2016 Big Sky Conference Football on ROOT Sports*

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Here is this years schedule. Some fans are gonna be unhappy this year as well it would appear.

Sept. 24 - Montana at Cal Poly
Oct. 1 - UC Davis at Eastern Washington
Oct. 8 - Northern Arizona at Montana State
Oct. 15 - Montana State at Weber State
Oct. 22 - Eastern Washington at Montana State
Oct. 29 - Montana at Eastern Washington
Nov. 5 - Idaho State at Montana
Nov. 12 - UC Davis at Montana State
Friday, Nov. 18 - Eastern Washington at Portland State
Nov. 19 - Montana State at Montana
*Schedule subject to change. Territorial restriction may apply.

More Information and an article here. (http://gogriz.com/news/2016/4/6/football-four-griz-games-to-be-broadcast-on-root-sports-in-2016.aspx?path=football)

[mvemjsunpx]

The reasons for why some schools get more ROOT games than others has been hashed to death. However, I'm not sure why MSU got more games than anyone else. They don't figure to be very good this year.

[SeattleGriz]

The reasons for why some schools get more ROOT games than others has been hashed to death. However, I'm not sure why MSU got more games than anyone else. They don't figure to be very good this year.

As with everything MSU, even the "backup" seasons are better than the starters.

[Bisonator]

Might as well just call it the Montana Sports Network. xlolx

[SDFS]

As a UND fan, I love it. UND fans can see all of there conference games. When UND is on Root it is extremely difficult to get the games in my region of the country.

[SUUTbird]

Personally I feel that SUU should have gotten at least 1 game, even an away game as we are the defending Big Sky Champs, however other then that for the most part it makes sense. No on wants to see small fan bases and empty seats and both MSU and Montana provide the best chance to see packed stadiums. Weber State and Portland State are question marks in regards to that theory but the idea overall makes sense.

[veinup]

frankly could use more montana games in there

[JALMOND]

Davis gets two games, Southern Utah gets none. And if the Timbers would not have forced PSU to move the Dam Cup to Friday, chances are good that PSU would not have had a game. I mean, come on. Who won the conference last year (and who was runner-up)?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ That is all it is about.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Davis gets two games, Southern Utah gets none. And if the Timbers would not have forced PSU to move the Dam Cup to Friday, chances are good that PSU would not have had a game. I mean, come on. Who won the conference last year (and who was runner-up)?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ That is all it is about.

Yeah, it's a business. It's a business that pays the BSC to broadcast the games. Did PSU want to bow out of the money and allow them greater flexibility with the scheduling? If some other teams would start bringing more asses to the seats and more eyeballs to the sets and more dollard to the ad buys believe me UM and MSU would be all for it.

I would love to have seen PSU and SUU get games but I'm not gonna pretend it isn't a business.

[mvemjsunpx]

Yeah, it's a business. It's a business that pays the BSC to broadcast the games. Did PSU want to bow out of the money and allow them greater flexibility with the scheduling? If some other teams would start bringing more asses to the seats and more eyeballs to the sets and more dollard to the ad buys believe me UM and MSU would be all for it.

I would love to have seen PSU and SUU get games but I'm not gonna pretend it isn't a business.

Not to mention SUU figures to tank with how much they lost.

[IBleedYellow]

Ya'll need to get an ESPN3 contract STAT!

[GetEmGriz]

Ya'll need to get an ESPN3 contract STAT!

Then we'd have a **** ton of Griz and Cat fans crying because they still won't be able to figure out how to get ESPN3 even though it is available throughout most of Montana. We've had this issue for the last several years during the playoffs with fans not able to figure it out. ROOT Sports is great, and ESPN3 would be good too, but I guess you can't please everybody.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Then we'd have a **** ton of Griz and Cat fans crying because they still won't be able to figure out how to get ESPN3 even though it is available throughout most of Montana. We've had this issue for the last several years during the playoffs with fans not able to figure it out. ROOT Sports is great, and ESPN3 would be good too, but I guess you can't please everybody.

It is only recently available if you have the correct cable provider. Even then, it is not available if you pay oddles more and have a business account through the very same provider.

**** ESPN, ESPN3, and anything those dicks do.

We have BigSkyTV which is the equivalent of ESPN3 anyway so no need. As a BSC fan, you can watch your team on two medium at almost any time.

