Conference Web Streaming: How would you rank your conference?

[WestCoastAggie]

I am wondering about each conference's streaming platform for their sporting events.

Does your conference have a platform for streaming?

If it's a PPV service, do you pay for it?

Do you use the service?

Does it generate revenue for your conference and school?

[DFW HOYA]

The Patriot League Network stream through WatchStadium.com is first rate. Better yet, at no cost (unlike the Ivy League setup).

[PantherRob82]

100% Espn3 is great for us. It’s nice being able to catch other conferences on there as well.

[The Cats]

Mostly ESPN3 for the SoCon, however, the conference does have the SoCon Digital Network (free), and it is utilized for some Olympic sports.

[walliver]

Most SoCon broadcast are created by the host schools, frequently with students running the cameras and technical roles. As a result, the quality of the the broadcasts vary widely. For example, Western needs to buy sturdier tripods, and Wofford needs to invest in lens cleaning cloths.

[clenz]

98% of MVC events are streamed in HD on ESPN3, the 2% that isn't is set to be in place in the next year or two as places get more camera ability on their baseball, softball and soccer facilities.

It's feeds produced by the school but it's all done to ESPN braodcast standards. That is rule #1 for joining the MVC - and why Valpo had to spend SIGNIFICANT money when they joined the league this year. You must have in house ability to broadcast full HD with multiple cameras for every event.

The MVC TV deal has some pretty significant requirements.

[ASU33]

98% of MVC events are streamed in HD on ESPN3, the 2% that isn't is set to be in place in the next year or two.

It's feeds produced by the school but it's all done to ESPN braodcast standards. That is rule #1 for joining the MVC - and why Valpo had to spend SIGNIFICANT money when they joined the league this year. You must have in house ability to broadcast full HD with multiple cameras for every event.

The MVC TV deal has some pretty significant requirements.

Nice!xthumbsupx

[aceinthehole]

NEC Front Row was cutting edge at the time and was a great, free way to catch all league games (FB and MBB) from anywhere in the world! However, as technology has evolved and every league has also moved to online streaming, the NEC platform has fallen behind.

Pros: Free - no subscriptions or log-in required.
Cons: Not all games are in HD (depends on the school); no App available so its hard to stream on phones

At this point I wish the league would just move everything we have to ESPN3 and their Watch ESPN app. Since each school produces their own games/content for NEC Front Row, the ESPN branding and their mobile app is some of the best out there. For example, the NEC was ahead of America East by years in developing its own web streaming distribution, but now they have now partnered with ESPN3 and the quality and branding of their broadcast are now superior.

NEC-produced content is already distributed on ESPN3 so, this move would just basically "rebrand" school-produced content as ESPN3. The league still has some basketball games they produce for CNS, SNY, ESPNU, etc. but we are mostly now online with few cable/satellite games each year.

[th0m]

98% of MVC events are streamed in HD on ESPN3, the 2% that isn't is set to be in place in the next year or two.

It's feeds produced by the school but it's all done to ESPN braodcast standards. That is rule #1 for joining the MVC - and why Valpo had to spend SIGNIFICANT money when they joined the league this year. You must have in house ability to broadcast full HD with multiple cameras for every event.

The MVC TV deal has some pretty significant requirements.

Wish the CAA had something like that! Some CAA games have been on College Sports Live which is part of CBS. They had a "game of the week" most weeks which was free, but they have other games which are not and you have to get a sub. The irony is that the Delaware game was free and decent video footage wise (audio still terrible) and the URI game was awful video and audio wise, and I had to pay to watch. Most games that are not picked up by CSL are free to watch via CAA.tv and are home productions but generally good quality. JMU's are good (slightly biased ofc) as are W&M and Elon's.

[clenz]

Wish the CAA had something like that! Some CAA games have been on College Sports Live which is part of CBS. They had a "game of the week" most weeks which was free, but they have other games which are not and you have to get a sub. The irony is that the Delaware game was free and decent video footage wise (audio still terrible) and the URI game was awful video and audio wise, and I had to pay to watch. Most games that are not picked up by CSL are free to watch via CAA.tv and are home productions but generally good quality. JMU's are good (slightly biased ofc) as are W&M and Elon's.
The MVC has a TV deal with ESPN, CBS/CBSSports Net, Mediacom and Comcast Chicago. It's a strange mix but it works well for us. It's basically ESPN gets 98% of everything a large number of MBB games on ESPN2 ESPNU Mediacom/Comcast get "conference game of the week" and CBS/CBS Sports Net get the mens conference tournament with the title game at "prime time" on the national CBS station.

