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Post by mrose on Apr 13, 2018 12:47:57 GMT -5
Perhaps the media paradigm for college athletics has shifted into a higher gear over the past few days.
1) ESPN+ went live yesterday. It's a $4.99 monthly fee to access. It will be comprised of content that was mostly shown on ESPN3 (Watch ESPN) and typically content without large viewership. In essence, it will most likely carry the HL. I don't have details of the Horizon LeCrone's contract with ESPN, but yesterday and today ESPN+ is carrying mid-major baseball and softball (e.g., MVC), some out-of-market MLB games, and rugby from across the pond.
My view is viewership won't increase under the ESPN umbrella and if there's going to be a fee to watch we might as well bring back the old Horizon League Network and keep the $$$ for ourselves.
2) Quietly stealth Comcast has dropped the B1G Network in its out of state markets (they alerted customers with notices in their monthly bills/on-line statements). The Big Ten Network IS the cash-cow for the conference. No "if's" "and's" or "but's" about it. That's approx. half of Comcast's subscriber base. That's a HUGE blow to Delany's reasoning to bring in a very weak athletic Rutgers program. New Jersey will remain in the Market, but across river the rest of the New York Metro area is gone to the B1G. My quick back of the envelope calculation tells me that's about 10 million paying customers. Who the B1G got .44 cents/month = 50+ Million/year in lost revenue. That's a $3-4 million/yr hair cut to each member...meaning, on average, a loss of more than 10% of total media/bowl/NCAA dividends paid last year.
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Post by wsutommygun on Apr 13, 2018 13:16:48 GMT -5
I thought the ESPN+ was meant for people that "cut the cord" and that I'd be okay because I have Spectrum and pay for their sports pass to boot. When I clicked on something listed as ESPN+ it said I'd have to pay after a 30 day trial. Don't think so. I am content to follow along with Plan B.
I won't say I have never watched the SEC Network but, I wouldn't lose any sleep over losing that.
Only watch ESPN for the games and don't care about the rest of their programming garbage.
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Post by wsutommygun on Apr 13, 2018 13:47:33 GMT -5
Another reason I wouldn't pay any more is the streaming quality. Yes, could be the computer but I watched some of the softball the other day before putting the game on Spectrum Sports channel and following the stats of the Raiders baseball game on the computer. Perhaps it had something to do with people tuning in but the A10 stream was MUCH better than anything on ESPN3. ( Still, ESPN3 is getting better from the early days but it still cuts out/buffers ).
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Post by Big D on Apr 13, 2018 19:32:14 GMT -5
Looks like another LeCrone blunder here. Should have pulled our games and restarted the HLN. The whole reason he gave our games away to ESPN3 was to increase our exposure to potential fans and recruits. No one is going to pay ESPN to watch HL sports except some of us diehard fans and the parents of these athletes.
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Post by raidman on Apr 14, 2018 7:28:32 GMT -5
Another reason I wouldn't pay any more is the streaming quality. Yes, could be the computer but I watched some of the softball the other day before putting the game on Spectrum Sports channel and following the stats of the Raiders baseball game on the computer. Perhaps it had something to do with people tuning in but the A10 stream was MUCH better than anything on ESPN3. ( Still, ESPN3 is getting better from the early days but it still cuts out/buffers ). That’s because of your internet connection and the speed. No doubt you are some goofy things on 3 where there are true technical difficulties but if it’s buffering then upgrade your internet look at your modem strength, etc. I upgraded modems and internet tier and haven’t had a buffering problem since, and I watch 95% of the games. |
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Post by wsutommygun on Apr 14, 2018 8:24:20 GMT -5
thanks raidman, I bundle but only have one tv and one laptop. I already give Spectrum more than $200 a month and have no desire to give them more. I did think about threatening to drop the service and see if they would sweeten the deal. Anyway, why can the A10 network be so much better than ESPN3 ( speed wasn't an issue there )?
I am content to follow stats or listen on the radio if that is my best option. If it turns out ESPN+ is the only way to watch Raider hoops then that's a personal decision. Big D and some of the others used to say the HL made a mistake by not charging extra anyway.
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Post by Big D on Apr 14, 2018 8:43:08 GMT -5
thanks raidman, I bundle but only have one tv and one laptop. I already give Spectrum more than $200 a month and have no desire to give them more. I did think about threatening to drop the service and see if they would sweeten the deal. Anyway, why can the A10 network be so much better than ESPN3 ( speed wasn't an issue there )? I am content to follow stats or listen on the radio if that is my best option. If it turns out ESPN+ is the only way to watch Raider hoops then that's a personal decision. Big D and some of the others used to say the HL made a mistake by not charging extra anyway. I used to say it was stupid to give away the HLN for free. Showing games live for free decreases the number of fans in the seats at ball games. Giving our broadcasts away to ESPN for free and then letting them charge for it is a step further in the stupidity department for the HL. The only argument they could make in the past for giving ESPN our broadcasting rights was the increased exposure by being on their network. That goes away when you make it a pay site. The ONLY way this makes sense to stay with ESPN is if they are paying us now and I would bet any amount of money that they are not. |
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Post by wsutommygun on Apr 14, 2018 9:03:36 GMT -5
Spectrum has something on channels 781-788 called ESPN College Sports Extra ( usually picking up ESPN3 feeds ). Our baseball game was listed...not sure what the time change will do. Anyway, I was wondering if we would see how that was handled...ESPN3 or ESPN+.