[CrazyCat]

The ROOT contract started in 2012 and I still see the same people/teams complaining about the same things. It's a little harsh, but it's been 4 seasons to show ROOT you deserve to be on the schedule, and they'd rather show a rebuilding team coming off a 5-6 season.

[F'N Hawks]

The ROOT contract started in 2012 and I still see the same people/teams complaining about the same things. It's a little harsh, but it's been 4 seasons to show ROOT you deserve to be on the schedule, and they'd rather show a rebuilding team coming off a 5-6 season.

They want to promote EWU, UM, and MSU. OK, makes sense.

The problem is that the other 10 schools cannot show their home games nationally due to the contract with ROOT. UND used to be able to have all their home games linke to Fox College Sports. Now they can only show their one non-conference game on FCS and the rest are produced regionally by Midco Sports (like usual) but NOT uplinked to FCS. That sucks.

All so ROOT can show ONE game each Saturday.

[CrazyCat]

How many other conferences have a national tv contract and still allow each team to sign their own deal with a competing network?

[F'N Hawks]

How many other conferences have a national tv contract and still allow each team to sign their own deal with a competing network?

There is no deal. UND just shows their content for free on FCS. Very simple and Midco is actually OK with it.

The ROOT contract is a joke, peanuts. All it does is limit exposure instead of providing it. 1 game a week...meh. That does nothing for anybody but the Big 3.

[mvemjsunpx]

Ya'll need to get an ESPN3 contract STAT!

That just wouldn't fly. An ESPN3 deal likely means exclusivity, which likely means Griz/Cat (among other games) wouldn't be on TV. Griz/Cat not being on TV would mean statewide riots in Montana. Statewide riots in Montana would mean many people would die.

ESPN kills… xcoffeex

[ursus arctos horribilis]

There is no deal. UND just shows their content for free on FCS. Very simple and Midco is actually OK with it.

The ROOT contract is a joke, peanuts. All it does is limit exposure instead of providing it. 1 game a week...meh. That does nothing for anybody but the Big 3.

Really, how about you give us all in the BSC that have been watching things for 30 yrs. and let us know how much coverage the other teams had prior to this? They had nearly zero unless one of the MT teams came in and broadcast it for all.

You say you make zero on Fox/Midco but then gripe that ROOT pay is low? Am I reading that correctly? xlolx

[ursus arctos horribilis]

That just wouldn't fly. An ESPN3 deal likely means exclusivity, which likely means Griz/Cat (among other games) wouldn't be on TV. Griz/Cat not being on TV would mean statewide riots in Montana. Statewide riots in Montana would mean many people would die.

ESPN kills… xcoffeex

I would like to add to this one again.

**** ESPN.

[Bisonator]

That just wouldn't fly. An ESPN3 deal likely means exclusivity, which likely means Griz/Cat (among other games) wouldn't be on TV. Griz/Cat not being on TV would mean statewide riots in Montana. Statewide riots in Montana would mean many people would die.

ESPN kills… xcoffeex

NDSU has their games on statewide and the MVFC has a ESPN3 deal. Why couldn't Montana do the same? You'd actually have way more exposure that way then the stupid ROOT deal.

[F'N Hawks]

Really, how about you give us all in the BSC that have been watching things for 30 yrs. and let us know how much coverage the other teams had prior to this? They had nearly zero unless one of the MT teams came in and broadcast it for all.

You say you make zero on Fox/Midco but then gripe that ROOT pay is low? Am I reading that correctly? xlolx

No you aren't reading it correctly. xlolx Midco gives them 200K a year for broadcast rights. The FCS thing is for fans around the country.

UND isn't on ROOT therefore it is worthless to their fans. The AD takes that little check they get and pays for the swim teams to go to Arizona once. Well worth the loss of viewing ability to their fans in different areas of the country.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

NDSU has their games on statewide and the MVFC has a ESPN3 deal. Why couldn't Montana do the same? You'd actually have way more exposure that way then the stupid ROOT deal.

Montana's games are always on. There is never and has not been a game not shown on TV (reg. season) in probably 25 years. As I mentioned, any Griz game can be seen in a couple of different ways.

On top of that, statewide TV networks pay a whole lot of money to our brethren when the Griz are on the road. I know 5 or 6 years back it was about $100,000 per broadcast before Root came in to mix and gave the other schools a little more money to bitch about.

