you’re the kind of person who likes watching the stuff that ESPN is paying billions of dollars a year to show you — NFL games, NBA games, big-time college football and other top-tier sports — ESPN’s new service won’t give you what you want.

Instead, ESPN Plus will have programming that ESPN doesn’t think is valuable enough to put on regular TV

ESPN still hasn’t publicly spelled out what that means, but people familiar with the company have filled in the blanks. Think small college sports."


https://www.recode.net/2018/2/6/16982032...ve-dollars

So the Sunbelt will be will be on ESPN ocho with the FCS teams and the Sunbelt will have to pay the production costs, plus have games on Tuesday and Wednesday. In what bizarro world is this a good deal?

(03-15-2018 07:44 PM)Dawgxas Wrote:  So the Sunbelt will be will be on ESPN ocho with the FCS teams and the Sunbelt will have to pay the production costs, plus have games on Tuesday and Wednesday. In what bizarro world is this a good deal?

In Marketzville

LA Tech really defending the deal they signed. Go look at CUSA and SBC’s TV deals from just five years ago. One conference has taken a nose dive, one has doubled the number of games on traditional TV and since a 500%+ increase in online tv options. Sorry.

(03-15-2018 07:39 PM)Dawgxas Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 01:29 PM)HighlandsApp Wrote:  I suspect that Stadium will roll out “channels” for many of the CUSA team cities. Stadium Charlotte, Stadium Tide Water, Stadium Birmingham, etc, etc. This may actually turn into a good platform but in the meantime ESPN is the only power brand to be associated with and it is fantastic that we are on and associated with ESPN along with the big boys.

No not the big boys, Sunbelt and FCS will be regeleted to ESPN+

"ESPN’s new subscription app will cost $5 a month. It will not be a huge hit.
It will cost $5 a month. Tough sell.

That’s because if you’re the kind of person who likes watching the stuff that ESPN is paying billions of dollars a year to show you — NFL games, NBA games, big-time college football and other top-tier sports — ESPN’s new service won’t give you what you want.

Instead, ESPN Plus will have programming that ESPN doesn’t think is valuable enough to put on regular TV

ESPN still hasn’t publicly spelled out what that means, but people familiar with the company have filled in the blanks. Think small college sports."


https://www.recode.net/2018/2/6/16982032...ve-dollars

If all I care about is my team's sports, I will take $5 a month for that content being produced at ESPN standards over $10.99 like CUSA TV

BUT we also know that Disney's CEO has said there will be MLB and NHL games. What games and how many is the great unknown.

I'm going to save $15 a year thanks to ESPN+ because I am an MLS Live subscriber. If you are an LAFC or Chicago Fire fan, you can now cut the cord rather than subscribe to get the local regional sports network to get that content.

ESPN now owns MLB.tv and NHL GameCenter. Once the Fox sale is complete ESPN will own the regional broadcast rights to 16 MLB teams, 10 NHL and 16 NBA teams.

We don't know definitively what ESPN plans to do with ESPN+ the signed deal with the Sun Belt, the MLS out-of-market rights and local rights to two teams, but offering some level of MLB and NHL is part of the plan.

If they are so inclined, they could offer all out-of-market for NBA and NHL because they own those rights or they could offer to me the St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, Memphis Grizzlies, OKC Thunder, Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars under the local rights they will own.

(03-15-2018 07:44 PM)Dawgxas Wrote:  So the Sunbelt will be will be on ESPN ocho with the FCS teams and the Sunbelt will have to pay the production costs, plus have games on Tuesday and Wednesday. In what bizarro world is this a good deal?

Could be worse. Let's go to stadium or bein...Lol or even be a loser tech guy from ruston la. How can anyone live with that?

(03-15-2018 07:44 PM)Dawgxas Wrote:  So the Sunbelt will be will be on ESPN ocho with the FCS teams and the Sunbelt will have to pay the production costs, plus have games on Tuesday and Wednesday. In what bizarro world is this a good deal?

The same bizzaro world where an athletic director at a CUSA brags that CUSA won't have to pay production costs neglecting to mention that CUSA will pay production costs for the approximately 61 football games not selected by CBSSN or Stadium or those games won't be available on video.

But...but, they chose members so carefully, for the TV markets! How can this be?

(03-15-2018 07:44 PM)Dawgxas Wrote:  So the Sunbelt will be will be on ESPN ocho with the FCS teams and the Sunbelt will have to pay the production costs, plus have games on Tuesday and Wednesday. In what bizarro world is this a good deal?

No, you know what's FCS? Having football games shown through SideArm Sports. I remember doing that when we were FCS, having to go search around for the website to steam it from, then having to plug my laptop into the TV. You know how I know where to see games on TV? The ESPN app on my phone. You know which conference has half of their games with no TV broadcast listed? I'll give you a clue, you're in it. We always have a TV channel listed. In fact, the only time we don't is when we play CUSA teams.