The MVFC has benefited from this deal as they are held to the same standard as the MVC as part of the deal.

It's actually disapointing when a MVC/MVFC game is picked as the conference game of the week because it gets produced by Mediacom and sent to their channel and Comcast Sports Chicago. The quality of picture and PxP guys are significantly lower than the school produced broadcasts.

[McNeese72]

The video streams on the Southland website are free and, when I have watched them, the quality has been pretty good. Other Southland TV games are broadcast and streamed by a variety of different companies.

Doc

[ElCid]

Most SoCon broadcast are created by the host schools, frequently with students running the cameras and technical roles. As a result, the quality of the the broadcasts vary widely. For example, Western needs to buy sturdier tripods, and Wofford needs to invest in lens cleaning cloths.

I don't know who we use. We don't have any AV department. I thought I heard once that we use/hire CoC or CSU folks maybe? Don't know for sure. I will say that we have some mediocre cameramen. They sometimes miss the play. But that is not just us, many of the SOCON games obviously have amateurs doing the camera work. Many missed plays.

[walliver]

I don't know who we use. We don't have any AV department. I thought I heard once that we use/hire CoC or CSU folks maybe? Don't know for sure. I will say that we have some mediocre cameramen. They sometimes miss the play. But that is not just us, many of the SOCON games obviously have amateurs doing the camera work. Many missed plays.

It’s interesting you don’t have in-house capabilities. Most of the $5M received from the departure of GSU, ASU, eLoan, the College of Knowledge, and Davy was distributed to the remaining schools to purchase broadcasting hardware.

Maybe it’s too hard to balance a camera in one hand while hauling luggage in the other😀.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[ElCid]

It’s interesting you don’t have in-house capabilities. Most of the $5M received from the departure of GSU, ASU, eLoan, the College of Knowledge, and Davy was distributed to the remaining schools to purchase broadcasting hardware.

Maybe it’s too hard to balance a camera in one hand while hauling luggage in the other😀.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Well, we may use some employee, but we have no field of study for it. That was my major point.

[NorthChuckSouth]

The Big South has its own network where majority of games are streamed if not on WatchESPN.. Not great quality but better than nothing

https://bigsouthsports.com/watch/?Live=1489

[ST_Lawson]

The MVFC has benefited from this deal as they are held to the same standard as the MVC as part of the deal.

I do love that all MVFC games are on ESPN3...makes things so much easier.


It's actually disapointing when a MVC/MVFC game is picked as the conference game of the week because it gets produced by Mediacom and sent to their channel and Comcast Sports Chicago. The quality of picture and PxP guys are significantly lower than most of the school produced broadcasts.

Fixed that for you. Not sure I'd say that ours is better than the MVFC-produced games...but at least our broadcasting students are getting experience ;)

[Terry2889]

The Patriot League Network stream through WatchStadium.com is first rate. Better yet, at no cost (unlike the Ivy League setup).

yours is awesome!

[mmiller_34]

MVFC

I've been able to watch all the SDSU away games either on ESPN3 or, the one time, having to pay for Montana State's stream from their athletic website. All SDSU home games were broadcast on ESPN3 as well. I love it, I get to go to the game then come home and watch the full replay. I seldom have issues with ESPN3 so for me the MVFC would be a 10/10 for streaming.

Typical Saturday for me, this is how I watched the playoff games last weekend:

http://i1382.photobucket.com/albums/ah248/mitchellmiller32/IMG_0141_zpsuzw1jfyw.jpg?t=1511915539

Summit

Viewing Basketball is tougher to come by in the Summit. SDSU has a few select games broadcast regional through our local MidCo Sports, basically all the Dakota battles are played (USD/SDSU, SDSU/NDSU, UND,NDSU, USD/NDSU). Sometimes they might broadcast a doubleheader (I think last year SDSU/Fort Wayne was broadcast). Midco Sports I believe has a deal with ESPN that their broadcasts are on ESPN3. I don't receive Midco Sports with my cable but I have always been able to view their content through ESPN3. I wish the Summit had a deal like the MVC has for basketball. I rank Summit 3/10.

[CockyGeek]

OVC Digital Network is straight up garbage. F-. There are usually lots of games, but the streaming quality is normally terrible. There is an annoying ad that plays all the time, even when you're desperately trying to get a video to work.

