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Further info on ESPN media deal to cover the MVC

It will still the fans out of the central Illinois area. I can currently get ESPN3 and the video there is much better than Bradley TV. Bradley TV keeps stoping during the play for a couple of three seconds and is very frustrating. You would think they could provide better video than that.
 
LongTimeFan said:
It will still the fans out of the central Illinois area. I can currently get ESPN3 and the video there is much better than Bradley TV. Bradley TV keeps stoping during the play for a couple of three seconds and is very frustrating. You would think they could provide better video than that.
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I think it's a very good thing. My point was just that you aren't going to start seeing Bradley on ESPN or ESPN 2 8 times per year. I like the ESPN 3 product. With an Apple TV (or similar device), I can watch anything on ESPN 3 on my television.
 
Old Coach said:
I think it's a very good thing. My point was just that you aren't going to start seeing Bradley on ESPN or ESPN 2 8 times per year. I like the ESPN 3 product. With an Apple TV (or similar device), I can watch anything on ESPN 3 on my television.
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Agreed, this is a great step forward. The 'blue hairs' may not understand its significance but ESPN3 has an incredibly wide reach, it is a platform that spans everything from Android Phones, to iPads, to Xbox's as well as computers. I would be surprised if it doesn't give ESPN the option of picking up the good games, which is good for the MVC. This is a step in the right direction. The next step is a more competitive league.
 
The Missouri Valley Conference and ESPN have just now jointly announced the launch of "The Valley on ESPN3" as a major component of an extension of the league's media rights agreement with the World Wide Leader. As part of the agreement, Bradley Athletics is partnering with local production company ScheffTech Productions and the Braves Vision student broadcast team for our broadcasts, which will begin this Fall with soccer and volleyball.

As part of today's announcement, ESPN3 will carry a Valley show at 1 p.m. (CT) today: http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/...Conference-Season-Preview-Show?DB_OEM_ID=3400

News Release: http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=210230903&DB_OEM_ID=3400
 
I hope it works out but I also hope that this deal is not at the expense of trying to get Bradley basketball games on more accessible TV coverage....

According to their own data...ESPN3's record number of viewers at one time for any event is about 1/2 million (and that's for major NATIONAL events)..
I know it is "growing" but slowly and a large number of midwesterners still do not ever watch ESPN3 - I think they have fallen short on the marketing end of it.

...that compares to about 40 million or more that might watch ESPN, which is readily available on everyone's cable TV packages or upwards of 115 million who have watched Superbowls & other sports on broadcast TV
So - clearly ESPN3 is drawing 1-2% of what the other ESPN channels can get.

You'd kinda have to admit that largely the only people who'd view on ESPN3 would be those who sought out the broadcast because they were already MVC fans...

but keep in mind that 80-90% of all fans have never watched a single thing on ESPN3 and 50-70% seem to not even know what it is.
We still need MVC teams to get local TV deals and develop & grow their own fan base and make the games accessible.

Anyone read this? It's a commentary on the effectiveness the MAC had broadcasting their games on ESPN3.
I don't know if our deal is exactly the same but it is an interesting read....
http://www.hustlebelt.com/maction/2...s-espn3-watchespn-viewership-numbers-analysis
http://www.hustlebelt.com/2015/7/22/8967163/vacant-saddles

The answer is given to one question...
"What if I don't have ESPN3, will I still be able to watch free live streams from the MAC's site or my school's site?"
ANSWER: - "The short answer is eventually, no..." "In order for this to work..."..they're gonna have to eliminate any way for people to see the games for free!!!

Keep in mind attendance in the MVC is down over the past few years - especially way down since the last ESPN TV deal was signed - and way down over the peak we saw at the Tourney a few years back - LINK - LINK
 
tornado said:
I hope it works out but I also hope that this deal is not at the expense of trying to get Bradley basketball games on more accessible TV coverage....

According to their own data...ESPN3's record number of viewers at one time for any event is about 1/2 million (and that's for major NATIONAL events)..
I know it is "growing" but slowly and a large number of midwesterners still do not ever watch ESPN3 - I think they have fallen short on the marketing end of it.

...that compares to about 40 million or more that might watch ESPN, which is readily available on everyone's cable TV packages or upwards of 115 million who have watched Superbowls & other sports on broadcast TV
So - clearly ESPN3 is drawing 1-2% of what the other ESPN channels can get.