Hope the HL is looking into its options before basketball season. Maybe the agreement was spelled out...maybe ESPN just said it would be available on an ESPN platform. I am also hoping that Spectrum will increase the minimum speed ( might consider paying extra plus tax if it is quality ).
If I can't see games, I tend to pace ( might need the exercise but, it is what it is ).
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Post by Big D on Apr 14, 2018 9:27:03 GMT -5
Spectrum's internet speed fluctuates greatly. My package is for 60 mbps. It can fluctuate between 2-45 mbps and I have to constantly unplug to reset the wifi modem/router.
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Post by wsutommygun on Apr 14, 2018 10:27:50 GMT -5
One day I hope to wake up and find that Spectrum's equipment has been upgraded so that computer speed isn't an issue. I don't care to pay the $25 more a month to get there. If I could watch ESPN3 as if I'm watching regular television on a small screen then I may get to a point to pay the extra $5 a month if I can't stand not watching. Not there yet and wouldn't consider it with my current experience. We'll see what shakes out and not sure what access would be available if we ever moved to another conference.
Although ESPN3 is better than nothing, it seemed to be buffering at the worst times at the HL tourney and I'd spend time listening to the radio while I waited for the computer to get a picture back. The championship game was better with Chris and Jim but, I went back to the replay later that night to see what I missed.
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Post by Dr J on Apr 14, 2018 20:30:54 GMT -5
Today I watch a softball game, Samford vs Western Carolina. It was on SOCON network on my IPad. I have an app on iPad, Mirror, and was able to put my iPad screen on my large screen tv. No problems with buffering. I have Directv and ATT. So if HLN returns I can watch on the smart tv.
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Post by mrose on Apr 15, 2018 15:22:32 GMT -5
FWIW, Though it's not a Horizon LeCrone sponsored sport UDM has their upcoming Friday Lacrosse match placed on ESPN+.
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Post by mrose on Apr 20, 2018 10:27:41 GMT -5
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Post by mrose on Apr 20, 2018 11:51:07 GMT -5
I was looking at the 25 most profitable college basketball programs and that led me to athletic dept. revenue generated by all public D I institutions. Those figures are through the 2016 academic year--which is the latest available.
The highest HL member is UIC at #143 (out of 230). I'm not surprised the HL is relatively low as we don't sponsor football. Though football is very costly it generates revenue. What surprised me is there are small public schools in smaller conferences without football generating more revenue than HL members.
For instance, Vermont generated nearly $2 million more than UIC in 2016. UC-Irvine generated $1.7m more than UIC ($17.8m). For reference, Wright State had reported revenue of $10.8m and came in at #209.
What I found interesting is many of these similar peer institutions still have their media rights and broadcast games on their digital platforms. Now, I'm not saying there's cause and correlation with this, just that it's interesting and further research should be done. America East, WAC, and the Big West still have their digital platform AND have inventory on the ESPN family of networks. The OVC has their digital network, but has scholarship football so it's not realistic to compare numbers. In addition the WCC has a digital platform and inventory for ESPN, but the WCC is comprised strictly of private members and they don't report publicly their financials.
Quick Breakdown of avg. revenue of non-football members per conference:
HL (6 members not including IUPUI--Summit in 2016): $13.335m
UIC
Oakland
NKU
Milwaukee
WSU
Greeenbay
Big West (6 members): $17.824m
UC Irvine
Santa Barbara
LBSU
UC Riverside
Cal State Fullerton
Cal State Northridge
America East (4 members) $17.543m
Binghamton
Vermont
Umass-lowell
UMBC
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Post by wsutommygun on May 3, 2018 12:34:46 GMT -5
ESPN+ is a pay service even if you have a cable subscription. There was a 30-day trial period but, I'm not sure when the clock started on that. I personally am not interested and haven't tried it ( based on my ESPN3 experience ). I am satisfied with letting stats give me updates ( which I check during commercials of watching something else ).
There is still ESPN3 but, not sure how they decide ( have watched some HL baseball and softball on the ESPN3 platform in the recent past after ESPN+ came about ).
Wonder if the announcers get something since ESPN+ is above the regular cable service.
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