[iBOsbu]

Wish the CAA had something like that! Some CAA games have been on College Sports Live which is part of CBS. They had a "game of the week" most weeks which was free, but they have other games which are not and you have to get a sub. The irony is that the Delaware game was free and decent video footage wise (audio still terrible) and the URI game was awful video and audio wise, and I had to pay to watch. Most games that are not picked up by CSL are free to watch via CAA.tv and are home productions but generally good quality. JMU's are good (slightly biased ofc) as are W&M and Elon's.

I would like to see CAA strike a deal with ESPN and have all the football games on ESPN3. It’s the best.

[Redbird 4th & short]

like what we have available (i.e. 98% characterization), but guestimating that 25% of time (ISU football only) there are connectivity/signal issue for early part or majority of game. The other 75% it works just fine, though some signals are better resolutions than others.

[clenz]

like what we have available (i.e. 98% characterization), but guestimating that 25% of time (ISU football only) there are connectivity/signal issue for early part or majority of game. The other 75% it works just fine, though some signals are better resolutions than others.
There are some schools that really seem to suffer on keeping their feed running smoothly - ESPN just puts out what they get so the issues do come from the school feed side of it. Illinois State and Southern Illinois seem to have the most issues on the MVC/MVFC from what I've seen when it comes to feed consistency. YSU (not shocking given HL broadcast standards), MSU and SIU seem to have the worst quality of feed for picture.

UNI fans have been pretty spoiled for a while. UNI has had in house broadcasting in HD for almost a decade. The main TV guy we have is a UNI professor and owns his own TV production company that does just a ton of work in the CF area. He got hooked into UNI athletics because of how bad the pay for stream was previous to this. It was god awful - across the board. No schools had the infrastructure to do it properly.

I don't know how the relationship came about but his company is contracted for all UNI home events, the same set of 3 or 4 color commentators do every single event, all with very strong UNI connections so it's a great watch. He also does the weekly TV show that spotlights the athletic department and is sent out to TV stations across the state to broadcast. The company is Around the Corner - http://www.atc-p.com/ and the weekly show is https://www.panthersportstalk.com/

UNI invested heavily in video upgrades early and it paid off. Every home football game is broadcast on ESPN3 and TV across the state of Iowa (and into a good portion of IL, MO, WI, NE, SD and MN thanks to OTAs) in HD. I think almost, if not every, every home wrestling match is the same. Every home mens basketball game gets that treatment as well. About half of the volleyball and womens basketball games get that as well, depending on when/who they are playing. All of those are also on ESPN3, it's just a matter of it is also sent to the TV stations.

A voice almost everyone in the MVC/MVFC and USA Track and Field and a growing number of other places will recognize is Brad Wells. He is from CF and started with UNI's broadcasting team/company. He's fantastic and has been picked up by the conference to do GOTW and get sent around the country to do MVC/MVFC/CUSA/etc... games on top of doing some larger USA Track and Field and other broadcasts.

It's nice that the MVC, and by proxy MVFC, got on board and followed suit in requiring that same type (even if not quite the same level) of in house capability. I've read reports that it cost Valpo close to $800,000 to upgrade their video production from what they needed for the HL to get to MVC standards. Is that number accurate? I don't know but I've seen it enough places to repeat it with some comfort in mind.

There aren't many conference that play FCS football that will force members to that kind of money for infrastructure. The extreme majority of FCS conferences are low major conferences that have pretty poor attendance, smaller alumni and donor bases, and smaller viewing potential. It doesn't make a ton of sense for the schools to invest the money they do have into such a thing. That's where the conference streaming services come in, which are nice but often leave much to be desired in quality and/or quantity.

The MVC/MVFC - and CAA/CAAFC are different than pretty much every other FCS conference in that regard. The MVC and CAA have long histories in basketball as being top level MM schools that compete neck and neck with the high majors in basekball. This afforded/required the conferences to have a better set up to continue to compete, and also drew more interest from networks - like CBS, NBC and ESPN - than conferences like the Big South, SoCon, Southland, Big Sky, etc... The CAA and MVC have a long history of finishing in the top 10-12 in the nation in conference RPI for basketball. Hell, the MVC is currently 5th in conference RPI in the nation and projected to finish 7th or 8th...and people thought we were ded without WSU and sCUm.

[AmsterBison]

MVFC: ESPN3 is awesome because you can watch your team live and then go back later in the week and watch the other teams' games if you want.

NDSU has had all games on College Sports Extra too which is a nice bonus.

