Am I the only one that has a problem with this?!

From the release...
"% C-USA is scheduled to participate in either the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl or the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl"

That sure looks like a way to keep C-USA teams from facing a P5 opponent in the HOD.

(06-07-2018 12:33 PM)TTT Wrote:  I'm curious to know how much money we'll be getting. And I'm pretty ticked about our games vs. LT/Marshall not being on an ESPN platform. That being said, it could be worse.The plus side is all our games are on SATURDAYS and can be streamed/televised on ESPN3, ESPN+, BEIN or Stadium.

9/1 vs. Jackston State ESPN+
9/8 vs. ULM ESPN3
9/15 @ App. State ESPN+
9/22 vs. Rice ESPN+
9/29 @ Auburn SECN (more than likely)
10/13 @ UNT ESPN3
10/20 vs. UTSA ESPN+
10/27 @ UNCC ESPN3
11/3 vs. Marshall STADIUM-TV
11/10 vs. UAB BEIN SPORTS-TV
11/17 vs. LT STADIUM-TV
11/24 @ UTEP ESPN+

I think the $49.99 yearly ESPN+ subscription would mean I'm paying $10 per USM game (we have 5 ESPN+ games this fall). How much did CUSA-TV used to charge per game?

Don’t forget though there is a lot more to it than just football...

“As part of the new deal, ESPN will air all remaining football games (approximately 45 in 2018) along with 60 regular-season men’s basketball games and 28 regular-season women’s basketball games. ESPN also picks up first-round men’s and women’s basketball action at the upcoming 2018 C-USA Basketball Championships in Frisco, Texas.

Rounding out the contract, ESPN will become the primary home of multiple conference championships.
Men’s Soccer: All six games including the championship finals
Women’s Soccer: All seven games including the championship finals
Volleyball: All seven games including the championships finals
Baseball: All games leading up to the championship game, which will air on CBS Sports
Softball: All games leading up to the championship game, which will air on CBS Sports”

Pretty stoked about UNT being on BeIn 3 times. Love the channel and the broadcast and it comes on our basic package with Spectrum. NOT stoked about the games on ESPN+. I may have to reshuffle the games I attend to avoid the Plus.

(06-07-2018 02:01 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  Am I the only one that has a problem with this?!

From the release...
"% C-USA is scheduled to participate in either the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl or the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl"

That sure looks like a way to keep C-USA teams from facing a P5 opponent in the HOD.

I think the HoD is at the point where they have to have good attendance or they will fold. If they cant get North Texas again, they may try and grab a P5 with a good traveling fan base. If there seems to be good momentum, maybe they take a USM, LT, or UTSA. But any other CUSA school and they risk too much. Probably need 45,000+ to keep this bowl alive.

Who sets the kickoff times for games on ESPN+? Is it the university, the conference, or ESPN?

Here's my question....can you get ESPN+ without having an ESPN sub. For example, I have a cracked fire-stick and I have all the ESPNs for free. Am I able to purchase the ESPN+ app?

(06-07-2018 03:02 PM)TTT Wrote:  Here's my question....can you get ESPN+ without having an ESPN sub. For example, I have a cracked fire-stick and I have all the ESPNs for free. Am I able to purchase the ESPN+ app?

Yes. You don't need cable or satellite to access ESPN+. It's a stand alone service much like Netflix or Hulu. For $4.99 a month.

(06-07-2018 02:56 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  Who sets the kickoff times for games on ESPN+? Is it the university, the conference, or ESPN?

I want to say it’s the University because all of UTSA’s home games that are on the + are conveniently at 6 pm.

(06-07-2018 01:57 PM)thefaU Wrote:  

(06-07-2018 01:46 PM)TTT Wrote:  Because with it being on an ESPN platform...you're more likely to get air-time via highlights, discussion...aka PUBLICITY. If your game is on a competing channel you're less likely to get face-time discussion/game highlights.

I highly doubt any game that is relegated behind ESPN's digital paywall is of any priority or will receive any sort of publicity on SportsCenter. I'd much rather have a quality product being broadcasted to the public – that is more attractive.

If the game is worthy of being talked about, it will be; regardless of the network it was on.

Exactly! They are not going to take 1 second of TV time away from the SEC and Big Ten worshiping to mention anything about a CUSA game.

I hate the ESPN deal. I would rather us improve CUSATV. I don't want to send one penny to ESPN I would rather that $4.99 a month go to our conference rather than some company that has actively destroyed college athletics.

And you're fooling yourself if you think being on ESPN+ is going to get exposure for your school. The only people watching the games will be the team's own fans.

(06-07-2018 03:28 PM)MT FAN Wrote:  

(06-07-2018 01:57 PM)thefaU Wrote:  

(06-07-2018 01:46 PM)TTT Wrote:  Because with it being on an ESPN platform...you're more likely to get air-time via highlights, discussion...aka PUBLICITY. If your game is on a competing channel you're less likely to get face-time discussion/game highlights.

