The alleged Mtn deal has a very "so what"

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by Spaz

I'm not hardly either. Granting the fact that I'm ill-informed as to the specifics of when & where the games would have been available on the ESPN deal...and particularly the specifics with ESPN Gameplan...


-for the average BYU fan in, say, Tennessee, the ESPN deal would have broadcast how many home games nationwide in either ESPN or ESPN2? My guess is not all of them.

-Now, for that Tennessee fan, with the Mtn (according to the info widely understood about the deal), all he has to do is have DirecTV and pick up the Sports Package (at $12/month), and he's got EVERY BYU home game, AND EVERY MWC game. Meaning he might miss 2 games a year.


I'd be surprised if ESPN would have made all but 2 games available to the poor sap in Tenn.

You must be about 21 years old, too young to remember the old days.

For at least the last two years of the ESPN deal, a BYU fan could watch every single BYU football game. Some games were nationally broadcast, and the rest were on ESPN gameplan. Gameplan cost $100 for the year, and included a lot of non-BYU games as well.

For the New Mexico fan, I'm sure the calculus is now improved.

[Spaz]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

You must be about 21 years old, too young to remember the old days.

For at least the last two years of the ESPN deal, a BYU fan could watch every single BYU football game. Some games were nationally broadcast, and the rest were on ESPN gameplan. Gameplan cost $100 for the year, and included a lot of non-BYU games as well.

For the New Mexico fan, I'm sure the calculus is now improved.

Plus about nine. I got serious with BYU football when I went to BYU starting in '95, and have more or less lived in the region since.

In essence, this is supporting my point. For $144 per year (less, if you drop the sports pack from March-August) you get ALL MWC sports, plus countless other football games available on the DirecTV sports pack.


Throw in the fact that the NEW ESPN deal wasn't as good as the OLD ESPN deal, and like I said, we're probably better off.

[CJF]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

You must be about 21 years old, too young to remember the old days.

For at least the last two years of the ESPN deal, a BYU fan could watch every single BYU football game. Some games were nationally broadcast, and the rest were on ESPN gameplan. Gameplan cost $100 for the year, and included a lot of non-BYU games as well.

For the New Mexico fan, I'm sure the calculus is now improved.

And you must not remember how almost every week we were at the mercy of ESPN to add us to the Gameplan line up. That will never be an issue again. All home games and all conference games will be available to everyone. I could pay the $100 for Gameday but it wasn't a sure thing I'd get the game I really wanted.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by CJF

And you must not remember how almost every week we were at the mercy of ESPN to add us to the Gameplan line up. That will never be an issue again. All home games and all conference games will be available to everyone. I could pay the $100 for Gameday but it wasn't a sure thing I'd get the game I really wanted.

For at least two years (and maybe longer than that) every BYU game was available.

It's good for fans to be able to see all the games. I will grant you that. But it's not good for the games to be on an obscure channel that very few people have access to.

[Spaz]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

For at least two years (and maybe longer than that) every BYU game was available.

It's good for fans to be able to see all the games. I will grant you that. But it's not good for the games to be on an obscure channel that very few people have access to.

I'll admit this, as well...if you're comparing Saturday afternoon airings on the Mtn/CSTV/Versus with Saturday afternoon airings on ESPN or ESPN2, there's no question which is better.


It's my opinion, however, that that's not what we're comparing here. We're comparing Saturday afternoon with Tuesday evening, or Saturday afternoon on Mtn with Saturday afternoon on the EQUALLY obscure ESPNU.


I, for one, will be absolutely happy with the deal once it's on DirecTV.

[CJF]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

For at least two years (and maybe longer than that) every BYU game was available.

It's good for fans to be able to see all the games. I will grant you that. But it's not good for the games to be on an obscure channel that very few people have access to.

That's why the Comcast situation sucked. DirecTV distribution fixes that problem. The people who want to watch football have the sports tier. The AP and college coaches and the bowl's have the sports tier. Is this as widely viewed as the ESPN deal? No. But who cares? The people who are important to the future of the MWC will see it. That's the big thing. Who knows what happens from there. ESPN started off very slow also. Took ESPN 2 years to get decent sat and cable coverage. I now know were every game can be viewed. Stability is a wonderful thing.

[splitbamboo]

Originally Posted by Spaz

Exactly. And this deal makes the games available for people to watch. Far more so, IMO, than would have been so on ESPN.

Will there be competition? Absolutely - it's unavoidable these days. But the fact that it's AVAILABLE is going to go a LONG ways. There'll be people flipping channels who stumble upon the Mtn, and decide to watch awhile.

I can hear it now: "Yo, Earl, look here! They's got a football team in Wyomin'! Who'd a thunk it." ... [then off to another channel]

[Spaz]

Originally Posted by splitbamboo

I can hear it now: "Yo, Earl, look here! They's got a football team in Wyomin'! Who'd a thunk it." ... [then off to another channel]

Not at all an unlikely occurance.

I can also hear the guys flipping channels when Nebraska goes up by 40 over ND in the first quarter, and comes across a BYU-TCU game on the Mtn, the score 25-17 BYU, TCU with the ball with ten minutes to go...and deciding to watch the rest of the game.


Still, neither case is the reason we should be excited about the distribution. They're simply a by-product.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by Spaz

Not at all an unlikely occurance.

I can also hear the guys flipping channels when Nebraska goes up by 40 over ND in the first quarter, and comes across a BYU-TCU game on the Mtn, the score 25-17 BYU, TCU with the ball with ten minutes to go...and deciding to watch the rest of the game.


Still, neither case is the reason we should be excited about the distribution. They're simply a by-product.

You mean out of the small percentage of the 700,000 people who will have the channel?

[Spaz]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

You mean out of the small percentage of the 700,000 people who will have the channel?

Yep. Plus the extra people who switch to get it so they can watch their team. Who knows, maybe DirecTV's Sports Pack subscribers will increase to 800,000. Maybe even more.

That'd be a cool mil Direc makes off the deal...