The only time we EVER have a problem viewing a Griz game is if ESPN3 is involved. If I haven't made it clear enough yet...**** ESPN.:)

[ursus arctos horribilis]

No you aren't reading it correctly. xlolx Midco gives them 200K a year for broadcast rights. The FCS thing is for fans around the country.

UND isn't on ROOT therefore it is worthless to their fans. The AD takes that little check they get and pays for the swim teams to go to Arizona once. Well worth the loss of viewing ability to their fans in different areas of the country.

Ok, I gotcha. It's nice that your school is free to make their own contract to broadcast games...and on top of that get something for nothing like that.

How can fans across the county not view btw? It's on the net for free?

[Bisonator]

Montana's games are always on. There is never and has not been a game not shown on TV (reg. season) in probably 25 years. As I mentioned, any Griz game can be seen in a couple of different ways.

On top of that, statewide TV networks pay a whole lot of money to our brethren when the Griz are on the road. I know 5 or 6 years back it was about $100,000 per broadcast before Root came in to mix and gave the other schools a little more money to bitch about.

The only time we EVER have a problem viewing a Griz game is if ESPN3 is involved. If I haven't made it clear enough yet...**** ESPN.:)
You're not trying hard enough then. Seriously even most of us hicks in ND know how to access ESPN3 now days. ;)

[veinup]

my only gripe about watching big sky football is when i have to use big sky tv or some other streaming service. the quality is often complete garbage .. terrible picture quality, camera angles, janky ****.. would be nice if the schools could have decent streaming-programs like JMU has for example..

high quality DEPENDABLE stream means a ton to me. wouldn't bother me if ROOT owned the rights to every game and streamed every game everywhere while also TV broadcasting select games.

[F'N Hawks]

Ok, I gotcha. It's nice that your school is free to make their own contract to broadcast games...and on top of that get something for nothing like that.

How can fans across the county not view btw? It's on the net for free?

TV is better than Net. Why not have both like we used to? Big Sky TV is always there and has been pretty good. But to have it nationally on TV brings a whole different dimension with bars, viewing parties etc.

[F'N Hawks]

my only gripe about watching big sky football is when i have to use big sky tv or some other streaming service. the quality is often complete garbage .. terrible picture quality, camera angles, janky ****.. would be nice if the schools could have decent streaming-programs like JMU has for example..

high quality DEPENDABLE stream means a ton to me. wouldn't bother me if ROOT owned the rights to every game and streamed every game everywhere while also TV broadcasting select games.

That is the schools themselves. Big Sky needs to tell these schools they can't have two students with camcorders broadcasting a game for Big Sky TV. Sacramento State a few years back was the most embarrassing "live stream" I have ever seen.

[F'N Hawks]

...and then you got Cal-Poly who zooms in tackle to tackle for their wide shot. WTF? No idea what was going on until 1-2 seconds into each play.

[mvemjsunpx]

...and then you got Cal-Poly who zooms in tackle to tackle for their wide shot. WTF? No idea what was going on until 1-2 seconds into each play.

A lot of schools use their stadium video board as their web feed.

[mvemjsunpx]

You're not trying hard enough then. Seriously even most of us hicks in ND know how to access ESPN3 now days. ;)

Montana's primary cable outlet didn't support it until recently. There was a kinda scammish end around involving AT&T that worked for a time in 2011, but ESPN/AT&T shut that down after a short while.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

You're not trying hard enough then. Seriously even most of us hicks in ND know how to access ESPN3 now days. ;)

You really think that is the problem? I absolutely know how to access it. I have to have a friend n another state log me in and tell them I'm traveling around the country...and then it still only works part time at best.

As I said, I pay a premium amount for a business service that provides ESPN3 to it's regular customers but I can't get it, paying double...so let me add them to the "**** em'" list.

[veinup]

That is the schools themselves. Big Sky needs to tell these schools they can't have two students with camcorders broadcasting a game for Big Sky TV. Sacramento State a few years back was the most embarrassing "live stream" I have ever seen.


...and then you got Cal-Poly who zooms in tackle to tackle for their wide shot. WTF? No idea what was going on until 1-2 seconds into each play.

exactly what im talking about. this stuff is embarrassing. a professional-level stream goes a long way for me.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

That is the schools themselves. Big Sky needs to tell these schools they can't have two students with camcorders broadcasting a game for Big Sky TV. Sacramento State a few years back was the most embarrassing "live stream" I have ever seen.

