ROOT Sports announces 2015 Big Sky TV Schedule

[GetEmGriz]

http://bigskyconf.com/news/2015/4/23/FB_0423154719.aspx

Love the quality of work that ROOT Sports presents for Big Sky Games. Very professionally done and looking forward to another great season.

http://bigskyconf.com/images/2015/4/23/large_ROOT_SPORTS_2015_Schedule.jpg

Montana - 5 games
Montana State - 5 games
Eastern Washington - 3 games
North Dakota, Northern Arizona, Portland State, Sacramento State, Southern Utah, UC Davis, Weber State - 1 game

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Yes I really like what Root does. I really wish they could expand or have some sister type DTV channels to grab some MVFC, SoCon, SLC, and other conferences. I always seem to catch a good number of CAA but the other ones don't seem too easy after the first few weeks.

[Sammy94]

Root did a few SLC basketball games. I really hope to see them do some football as well.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Root did a few SLC basketball games. I really hope to see them do some football as well.

Really?! That's awesome. I've made mention on several occasions when talking with people from ROOT that there is an under served market with the other conferences. Would be cool to see them get something going with the FCS level.

[NoDak 4 Ever]

We get Altitude here. They pick up a lot of Root FCS games.

[Hammerhead]

Just like previous years, only one game doesn't feature Montana or Montana State. :)

[slostang]

Cal Poly has gone 17-7 in the Big Sky and has one Big Sky Championship in the the last 3 years, but has only had two games televised by Root in four years (including 2015). I am not a big fan of Root.

[slostang]

http://bigskyconf.com/news/2015/4/23/FB_0423154719.aspx

Love the quality of work that ROOT Sports presents for Big Sky Games. Very professionally done and looking forward to another great season.

http://bigskyconf.com/images/2015/4/23/large_ROOT_SPORTS_2015_Schedule.jpg

Montana - 5 games
Montana State - 5 games
Eastern Washington - 3 games
North Dakota - 1 game
Northern Arizona - 1 game
Portland State - 1 game
Sacramento State - 1 game
Southern Utah - 1 game
UC Davis - 1 game
Weber State - 1 game
Cal Poly - 0 games
Northern Colorado - 0 games
idaho State - 0 games

[GetEmGriz]

Cal Poly has gone 17-7 in the Big Sky and has one Big Sky Championship in the the last 3 years, but has only had two games televised by Root in four years (including 2015). I am not a big fan of Root.

A lot of it has to do with where the TV viewers are. For ROOT Sports, those viewers are in the PNW, mostly because the large fan bases of Montana and Montana State. It sucks for other Big Sky teams who get little to no TV time, but that's what the market is. From a marketing standpoint, ROOT Sports looks to air games of programs with full houses and large fan bases. That's what drives sports television in general. Honestly IMO, without Montana or Montana State in the BSC, there wouldn't be any ROOT Sports coverage, or even any regional TV coverage for that matter. It makes the most economic sense for ROOT Sports to cater to the largest fan bases in the BSC.

I do understand how frustrating it would be to get shafted on TV, especially with how good Cal Poly has been the last few years.

[nwFL Griz]

ROOT sports sucks. Actually, the Big Sky media deal as a whole sucks. Their coverage is very small time for a conference that is supposed to be one of the big boys in FCS. As an out-of-stater, I would have to switch cable providers to be able to have access to any of the games on ROOT. The lack of an online option is quite frustrating. I can watch nearly every game in the MVC or CAA, but Big Sky? Nope.

[slostang]

A lot of it has to do with where the TV viewers are. For ROOT Sports, those viewers are in the PNW, mostly because the large fan bases of Montana and Montana State. It sucks for other Big Sky teams who get little to no TV time, but that's what the market is. From a marketing standpoint, ROOT Sports looks to air games of programs with full houses and large fan bases. That's what drives sports television in general. Honestly IMO, without Montana or Montana State in the BSC, there wouldn't be any ROOT Sports coverage, or even any regional TV coverage for that matter. It makes the most economic sense for ROOT Sports to cater to the largest fan bases in the BSC.