(03-15-2018 10:05 PM)AppinATL Wrote:  But...but, they chose members so carefully, for the TV markets! How can this be?

Of the 7 new members to join since 2013, 4 were large TV markets. I wouldn't consider La Tech, MTSU or WKU large TV markets. FAU/FIU were only added because we wanted to replace the FL schools that left and have exposure in FL. UTSA and UNT do have some upside and seem to not like each other, which is fun.

Personally, UNCC is a bust and I'd much rather have App St than most of the others added in 2013.

In general, I'd agree that CUSA leadership has not performed well. This new TV deal, I think, is not as bad as it seems on the surface. We still get payments from BeIN and have a large inventory that, so I've heard, ESPN is still in play for (some at least).

I will give props to SBC. Us long standing members of CUSA recall the days when there was a large separation between our conferences. That gap has shrunk significantly.

(03-16-2018 11:41 AM)va-eagle Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 10:05 PM)AppinATL Wrote:  But...but, they chose members so carefully, for the TV markets! How can this be?

Of the 7 new members to join since 2013, 4 were large TV markets. I wouldn't consider La Tech, MTSU or WKU large TV markets. FAU/FIU were only added because we wanted to replace the FL schools that left and have exposure in FL. UTSA and UNT do have some upside and seem to not like each other, which is fun.

Personally, UNCC is a bust and I'd much rather have App St than most of the others added in 2013.

In general, I'd agree that CUSA leadership has not performed well. This new TV deal, I think, is not as bad as it seems on the surface. We still get payments from BeIN and have a large inventory that, so I've heard, ESPN is still in play for (some at least).

I will give props to SBC. Us long standing members of CUSA recall the days when there was a large separation between our conferences. That gap has shrunk significantly.

If CUSA is still negotiating with ESPN, I'm assuming it's for games to be aired on ESPN+. So CUSA fans are paying for CBSSN, beIN, CUSA network, will either have to pay production costs to be in CUSA network or have a terrible video board feed, and then on top of that, still have to pay $5 a month to get ESPN+?

Cool

(03-16-2018 11:41 AM)va-eagle Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 10:05 PM)AppinATL Wrote:  But...but, they chose members so carefully, for the TV markets! How can this be?

Of the 7 new members to join since 2013, 4 were large TV markets. I wouldn't consider La Tech, MTSU or WKU large TV markets. FAU/FIU were only added because we wanted to replace the FL schools that left and have exposure in FL. UTSA and UNT do have some upside and seem to not like each other, which is fun.

Personally, UNCC is a bust and I'd much rather have App St than most of the others added in 2013.

In general, I'd agree that CUSA leadership has not performed well. This new TV deal, I think, is not as bad as it seems on the surface. We still get payments from BeIN and have a large inventory that, so I've heard, ESPN is still in play for (some at least).

I will give props to SBC. Us long standing members of CUSA recall the days when there was a large separation between our conferences. That gap has shrunk significantly.

What gap? There is no gap.

(03-16-2018 11:53 AM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(03-16-2018 11:41 AM)va-eagle Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 10:05 PM)AppinATL Wrote:  But...but, they chose members so carefully, for the TV markets! How can this be?

Of the 7 new members to join since 2013, 4 were large TV markets. I wouldn't consider La Tech, MTSU or WKU large TV markets. FAU/FIU were only added because we wanted to replace the FL schools that left and have exposure in FL. UTSA and UNT do have some upside and seem to not like each other, which is fun.

Personally, UNCC is a bust and I'd much rather have App St than most of the others added in 2013.

In general, I'd agree that CUSA leadership has not performed well. This new TV deal, I think, is not as bad as it seems on the surface. We still get payments from BeIN and have a large inventory that, so I've heard, ESPN is still in play for (some at least).

I will give props to SBC. Us long standing members of CUSA recall the days when there was a large separation between our conferences. That gap has shrunk significantly.

What gap? There is no gap.

South Alabama and CCU are the gap!

(03-16-2018 11:41 AM)va-eagle Wrote:  Personally, UNCC is a bust and I'd much rather have App St than most of the others added in 2013.

I have seen several CUSA posters, mostly from the east, mention App recently as a member of some hypothetical realignment. If you go back to around 2012-13, this was not the consensus of CUSA members at the time when App was available to add. Most fans of CUSA programs wanted nothing to do with App St.

Don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for USM and would love to share a conference with your program. Definitely excited to host the Eagles at "the Rock". Based on what I've read on this message board, I think the likes of USM and Marshall would be welcomed to the SBC if your 2 programs were so inclined to accept an invite...not that the posters here have any say in extending an invitation.

Although a bit of a stretch, MTSU could lay claim to the Nashville market. It would make about as much sense as any other team CUSA invited due to "market", since the reality is none of the "market" teams even command a decent percentage of said "market".

Folks, ain't none of us making any real money or getting prime time exposure. This is like watching hyenas fighting for scraps after the lion has eaten its fill. G5 teams need to quit bickering and start working together for a collective better tomorrow.