Nailed it. In a discussion with Fullerton last year early part of the season he mentioned that the schools had either implemented or were implementing a minimum standard that all schools would need to comply with so the BigSkyTV thing did not look so poor on certain feeds from certain schools.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

TV is better than Net. Why not have both like we used to? Big Sky TV is always there and has been pretty good. But to have it nationally on TV brings a whole different dimension with bars, viewing parties etc.

I am really missing something here I guess? You do have both don't you? You have Midco and it is rebroadcast on Fox and then you have BSCTV for net I thought.

[F'N Hawks]

Nailed it. In a discussion with Fullerton last year early part of the season he mentioned that the schools had either implemented or were implementing a minimum standard that all schools would need to comply with so the BigSkyTV thing did not look so poor on certain feeds from certain schools.

Oh really? Very good news. Simply teaching them how far to zoom in/out would be a major upgrade and make it watchable.

[F'N Hawks]

I am really missing something here I guess? You do have both don't you? You have Midco and it is rebroadcast on Fox and then you have BSCTV for net I thought.

Non Conference = All Three, yes.

Conference = Midco and Big Sky TV. No national TV (FCS). Which bars and homes can easily show through DirecTV or if your cable package has it in a sports tier.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Oh really? Very good news. Simply teaching them how far to zoom in/out would be a major upgrade and make it watchable.

Well, he was talking more about the infrastructure and hardware I think so we may want to start a grass roots effort to make the schools pledge to teach those running the hardware how to use it properly.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Non Conference = All Three, yes.

Conference = Midco and Big Sky TV. No national TV (FCS). Which bars and homes can easily show through DirecTV or if your cable package has it in a sports tier.

How did ROOT take that away? I thought you guys did still have Fox just a year or two ago? I didn't think Root bans anyone from broadcasting but only that they get 1st crack at games and others bid on what is left.

[Sammy94]

No Big Sky Champs err I mean Sam Houston games?? :D

[F'N Hawks]

How did ROOT take that away? I thought you guys did still have Fox just a year or two ago? I didn't think Root bans anyone from broadcasting but only that they get 1st crack at games and others bid on what is left.

Nope. ROOT contract does not allow the "national" broadcast of any Big Sky League games. Only Regional (Midco). Before ROOT, UND had every game on Fox College Sports, first they were broadcast in-house then Midco took over a 4 years ago. Midco has stated they will link them to FCS if allowed.

To sum it up, UND can no longer show the four Big Sky home games on FCS. For DirecTV customers that really sucks.

However, having said that being it was told to me verbatim, doesn't Northern Arizona put games on Fox Sport Arizona from time to time? Or are those non-conference?

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Nope. ROOT contract does not allow the "national" broadcast of any Big Sky League games. Only Regional (Midco). Before ROOT, UND had every game on Fox College Sports, first they were broadcast in-house then Midco took over a 4 years ago. Midco has stated they will link them to FCS if allowed.

To sum it up, UND can no longer show the four Big Sky home games on FCS. For DirecTV customers that really sucks.

Well yes it does but most schools don't have national access at our level. xlolx

If Root took that away then I think UND should try and make that an issue before any further contracts are signed. That should not be and there is no good reason for it to be part of the deal.

[F'N Hawks]

Well yes it does but most schools don't have national access at our level. xlolx

If Root took that away then I think UND should try and make that an issue before any further contracts are signed. That should not be and there is no good reason for it to be part of the deal.

See my little add on above...know anything of that about NAU? I cannot recall what games I have watched of theirs and when it was.

[mvemjsunpx]

See my little add on above...know anything of that about NAU? I cannot recall what games I have watched of theirs and when it was.

Most of their games are listed on "FOX Sports AZ Plus." http://nauathletics.com/sports/fball/2015-16/schedule

[ursus arctos horribilis]

See my little add on above...know anything of that about NAU? I cannot recall what games I have watched of theirs and when it was.

Missed that but now that it is mentioned I think you are correct. Maybe Dback will show up and chime in but I do think with certain sports packages I have seen them the last couple years on it.

[IBleedYellow]

Man, y'all hate ESPN3...

I think it's great. Having NDSU on NBC Statewide + Nationally with ESPN3 is great.