I highly doubt any game that is relegated behind ESPN's digital paywall is of any priority or will receive any sort of publicity on SportsCenter. I'd much rather have a quality product being broadcasted to the public – that is more attractive.

If the game is worthy of being talked about, it will be; regardless of the network it was on.

Exactly! They are not going to take 1 second of TV time away from the SEC and Big Ten worshiping to mention anything about a CUSA game.

I hate the ESPN deal. I would rather us improve CUSATV. I don't want to send one penny to ESPN I would rather that $4.99 a month go to our conference rather than some company that has actively destroyed college athletics.

And you're fooling yourself if you think being on ESPN+ is going to get exposure for your school. The only people watching the games will be the team's own fans.

I think y'all are missing my point. If ESPN is broadcasting a CUSA game, it's much more likely that they will talk about that CUSA game during shows/highlights/discussions etc. vs if BEIN/Stadium was broadcasting.

Since CUSA told ESPN to GTH a few years ago, I rarely see ESPN talk about CUSA, yet they seem to mention the Sun-Belt a LOT more when talking college athletics. Why? Because the Sun-Belt had a deal with them and a lot of their games were broadcasted on an ESPN platform.

(06-07-2018 03:28 PM)MT FAN Wrote:  

(06-07-2018 01:57 PM)thefaU Wrote:  

(06-07-2018 01:46 PM)TTT Wrote:  Because with it being on an ESPN platform...you're more likely to get air-time via highlights, discussion...aka PUBLICITY. If your game is on a competing channel you're less likely to get face-time discussion/game highlights.

I highly doubt any game that is relegated behind ESPN's digital paywall is of any priority or will receive any sort of publicity on SportsCenter. I'd much rather have a quality product being broadcasted to the public – that is more attractive.

If the game is worthy of being talked about, it will be; regardless of the network it was on.

Exactly! They are not going to take 1 second of TV time away from the SEC and Big Ten worshiping to mention anything about a CUSA game.

I hate the ESPN deal. I would rather us improve CUSATV. I don't want to send one penny to ESPN I would rather that $4.99 a month go to our conference rather than some company that has actively destroyed college athletics.

And you're fooling yourself if you think being on ESPN+ is going to get exposure for your school. The only people watching the games will be the team's own fans.

I don’t think the schools had the money to improve CUSATV and hopefully this deal will get us better quality streams that’s all I ask for right now.

Also I think there’s a decent chance ESPN could build this + thing up. A lot of people that are cutting the cord stil want a sports package at a decent price and there is more than just college sports offered through it, so maybe one day this could lead to exposure. At least more than CUSATV ever would

(06-07-2018 03:40 PM)TTT Wrote:  I think y'all are missing my point. If ESPN is broadcasting a CUSA game, it's much more likely that they will talk about that CUSA game during shows/highlights/discussions etc. vs if BEIN/Stadium was broadcasting.

Since CUSA told ESPN to GTH a few years ago, I rarely see ESPN talk about CUSA, yet they seem to mention the Sun-Belt a LOT more when talking college athletics. Why? Because the Sun-Belt had a deal with them and a lot of their games were broadcasted on an ESPN platform.

I think you're missing the point.

You're claiming a game has a higher probability of being discussed on SportsCenter if it's broadcasted on an ESPN affiliated network, yet you also claim they've hardly talked about C-USA the past few years, even though we had 6 conference retained games (plus however many OOC away games) air on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU every year over that time period, yet you think it would be different this year for a game on ESPN+ to garner coverage from them.

If you want to see how coverage of our conference should be done, watch Campus Insiders produced by Stadium. Hell, even beIN produces some great content for the few games they air.

ESPN+ is similiar to ESPN3, ESPN+ provides distribution, the universities will have to produce their own content. The failure of CUSA getting CUSA.tv on streaming devices such as Roku probably led to a deal with ESPN+.

However, I would not expect ESPN to provide any type of CUSA coverage on their traditional programming, unless a CUSA team is playing a P5 team or does something outrageous.

(06-07-2018 04:10 PM)thefaU Wrote:  

(06-07-2018 03:40 PM)TTT Wrote:  I think y'all are missing my point. If ESPN is broadcasting a CUSA game, it's much more likely that they will talk about that CUSA game during shows/highlights/discussions etc. vs if BEIN/Stadium was broadcasting.

Since CUSA told ESPN to GTH a few years ago, I rarely see ESPN talk about CUSA, yet they seem to mention the Sun-Belt a LOT more when talking college athletics. Why? Because the Sun-Belt had a deal with them and a lot of their games were broadcasted on an ESPN platform.

I think you're missing the point.

You're claiming a game has a higher probability of being discussed on SportsCenter if it's broadcasted on an ESPN affiliated network, yet you also claim they've hardly talked about C-USA the past few years, even though we had 6 conference retained games (plus however many OOC away games) air on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU every year over that time period, yet you think it would be different this year for a game on ESPN+ to garner coverage from them.

If you want to see how coverage of our conference should be done, watch Campus Insiders produced by Stadium. Hell, even beIN produces some great content for the few games they air.