You'd kinda have to admit that largely the only people who'd view on ESPN3 would be those who sought out the broadcast because they were already MVC fans...

but keep in mind that 80-90% of all fans have never watched a single thing on ESPN3 and 50-70% seem to not even know what it is.
We still need MVC teams to get local TV deals and develop & grow their own fan base and make the games accessible.

Anyone read this? It's a commentary on the effectiveness the MAC had broadcasting their games on ESPN3.
I don't know if our deal is exactly the same but it is an interesting read....
http://www.hustlebelt.com/maction/2...s-espn3-watchespn-viewership-numbers-analysis
http://www.hustlebelt.com/2015/7/22/8967163/vacant-saddles

The answer is given to one question...
"What if I don't have ESPN3, will I still be able to watch free live streams from the MAC's site or my school's site?"
ANSWER: - "The short answer is eventually, no..." "In order for this to work..."..they're gonna have to eliminate any way for people to see the games for free!!!

Keep in mind attendance in the MVC is down over the past few years - especially way down since the last ESPN TV deal was signed - and way down over the peak we saw at the Tourney a few years back - LINK - LINK
Click to expand...

Holding on to the old way of thinking doesn't do much good, the local TV broadcasts are terribly produced SD nightmares. ESPN3 is generally HD and better produced. To think that if Bu Sporting events were on local TV they would provide a big viewing audience isn't realistic. If people were eager to tune in, the local channels would want to carry those events... that's clearly not the case. ESPN3 provides an avenue to get the broadcasts to anyone who has ESPN, a very large #.

As far as any correlation between TV deals and attendance, I would suggest that is a correlation and is definitely not causation. I would attribute the attendance decline to a very clear decline in the quality of the valley - both naturally and due to the loss of Creighton - which you have cited many times when highlighting the poor performance under Geno, and the fact that families are more judicious with their money due to the economy - something that is routinely brought up when discussing the previous administrations ticket price increase. Suggesting the TV deal and attendance declines, etc. are related seems pretty far fetched in my eyes.
 
amckillip said:
.. the local TV broadcasts are terribly produced SD nightmares...
Click to expand...

well, I do agree but they have only been so recently... someone totally dropped the ball a few years ago and has never bothered to pick it back up...
..and a well done TV deal would increase our fans and maybe help boost attendance...
I know there are other factors but was pointing out that we are kinda down and need things to work WELL to draw in new fans and draw back old fans.
Just talked this morning with perhaps the only Bradley fan whose basement has more Bradley stuff than mine and he mentioned last year was the first year in 2 decades he was NOT in St. Louis...we blew thru the last 4-5 years losing fans rapidly - we have to get it right this time.
 
Even when Bradley was playing well in the mid-2000s, local TV broadcasts did not make money. WEEK was doing at a push, and sometimes at a loss the last 2 seasons they televised Bradley basketball. The ratings would regularly be a 1 or - (which means something less than 1). Selling spots for $200 a piece was challenging when a typical prime time rating point sold for between $75-$100 a point. On top of that, you had to pre-empt regularly scheduled prime time programming which always honked off a certain percentage of local viewership. If it were a money-making proposition, I guarantee you that HOI, WEEK, WMBD, or WYZZ would be regularly broadcasting games. The on-line digital platform is definitely the way to go.
 
Old Coach said:
.. If it were a money-making proposition, I guarantee you that HOI, WEEK, WMBD, or WYZZ would be regularly broadcasting games. The on-line digital platform is definitely the way to go.
Click to expand...
I know, but there were still people at the local TV stations who wanted to do BU games but the offer to do so came with conditions that someone at Bradley would not accept, so the deals floundered and were failures.
Among MVC teams - how many have BIG fan bases, in bigger TV markets of over 100,000, for a team with a great. loyal following and a tremendous tradition.
At least as far as MVC schools, Bu was among the top 2 or 3 - and yet we never had a TV deal over the past 5 years that was any better than the bottom dwellers.
 