[mvemjsunpx]

Man, y'all hate ESPN3...

I think it's great. Having NDSU on NBC Statewide + Nationally with ESPN3 is great.

I don't hate ESPN3, but I think the way the Big Sky is doing things now is better than going with ESPN3… for football, anyway.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Man, y'all hate ESPN3...

I think it's great. Having NDSU on NBC Statewide + Nationally with ESPN3 is great.

mvem may not but I really do. Many years of frustration and screwing with us when playoff time rolls around...I really won't feel bad if they went out like the Dino's.

**** em' and the horse they rode in on.

[BisonFan02]

mvem may not but I really do. Many years of frustration and screwing with us when playoff time rolls around...I really won't feel bad if they went out like the Dino's.

**** em' and the horse they rode in on.

It involves interwebs and something else that needs to get off of UAH's lawn. He's "Got Mail".......yay. :D

[ursus arctos horribilis]

It involves interwebs and something else that needs to get off of UAH's lawn. He's "Got Mail".......yay. :D

Mofo, I've forgotten more about interwebbing than you'll ever know.

The answer to next question is "yes, I have".

[JALMOND]

Yeah, it's a business. It's a business that pays the BSC to broadcast the games. Did PSU want to bow out of the money and allow them greater flexibility with the scheduling? If some other teams would start bringing more asses to the seats and more eyeballs to the sets and more dollard to the ad buys believe me UM and MSU would be all for it.

Easy to say when you're on that side of the fence. UM and MSU wouldn't be all for it. Their fans would be here saying they aren't getting enough games on ROOT. Here's a newsflash...It may be called the Big Sky Conference, but that doesn't mean the conference revolves around Montana and Montana State. ROOT needs to realize that and start showing the Big Sky Conference, and not just Big Sky Country. The package is to show the conference, not just two schools.

[BisonFan02]

Mofo, I've forgotten more about interwebbing than you'll ever know.

The answer to next question is "yes, I have".

You still type http://.... xlolx

[mvemjsunpx]

Easy to say when you're on that side of the fence. UM and MSU wouldn't be all for it. Their fans would be here saying they aren't getting enough games on ROOT. Here's a newsflash...It may be called the Big Sky Conference, but that doesn't mean the conference revolves around Montana and Montana State. ROOT needs to realize that and start showing the Big Sky Conference, and not just Big Sky Country. The package is to show the conference, not just two schools.

Ratings are 90+% of what matters to TV networks. ROOT is going to show what gives them the best ratings, and they aren't really obligated to do otherwise.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Easy to say when you're on that side of the fence. UM and MSU wouldn't be all for it. Their fans would be here saying they aren't getting enough games on ROOT. Here's a newsflash...It may be called the Big Sky Conference, but that doesn't mean the conference revolves around Montana and Montana State. ROOT needs to realize that and start showing the Big Sky Conference, and not just Big Sky Country. The package is to show the conference, not just two schools.

BS. I would absolutely love to see some of the other schools start bringing some fans/money to these sorts of contracts so we could all have more. This affiliation would have never, ever happened if it were not for UM & MSU and like it or not that is just a damn fact.

UM & MSU never needed Root in the first place because before Root all of our games were available on TV and a lot available on Altitude as well for crossing the country. If you were running a business and you weren't trying to maximize your intake then you'd be done real f'n quick.

RlOOT is about UM & MSU primarily and unless you start getting a fan base that wants to watch you on TV it is just an unfortunate truth that it will remain that way. I know that comes off with me sounding like a dick but so be it, it is the truth and you know it.

ROOT is not a charity venture for the f'n BSC.

[clenz]

Ratings are 90+% of what matters to TV networks. ROOT is going to show what gives them the best ratings, and they aren't really obligated to do otherwise.
A bit of a catch-22 with that, even if you are correct. I got in a heated discussion with a local sports radio station over a very similar topic.

Yes, talk about/show what gets ratings. 100%. The issue is by only focusing on those teams you create a self-fulfilling prophecy for the rest of your programming. You show 95% of one team(s) and ignore everyone else because of ratings, eventually those other fans that may watch if you showed/talked about their team won't watch no matter what. They start to feel as though you don't really want to show/talk about them and they are just being pandered at to appease them.

Then when they are shown and the ratings aren't there you can go "See, I told you guys! I told you they don't get ratings!"