Look, the SBC/MAC had MUCH more exposure on ESPN (be it off-season or in-season discussion/highlights/etc.) than CUSA had during the last x amount of years CUSA has been on the whataburger/myspace-streaming app...during those same years SBC/MAC had deals w/ ESPN. We didn't. NOW that more of our games will be on an ESPN platform, that increases our chance of exposure on ESPN. Am I saying we're going to dominate the CFB Daily TV talking points? Absolutely not. But we'll get talked about more since ESPN has skin in our game.

Most years USM vs. Marshall/LT usually has huge conference champ. implications. If those 3 teams are flirting w/ the T25 or are ranked T25 (something we all strive/hope for) then the chances of those teams/matchups getting talked about on ESPN is MUUUUCH higher if said matchups are being broadcasted on an ESPN platform vs. a non-ESPN platform. Those matchups need to be on ESPN and not BEIN/Stadium for EXPOSURE purposes. Nobody. Watches. Stadium. Or. BEIN. Give me sub-par production on ESPN over slightly-above average production on some rando website/app that NOBODY knows or cares about. That's all I'm saying.

CUSA athletics has literally been NON-EXISTENT on ESPN the past 5-6 years since we told ESPN to GTH...meanwhile, during that time-span I saw so many SBC/MAC teams get facetime.

(06-07-2018 04:59 PM)TTT Wrote:  Look, the SBC/MAC had MUCH more exposure on ESPN (be it off-season or in-season discussion/highlights/etc.) than CUSA had during the last x amount of years CUSA has been on the whataburger/myspace-streaming app...during those same years SBC/MAC had deals w/ ESPN. We didn't. NOW that more of our games will be on an ESPN platform, that increases our chance of exposure on ESPN. Am I saying we're going to dominate the CFB Daily TV talking points? Absolutely not. But we'll get talked about more since ESPN has skin in our game.

Most years USM vs. Marshall/LT usually has huge conference champ. implications. If those 3 teams are flirting w/ the T25 or are ranked T25 (something we all strive/hope for) then the chances of those teams/matchups getting talked about on ESPN is MUUUUCH higher if said matchups are being broadcasted on an ESPN platform vs. a non-ESPN platform. Those matchups need to be on ESPN and not BEIN/Stadium for EXPOSURE purposes. Nobody. Watches. Stadium. Or. BEIN. Give me sub-par production on ESPN over slightly-above average production on some rando website/app that NOBODY knows or cares about. That's all I'm saying.

CUSA athletics has literally been NON-EXISTENT on ESPN the past 5-6 years since we told ESPN to GTH...meanwhile, during that time-span I saw so many SBC/MAC teams get facetime.

ESPN no longer retains our championship game nor our best match-ups. All the games on ESPN+ are just content filler for them. They could care less about giving publicity to a conference that doesn't make them any $$. But, you think because now they air the remaining games that a network didn't pick up on their digital platform that we'll be receiving more publicity? You're crazy. Just look at how much content will be on ESPN+ next year; you're telling me that the coverage will increase for all of that content? I don't think so. And, I don't know why you keep comparing us to MACtion, who plays mid-week games, or #FunBelt, who sold their entire inventory to ESPN. We have completely different deals – of course they'd be talked about for one more minute on SportsCenter than us. I can't believe you actually think we'd get even more exposure of our leftover games just from being on ESPN+.

clt says this is a nightmare. The confusion continues about espn plus. Do you need to pay more? Or is it included with a cable or sat package?

A ghost afraid of a nightmare? Sorry, just struck me as funny Here's my understanding of the sit:

ESPN and what we normally think of their linear channels (though now available via streaming bundles through multiple access points) is now attempting to monetize content in this new era. Hence, the advent of ESPN+ with live content only available via subscription directly from ESPN. They are adding live content as rights become available as well as providing access to original shows and rebroadcasts of ESPN productions on demand.

Currently, they are two stand alone services, and as such, purchased independently of each other. However, if you wish to see all that ESPN has to offer (linear + digital), a sub. to both is required.

All games will be shown somewhere. That's a definite improvement over the last couple of years. Some games had been radio only.

(06-07-2018 03:25 PM)HoustonRoadRunner Wrote:  

(06-07-2018 02:56 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  Who sets the kickoff times for games on ESPN+? Is it the university, the conference, or ESPN?

I want to say it’s the University because all of UTSA’s home games that are on the + are conveniently at 6 pm.

Looks like you’re correct. Some on our board at are complaining over the kickoff changing from 6pm to 530 and we were trying to find the culprit. All signs point to our new AD making that move.

(06-07-2018 08:37 PM)BeliefBlazer Wrote:  All games will be shown somewhere. That's a definite improvement over the last couple of years. Some games had been radio only.

The thing is UAB's stream last year was horrible. It should have been radio only. Thank god UAB is getting a new stadium and hopefully these problems will not continue. Better not at least. The only worse feed I can think of is when Tech played FIU at Miami.