[ST_Lawson]

UNI invested heavily in video upgrades early and it paid off. Every home football game is broadcast on ESPN3 and TV across the state of Iowa (and into a good portion of IL, MO, WI, NE, SD and MN thanks to OTAs) in HD. I think almost, if not every, every home wrestling match is the same. Every home mens basketball game gets that treatment as well. About half of the volleyball and womens basketball games get that as well, depending on when/who they are playing. All of those are also on ESPN3, it's just a matter of it is also sent to the TV stations.

This part is pretty huge. Getting games on local broadcast/cable channels is huge and something I wish we could do. I'm good with ESPN3, but I'm a techie...many people out there are not.


MVFC: ESPN3 is awesome because you can watch your team live and then go back later in the week and watch the other teams' games if you want.

That's been extremely useful for me when writing my articles about the MVFC games. If I'm checking through the play-by-play recap of a game and something jumps out to me as strange or really important to the game, I'll bring up the replay and give it a couple of looks.

For example, last weekend I was on the road, wasn't able to watch most of WIU's game against Weber State. I heard it on the radio, but also saw this as the line for the play-by-play:


"CANTWELL, S. pass incomplete, PENALTY WIU roughing passer 15 yards to the WIU36, 1ST DOWN WSU, NO PLAY, PENALTY WIU unsportsmanlike conduct 15 yards to the WIU21, 1ST DOWN WSU, NO PLAY."
Since the next play was the 21-yard TD pass that put them up by 9 early in the 4th (they won by 2 points), I thought it'd be good to see how it looked, couple of angles maybe, see what the announcers said. Hearing it on the radio, our announcers didn't think it should have been roughing the passer, but I wanted to see it myself and hear from a couple of impartial voices too.

[WestCoastAggie]

It's nice that the MVC, and by proxy MVFC, got on board and followed suit in requiring that same type (even if not quite the same level) of in house capability. I've read reports that it cost Valpo close to $800,000 to upgrade their video production from what they needed for the HL to get to MVC standards. Is that number accurate? I don't know but I've seen it enough places to repeat it with some comfort in mind.

There aren't many conference that play FCS football that will force members to that kind of money for infrastructure. The extreme majority of FCS conferences are low major conferences that have pretty poor attendance, smaller alumni and donor bases, and smaller viewing potential. It doesn't make a ton of sense for the schools to invest the money they do have into such a thing. That's where the conference streaming services come in, which are nice but often leave much to be desired in quality and/or quantity.

The MVC/MVFC - and CAA/CAAFC are different than pretty much every other FCS conference in that regard. The MVC and CAA have long histories in basketball as being top level MM schools that compete neck and neck with the high majors in basekball. This afforded/required the conferences to have a better set up to continue to compete, and also drew more interest from networks - like CBS, NBC and ESPN - than conferences like the Big South, SoCon, Southland, Big Sky, etc... The CAA and MVC have a long history of finishing in the top 10-12 in the nation in conference RPI for basketball. Hell, the MVC is currently 5th in conference RPI in the nation and projected to finish 7th or 8th...and people thought we were ded without WSU and sCUm.

I am so glad you brought these points up.

Is it fair to assume that if schools and conferences want to raise their football and basketball profiles, wouldn't make sense to invest to improve the quality of their streaming broadcasts?

[ST_Lawson]

I am so glad you brought these points up.

Is it fair to assume that if schools and conferences want to raise their football and basketball profiles, wouldn't make sense to invest to improve the quality of their streaming broadcasts?

I'd say yes, generally...although it's a bit of a double-edged sword. Better streaming/broadcast availability means more people watch away games and more alumni and fans that aren't close can watch all/most of the games. On the other hand, you might be less likely to get some of the local people who can just watch it on TV/computer rather than actually go to the game.
I've heard that when there's home games going on for us (especially if the weather is questionable), you'll see students hanging out in our student union food court dining area (which actually overlooks the football stadium (https://goo.gl/maps/7hQHUyvZW4s)) watching the WIU game on TV while eating BK or Sbarros...and never actually go into the stadium. It's a balance between making it easier for people to watch/see the games who aren't in the area vs making it too easy for people in the area to say "I'll just watch it on tv".

[clenz]

I am so glad you brought these points up.

Is it fair to assume that if schools and conferences want to raise their football and basketball profiles, wouldn't make sense to invest to improve the quality of their streaming broadcasts?
100%. It's a chicken/egg situation at this point.

In the current climate there isn't much to be done to change the profile of a low major conference, unfortunately. That needed to be started/done about 7-10 years ago. The amount of money required to build a good infrastructure for video is - to use Valpo's numbers since they just finished it - between 800,000 to 1,000,000 dollars. How many low many schools have that kind of capitol laying around right now?