tornado said:
I know, but there were still people at the local TV stations who wanted to do BU games but the offer to do so came with conditions that someone at Bradley would not accept, so the deals floundered and were failures.
Among MVC teams - how many have BIG fan bases, in bigger TV markets of over 100,000, for a team with a great. loyal following and a tremendous tradition.
At least as far as MVC schools, Bu was among the top 2 or 3 - and yet we never had a TV deal over the past 5 years that was any better than the bottom dwellers.
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Sure. They could have bought airtime on a secondary channel on paid programming basis, and televised almost every game. However, Bradley would have then had to sell all of the ad space in an effort to recoup the programming costs. They were already losing money, and I don't think anyone would have been supportive of them losing even more money every game.
 
got to take reports of "losing money" with a grain of salt..
Gatehouse Media gets reported as "losing money" every quarter for years yet they still expand, buy up more businesses, and sell millions of newspapers.
 
Old Coach said:
Even when Bradley was playing well in the mid-2000s, local TV broadcasts did not make money. WEEK was doing at a push, and sometimes at a loss the last 2 seasons they televised Bradley basketball. The ratings would regularly be a 1 or - (which means something less than 1). Selling spots for $200 a piece was challenging when a typical prime time rating point sold for between $75-$100 a point. On top of that, you had to pre-empt regularly scheduled prime time programming which always honked off a certain percentage of local viewership. If it were a money-making proposition, I guarantee you that HOI, WEEK, WMBD, or WYZZ would be regularly broadcasting games. The on-line digital platform is definitely the way to go.
Click to expand...

You have made an excellent and well informed post. It's next to impossible for a local television station to sell advertising for a Bradley basketball game.
Compounding the problem of advertising sales is the fact, if you buy time as an advertiser, and the game is bad, you've wasted your money as viewers can easily change channels to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, CBS SPORTNET, NBC SPORTSNET, FOX1, FOX SPORTS MIDWEST, COMCAST SPORTSNET CHICAGO, etc. and etc. As a potential advertiser, the chances of the viewer seeing your add is vastly reduced. As an advertiser, you can spend that same money in a cable package with much better results and it will be shown on a multitude of stations that include those other than just sports. It's a no brainer.
 
As recently as 3-4 years ago there were local stations willing to do a deal to broadcast numerous BU games, but our "people" would not accept the terms - and it was more than a money issue - placing demands & terms that even included choosing the personnel that the stations would hire. "We" shot ourselves in the foot.

First & foremost Bradley needs to "position themselves" so the product is marketable and desirable...that's been the biggest part of the problem the past 4-5 years..
I hate to use the "F-word" but as that Tuesday luncheon with over 1200 proves - the market is STILL loyal and still there - but if you treat them badly and offer a terrible product then let's stop beating around the bush and pointing fingers at WEEK, the fans, and advertisers.
 
tornado said:
As recently as 3-4 years ago there were local stations willing to do a deal to broadcast numerous BU games, but our "people" would not accept the terms - and it was more than a money issue - placing demands & terms that even included choosing the personnel that the stations would hire. "We" shot ourselves in the foot.

First & foremost Bradley needs to "position themselves" so the product is marketable and desirable...that's been the biggest part of the problem the past 4-5 years..
I hate to use the "F-word" but as that Tuesday luncheon with over 1200 proves - the market is STILL loyal and still there - but if you treat them badly and offer a terrible product then let's stop beating around the bush and pointing fingers at WEEK, the fans, and advertisers.
Click to expand...

Who is pointing fingers at WEEK? I suggested that they made a good business decision when they quit doing Bradley games. That model didn't work any longer. The audience just wasn't there to justify what a :30 spot had to be sold for.
 
does anyone know...
the new ESPN3 agreement - does it place prohibitions on the individual MVC teams from contracting to televise their games locally?
I linked to that article about the MAC-ESPN3 deal and it implied there would be a certain exclusivity and that separate local TV deals might be impossible
If not, then we should still pursue additional deals as a lot of BU fans & potential fans & ticket-buyers live in the surrounding cities & not all would have easy access to ESPN3

FoxSports has done a decent job with weekend MVC game telecasts and non-prime tourney games and is readily available to every cable viewer in the midwest.
I have had Chicago-area friends & family mention that they enjoyed catching a game when it was on.
And folks in Chicago or St. Louis - if flipping thru the channels - might watch the Valley game but how many would go sign in to ESPN3 and seek out an MVC game?
 
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