Look at ESPN's ratings for the 900 Yankee/Red Sox games they show vs other games. It's because 98% of baseball fans hate ESPN for only showing Yankees and Red Sox games. They don't pay attention to the other games. When they do show other games they run 458 promos for the next Yankee/Red Sox game.

The issue I had with the local radio station, which is the local Panther Sports Network affiliate and airs UNI football and basketball games, was they spent 99.99% of the time talking Hawkeyes. Fine, you're 30 minutes north of Iowa City and 60 south of Cedar Falls. Hawk talk will drive the meter, no doubt. Mixing in some UNI wouldn't kill the ratings. It would help. It would keep people like me listening. It reached a boiling point during the 14/15 basketball season. UNI was a top 25 basketball team. Just beat a top 10 Wichita State team in Cedar Falls on a Saturday - I was at the game with one of the guys that does that radio show. UNI moved into the top 20 that Monday. Iowa wasn't ranked. It took until the 3rd hour of the Tuesday show for UNI to get mentioned. They spent 2 hours breaking down Iowa football...in late January...and couldn't take 15 minutes to discuss the UNI win until the 3rd hour of the second show of the week.

I had some e-mail exchanges with them and the basic reply was "Panther fans don't listen to use. We have your PxP guy on every Wednesday for 15 minutes. What more do you want?" The answer is we don't listen because you don't give a flying **** about us. In return UNI doesn't move your meter because you don't give it a chance too. Hawkeye fans won't stop listening if you talk UNI for one or two segments a day of your three hour show. Cedar Rapids is the second largest UNI alumni base outside of Cedar Falls/Waterloo (Des Moines is first). People would listen if you gave it a chance. Instead you drive them away by saying "Well, they don't listen so we won't try to get them to listen".

Same thing with Root - "They don't want because we don't really think they will. So rather than give them a chance to prove they would lets say "**** em" and give the same set of schools all of the games".

[ursus arctos horribilis]

You still type http://.... xlolx

I like how you worked at that one a little bit. Nice.

[GetEmGriz]

BS. I would absolutely love to see some of the other schools start bringing some fans/money to these sorts of contracts so we could all have more. This affiliation would have never, ever happened if it were not for UM & MSU and like it or not that is just a damn fact.

UM & MSU never needed Root in the first place because before Root all of our games were available on TV and most available on Altitude as well for crossing the country. If you were running a business and you weren't trying to maximize your intake then you'd be done real f'n quick.

RlOOT is about UM & MSU primarily and unless you start getting a fan base that wants to watch you on TV it is just an unfortunate truth that it will remain that way. I know that comes off with me sounding like a dick but so be it, it is the truth and you know it.

ROOT is not a charity venture for the f'n BSC.

Couldn't have said it better myself! Just another reason why this conference sucks... Fans of other schools like to complain about Montana benefiting from this, yet their own programs draw s*** attendance numbers for fans at home games. You want air time? Stop complaining about Montana and start putting asses in your own stands consistently.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

A bit of a catch-22 with that, even if you are correct. I got in a heated discussion with a local sports radio station over a very similar topic.

Yes, talk about/show what gets ratings. 100%. The issue is by only focusing on those teams you create a self-fulfilling prophecy for the rest of your programming. You show 95% of one team(s) and ignore everyone else because of ratings, eventually those other fans that may watch if you showed/talked about their team won't watch no matter what. They start to feel as though you don't really want to show/talk about them and they are just being pandered at to appease them.

Then when they are shown and the ratings aren't there you can go "See, I told you guys! I told you they don't get ratings!"

Look at ESPN's ratings for the 900 Yankee/Red Sox games they show vs other games. It's because 98% of baseball fans hate ESPN for only showing Yankees and Red Sox games. They don't pay attention to the other games. When they do show other games they run 458 promos for the next Yankee/Red Sox game.

The issue I had with the local radio station, which is the local Panther Sports Network affiliate and airs UNI football and basketball games, was they spent 99.99% of the time talking Hawkeyes. Fine, you're 30 minutes north of Iowa City and 60 south of Cedar Falls. Hawk talk will drive the meter, no doubt. Mixing in some UNI wouldn't kill the ratings. It would help. It would keep people like me listening. It reached a boiling point during the 14/15 basketball season. UNI was a top 25 basketball team. Just beat a top 10 Wichita State team in Cedar Falls on a Saturday - I was at the game with one of the guys that does that radio show. UNI moved into the top 20 that Monday. Iowa wasn't ranked. It took until the 3rd hour of the Tuesday show for UNI to get mentioned. They spent 2 hours breaking down Iowa football...in late January...and couldn't take 15 minutes to discuss the UNI win until the 3rd hour of the second show of the week.

