RE: Ideas to improve C-USA
Here is my take....
TV Deal
C-USA needs to develop a real conference owned network. We need to partner with an actual network (AT&T Sports Net), and have our games available on traditional TV, streaming, and mobile app. AT&T Sports Net is owned by Directv, which is owned by AT&T. They have the needed infrastructure, an we would basically be cutting out the middle men (ESPN, FOX, Sports, CBS Sports, NBC Sports,...) and signing directly with the distributor AT&T/Directv). Our programs would have to invest serious money into developing better production quality to keep up with the latest changes in technology (4K,...). The programs that could not afford this shift or are not interested in spending the money on the shift, would have to think about the direction of their program, and if C-USA is the right conference for them.
Pods/Scheduling
I have not seen enough of the impact from Pod scheduling yet. After a season or two, maybe I will have an educated opinion. As for scheduling, I think football should have a very simple guideline (1 P5 home & home, 2 alternating home & homes between AAC/MWC, and 1 buy a win home game vs either FCS /NMSU). C-USA bylaws should be amended to ban our programs from signing bodybag games. The simple truth is that our media right would be worth more if we actually host more P5 at our stadiums. For basketball, I think our top teams need to host a few "Classics" against some of the better programs from the West Coast, Valley, and Ohio Valley, during the OOC schedule. The marginal to bad programs just need to focus on scheduling winnable games until they get better coaching and recruit better talent.
Conference Tournament
I'd like the tournament to move to neutral site cities. I would select two cities that were a bit smaller than the large "pro oriented" type cities that don't pay attention to us. I'd start with Beaumont Texas and Columbus Georgia. Each division would have a neutral site, and I would have the ladies and men's tournament alternated sites each year, so each city gets to host a tournament every year. I think these cities would really roll out the red carpet for a chance to have their city get some national TV attention during the title games. Both Beaumont and Columbus have airports, convention centers (game sites), and local colleges with suitable basketball arenas. Neither of these cities have big events beating own their doors. And, we should see a good amount of local support at our games too.
(This post was last modified: 03-12-2019 07:33 PM by Side Show Joe.)
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