I do understand how frustrating it would be to get shafted on TV, especially with how good Cal Poly has been the last few years.
I understand, but I thought with Cal Poly playing on the road against Montana, Montana State and Eastern Washington this year we had a least a chance to get at least one of those games televised. Cal Poly beat both Montana and Montana State last season. You would think there would be interest in the return games. Maybe they don't want to show their two big draws (UM and MSU) losing???

[GetEmGriz]

I understand, but I thought with Cal Poly playing on the road against Montana, Montana State and Eastern Washington this year we had a least a chance to get at least one of those games televised. Cal Poly beat both Montana and Montana State last season. You would think there would be interest in the return games. Maybe they don't want to show their two big draws (UM and MSU) losing???

I honestly was expecting ROOT to cover the UM-Cal Poly game this year. Even as a non-conference game, it could have been done. They aired the MSU-EWU nonconference game last year and are doing it again this year. My guess is they picked that over the UM-Cal Poly game due to regional matchups.

[catbob]

I honestly was expecting ROOT to cover the UM-Cal Poly game this year. Even as a non-conference game, it could have been done. They aired the MSU-EWU nonconference game last year and are doing it again this year. My guess is they picked that over the UM-Cal Poly game due to regional matchups.

ROOT does a great job, but you have to wonder outside of EWU, MSU and UM, if ROOT has any idea who the other big dogs in the conference are.

The only intriguing games in the lineup are:

MSU @ EWU
NAU @ UM
EWU @ UM
Cat/Griz

Obviously there is only one game that doesn't involve 2 of the 3 (EWU MSU UM) that is interesting.

Idaho State is a team that could make some noise, 0 games. Poly obviously one of the better teams in the last few years, 0 games.

The only other semi-interesting game is Sac @ MSU, but Sac is well... Sac.

[catbob]

I honestly was expecting ROOT to cover the UM-Cal Poly game this year. Even as a non-conference game, it could have been done. They aired the MSU-EWU nonconference game last year and are doing it again this year. My guess is they picked that over the UM-Cal Poly game due to regional matchups.

I'm guessing that game had pretty decent ratings (for BSC FCS football anyway) from last year. It was a great game and EWU was I think #2 and the Cats were #11 at the time.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

I understand, but I thought with Cal Poly playing on the road against Montana, Montana State and Eastern Washington this year we had a least a chance to get at least one of those games televised. Cal Poly beat both Montana and Montana State last season. You would think there would be interest in the return games. Maybe they don't want to show their two big draws (UM and MSU) losing???

Man, I never see silly crap like that last line from you. It does suck, it is a good reason Cal Poly should have been on for at least one of those games but that last line is pure bull****. Why would they care one bit? It won't change the fact that people will watch from the start of the game which is all they care about.

[cpalum]

I understand, but I thought with Cal Poly playing on the road against Montana, Montana State and Eastern Washington this year we had a least a chance to get at least one of those games televised. Cal Poly beat both Montana and Montana State last season. You would think there would be interest in the return games. Maybe they don't want to show their two big draws (UM and MSU) losing???

Yep Slostang it is one massive pile of steaming manure (no not Davis :)). Cal Poly has gotten the shaft from ROOT. I get that it's for the Pacific Northwest market but Cal Poly has been in some of the most competitive well attended games in the conference for years. I say it's stupidity on the part of the network that prevents them from airing at least one game a year.

Dear ROOT please go watch these games and note competitiveness and crowd

Cal PoLY v Montana (anytime they have played)

Cal Poly v NAU (we lost but last year at NAU was very good TV)

Cal Poly at ISU (see Cal Poly at NAU above)

Cal Poly v EWU (at EWU 2013 was awesome)

Cal Poly v Montana St and Montana in SLO last year (beautiful sky.....awesome location and Cal Poly wins )

Cal Poly v Davis (isn't Davis the northwest?)