I had some e-mail exchanges with them and the basic reply was "Panther fans don't listen to use. We have your PxP guy on every Wednesday for 15 minutes. What more do you want?" The answer is we don't listen because you don't give a flying **** about us. In return UNI doesn't move your meter because you don't give it a chance too. Hawkeye fans won't stop listening if you talk UNI for one or two segments a day of your three hour show. Cedar Rapids is the second largest UNI alumni base outside of Cedar Falls/Waterloo (Des Moines is first). People would listen if you gave it a chance. Instead you drive them away by saying "Well, they don't listen so we won't try to get them to listen".

Same thing with Root - "They don't want because we don't really think they will. So rather than give them a chance to prove they would lets say "**** em" and give the same set of schools all of the games".

That would make sense and would be true if this were done in a vaccuum more akin to the situation you describe with the radio. But, this came about because it can be seen from local contracts and so forth that any team can go out and get on their own outside of ROOT.

If a team is getting it's dance card full, and it is having all of it's games on local TV AND it has good ad buys due to the people watching...you don't think Root would come in and say..."hey, we'd like some of that".

BSC outside of UM & MSU have mostly not had much TV coverage at all until the last 5 or 10 yrs. In fact, when UM would go play at PSU it was a local (Missoula) TV station that would usually pony up and go do it. Now there was occasionally some competition from the locals at an away game IF UM or MSU was coming...because it meant ad sales that they could capitalize on.

Here's a for instance of what happens. PSU would not have a broadcast and a local TV station would do it. They would bid say $100,000 to do the game when it got competitive. The game is at PSU, it is our local station doing the broadcast because we (UM) fans want to see the game or it would not have been on.

Home team gets 80%, we got 20% or something similar as I remember it. That is the real reason other teams should be pissed off cuz their money did cut in that regard but it was still UM & MSU giving it....just as it is now.

[BisonFan02]

I like how you worked at that one a little bit. Nice.

Do ya?

On topic. The BSC is Montana and Montana State....until others are a better draw, it is what it is. Get over it.

[mvemjsunpx]

A bit of a catch-22 with that, even if you are correct. I got in a heated discussion with a local sports radio station over a very similar topic.

Yes, talk about/show what gets ratings. 100%. The issue is by only focusing on those teams you create a self-fulfilling prophecy for the rest of your programming. You show 95% of one team(s) and ignore everyone else because of ratings, eventually those other fans that may watch if you showed/talked about their team won't watch no matter what. They start to feel as though you don't really want to show/talk about them and they are just being pandered at to appease them.

Then when they are shown and the ratings aren't there you can go "See, I told you guys! I told you they don't get ratings!"

Look at ESPN's ratings for the 900 Yankee/Red Sox games they show vs other games. It's because 98% of baseball fans hate ESPN for only showing Yankees and Red Sox games. They don't pay attention to the other games. When they do show other games they run 458 promos for the next Yankee/Red Sox game.

The issue I had with the local radio station, which is the local Panther Sports Network affiliate and airs UNI football and basketball games, was they spent 99.99% of the time talking Hawkeyes. Fine, you're 30 minutes north of Iowa City and 60 south of Cedar Falls. Hawk talk will drive the meter, no doubt. Mixing in some UNI wouldn't kill the ratings. It would help. It would keep people like me listening. It reached a boiling point during the 14/15 basketball season. UNI was a top 25 basketball team. Just beat a top 10 Wichita State team in Cedar Falls on a Saturday - I was at the game with one of the guys that does that radio show. UNI moved into the top 20 that Monday. Iowa wasn't ranked. It took until the 3rd hour of the Tuesday show for UNI to get mentioned. They spent 2 hours breaking down Iowa football...in late January...and couldn't take 15 minutes to discuss the UNI win until the 3rd hour of the second show of the week.