The argument works both ways
"We need to grow our interest base (donor, fan, student, etc...) so we should invest in rebuilding our streaming set up to get us to be more visible" is easily countered by "Uh, with what money and what kind of ROI?"

The flip side is "We can't do this, we don't have the money" and that is countered with "We will never have the money if we don't get people interested, and athletics are widely known to be the #1 marketing tool a university has".

You also have to take into account conference media rules. Let's say NCAT wants to go big and meet MVC standards, but no one else in the MEAC does, where is NCAT putting their games? Do they have a TV deal? If not how are you going to sell it to local TV stations? I'm assuming the MEACs TV deal with ESPN has some pretty strict rules about Tier 2 and Tier 3 broadcasting rights. In the end it could literally be NCAT dumping a million plus into something that has literally zero value other than going "Look, we have the clearest feed of any MEAC school".

Even at the higher mid-major level - MVC, CAA, A10 (privates a bit of a different world as nothing is public but the conversations are the same just no public knowledge of it) it's a tough balance. Understanding what the ROI is for the few dollars you might have. Understanding what the true ceiling of your conference/team is and if spending money to get there is actually worth the financial and man hour stress.

The answer is YES, a good way to raise awareness and potentially profile is through investing in streaming services. HOWEVER, how much awareness there is to be raised and how high that ceiling is above you is a critical study that needs to be done.

Sadly there is a massive difference between the (to use basketball terms) High High majors to the low high majors which is a massive gulf to the high mid majors which is a massive gulf to the low mid majors which is a massive gulf to the high low majors and and massive gulf between the low low majors.

To use FCS teams as an example of what I'm talking about

NDSU/JMU/Montana are the standard of support from fans, sustained success, etc...

Next rung is programs like SDSU, UNI, ISUr, UD, Montana State, JSU etc... Programs that have the potential to get to that next level. How much is it going to cost to get there? Is getting there going to be worth the cost of getting there?

Just play that out. Chances are you are only going to be able to jump one level. Is that level really "worth it"

[WestCoastAggie]

You also have to take into account conference media rules. Let's say NCAT wants to go big and meet MVC standards, but no one else in the MEAC does, where is NCAT putting their games? Do they have a TV deal? If not how are you going to sell it to local TV stations? I'm assuming the MEACs TV deal with ESPN has some pretty strict rules about Tier 2 and Tier 3 broadcasting rights. In the end it could literally be NCAT dumping a million plus into something that has literally zero value other than going "Look, we have the clearest feed of any MEAC school".

A few years ago, I got my hands on the contract between ESPN and the MEAC during their first or second TV deal. The conference operates under restrictive broadcasting rights. Basically ESPN owned the primary rights for the conference and made it really restrictive for any secondary rights to pop up. Now we're on the new deal and while ESPN has first right for broadcast on TV and streaming, schools can stream their games that don't make the network.

So A&T has LockTV, that has pricing that starts at $8/month. The stream could be much better and it could become a revenue generator for the school as our alumni base grows. Other schools have streaming services too. Delaware State posts theres on Youtube, for example. Norfolk State and FAMU have ones similar to LockTV, ran by NeuLion or SideArm.

However, most of the streams are SD and don't generate revenue outside of subs, if the schools has that.

I have a hypothesis that if we start a conference-wide streaming platform, by pooling everyone together, we can generate sizable revenue for conference schools. However, I am suspecting that we would have to move to a tier-2 or tier-3 service level with ESPN, and I don't know if they want to come back to the table.

I also want us to squeeze out more Celebration Bowl cash, or allow us to find a secondary sponsor, but that is a story for another post.

[Iridebikes]

In the Big Sky, if the game is not on ROOT Sports or SWX regionally the games are online at PLUTO TV. This is the first year of that arrangement and in my opinion the quality of the video and play calling is much, much better then the old arrangement that was in place. Good move by the league.

[clenz]

In the Big Sky, if the game is not on ROOT Sports or SWX regionally the games are online at PLUTO TV. This is the first year of that arrangement and in my opinion the quality of the video and play calling is much, much better then the old arrangement that was in place. Good move by the league.
I watched the UNI/SUU game on Pluto. Wasn't half bad. Pluto, in general seems pretty nice for a cable cutter.

[Sader87]

The Patriot League Network stream through WatchStadium.com is first rate. Better yet, at no cost (unlike the Ivy League setup).

I dunno...it was horrific and nearly unwatchable (buffering, audio issues etc) to start the year for Holy Cross games (both home and away)....it did get bettah as the season went along.

Can't beat the price though....