FOX AZ seems to be picking up lots of Cal Poly games as of late....screw you ROOT!xcoffeex

[GetEmGriz]

Yep Slostang it is one massive pile of steaming manure (no not Davis :)). Cal Poly has gotten the shaft from ROOT. I get that it's for the Pacific Northwest market but Cal Poly has been in some of the most competitive well attended games in the conference for years. I say it's stupidity on the part of the network that prevents them from airing at least one game a year.

Dear ROOT please go watch these games and note competitiveness and crowd

Cal PoLY v Montana (anytime they have played)

Cal Poly v NAU (we lost but last year at NAU was very good TV)

Cal Poly at ISU (see Cal Poly at NAU above)

Cal Poly v EWU (at EWU 2013 was awesome)

Cal Poly v Montana St and Montana in SLO last year (beautiful sky.....awesome location and Cal Poly wins )

Cal Poly v Davis (isn't Davis the northwest?)

FOX AZ seems to be picking up lots of Cal Poly games as of late....screw you ROOT!xcoffeex

Also a lot of it has to do with which matchups are occurring during any given week. I believe most of those matchups you have listed (that don't involve Montana or MSU) most likely had to compete with bigger matchups involving Montana or MSU and probably lost out on being aired on ROOT Sports because of that.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

What makes the Root thing so frustrating is the accessibility of all the other Big Sky football games via Big Sky TV/America One Sports. America One Sports ironically has a national reach when Root is simply regional.

Of course if my cable provider provided Root... :)

[FargoBison]

What makes the Root thing so frustrating is the accessibility of all the other Big Sky football games via Big Sky TV/America One Sports. America One Sports ironically has a national reach when Root is simply regional.

Of course if my cable provider provided Root... :)

The Big Sky games are available to everyone with Direct TV, not exactly regional.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

The Big Sky games are available to everyone with Direct TV, not exactly regional.

I see some people also talking about it not being available on their cable outlet...no kidding...it's a DirectTV production. Now it's available on cable in Montana cuz they are willing to pay to get it but outside of Montana I really don't know how you'd expect that to be the case.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

I see some people also talking about it not being available on their cable outlet...no kidding...it's a DirectTV production. Now it's available on cable in Montana cuz they are willing to pay to get it but outside of Montana I really don't know how you'd expect that to be the case.

In our area Verizon pays to allow for Comcast's networks to show up on their TV offerings because people want what they provide -- Phillies, Flyers, Sixers. That they carry CAA/FCS games is a happy accident, but I bring this up to say that it's not a foregone conclusion that something produced by one won't be carried by the other.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

In our area Verizon pays to allow for Comcast's networks to show up on their TV offerings because people want what they provide -- Phillies, Flyers, Sixers. That they carry CAA/FCS games is a happy accident, but I bring this up to say that it's not a foregone conclusion that something produced by one won't be carried by the other.

Yeah, it definitely sucks that there isn't at least some replay thing but it's different companies not trying to work together and so forht. I was actually talking more to people on another board griping that it isn't available on their cable provider in ID, Cali, or whatever.

Not that anyone is gonna switch to get it but it seems easy to find a bar or whatever at that point so it's still pretty nice...I mean if your team is on it.

[FargoBison]

In our area Verizon pays to allow for Comcast's networks to show up on their TV offerings because people want what they provide -- Phillies, Flyers, Sixers. That they carry CAA/FCS games is a happy accident, but I bring this up to say that it's not a foregone conclusion that something produced by one won't be carried by the other.

This is why I like Direct TV, I get all the Big Sky games and for an extra $10 or so you can the get the sports pack that has all of the Comcast, Fox and other regional sports networks.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

This is why I like Direct TV, I get all the Big Sky games and for an extra $10 or so you can the get the sports pack that has all of the Comcast, Fox and other regional sports networks.

I don't know if I could go back to cable.