I had some e-mail exchanges with them and the basic reply was "Panther fans don't listen to use. We have your PxP guy on every Wednesday for 15 minutes. What more do you want?" The answer is we don't listen because you don't give a flying **** about us. In return UNI doesn't move your meter because you don't give it a chance too. Hawkeye fans won't stop listening if you talk UNI for one or two segments a day of your three hour show. Cedar Rapids is the second largest UNI alumni base outside of Cedar Falls/Waterloo (Des Moines is first). People would listen if you gave it a chance. Instead you drive them away by saying "Well, they don't listen so we won't try to get them to listen".

Same thing with Root - "They don't want because we don't really think they will. So rather than give them a chance to prove they would lets say "**** em" and give the same set of schools all of the games".


I agree that some of those networks might be more respected & watched if they spread things out a bit, but I also don't think that applies to ROOT. Montana & Montana State have bigger fan bases than the rest of the Big Sky, so they're gonna get the bulk of the coverage (especially since the state of Montana is in ROOT's broadcast footprint). Plus, it's not like ROOT only shows UM or MSU; they've showed EWU vs. PSU each year since ROOT started, I believe. They also show a diverse set of opponents for the Griz and Cats, too. In addition: some of the Big Sky teams are in states (California) that don't get ROOT on cable, so ROOT doesn't see much value in showing those teams very often.

[F'N Hawks]

I agree that some of those networks might be more respected & watched if they spread things out a bit, but I also don't think that applies to ROOT. Montana & Montana State have bigger fan bases than the rest of the Big Sky, so they're gonna get the bulk of the coverage (especially since the state of Montana is in ROOT's broadcast footprint). Plus, it's not like ROOT only shows UM or MSU; they've showed EWU vs. PSU each year since ROOT started, I believe. They also show a diverse set of opponents for the Griz and Cats, too. In addition: some of the Big Sky teams are in states (California) that don't get ROOT on cable, so ROOT doesn't see much value in showing those teams very often.

Davis is on twice (albeit at EWU & MSU of course).

[clenz]

That would make sense and would be true if this were done in a vaccuum more akin to the situation you describe with the radio. But, this came about because it can be seen from local contracts and so forth that any team can go out and get on their own outside of ROOT.

If a team is getting it's dance card full, and it is having all of it's games on local TV AND it has good ad buys due to the people watching...you don't think Root would come in and say..."hey, we'd like some of that".

BSC outside of UM & MSU have mostly not had much TV coverage at all until the last 5 or 10 yrs. In fact, when UM would go play at PSU it was a local (Missoula) TV station that would usually pony up and go do it. Now there was occasionally some competition from the locals at an away game IF UM or MSU was coming...because it meant ad sales that they could capitalize on.

Here's a for instance of what happens. PSU would not have a broadcast and a local TV station would do it. They would bid say $100,000 to do the game when it got competitive. The game is at PSU, it is our local station doing the broadcast because we (UM) fans want to see the game or it would not have been on.

Home team gets 80%, we got 20% or something similar as I remember it. That is the real reason other teams should be pissed off cuz their money did cut in that regard but it was still UM & MSU giving it....just as it is now.
I completely understand, and 95% agree with you. That 5% I disagree with is what I said in my post.

I can't say your wrong, and the situations aren't exactly the same. You're right. I also don't understand the intricacies of the Root deal so I'm just partially throwing **** against a wall as well.

[SUUTbird]

Even though it hurts me that we got snubbed on ever appearing on ROOT you really cannot argue with the business side of things. EWU, MSU and Montana are easily the most recognizable teams in the conference on the national level and as mentioned draw the largest fan basis. As mentioned other teams need to start putting fans in the stands consistently and doing more to earn more spotlight. Idaho State I feel has the potential because even though their Stadium a small packing the Dome would do a lot for their image.

[dakotadan]

However, having said that being it was told to me verbatim, doesn't Northern Arizona put games on Fox Sport Arizona from time to time? Or are those non-conference?
FS Arizona, FS North, etc are classified as regional networks. Fox College Sports is classified as a national network.

In the past FS North has actually picked up NAU games from FS Arizona when UND or the other Dakota schools were playing out there. Always nice to have away games broadcast.

A NAU fan can correct me if I am wrong but I believe that they have had a lot more games broadcast by FS Arizona after the creation of the PAC 12 Network. It took away a lot of access to ASU and UA games that FS Arizona had previously carried.