interesting piece on CUSA TV contract negotiations
- Thread starter SpaceRaider
- Start date
Nothing in the article paints a positive picture of either revenue or viewership going up for C-USA in the immediate future.
As for MT and the ASN. We must have a commitment from the area (Nashville) station to carry our games. I don't want to have another instance where MT is being broadcast Nationally and the game is not on locally even after being promoted as being on. This happened at least twice last year, IIRC.
As for MT and the ASN. We must have a commitment from the area (Nashville) station to carry our games. I don't want to have another instance where MT is being broadcast Nationally and the game is not on locally even after being promoted as being on. This happened at least twice last year, IIRC.
I think one of my greatest disappointments for MT is the lack of local TV, radio and print media coverage for anything related to Blue Raider athletics! Winning takes care of only some of this. Even during Vandy's most dismal seasons they have always dominated (along with UT) the Nashville Market. It is in this area that Chris Massaro, Dr. McPhee and the rest of us need to raise some major Hell and Promote, Promote, Promote!!!! Then and only then will Nashville TV Channels carry all of our FB Games!
Over the years, we have always seemed to be a hard find on TV, experiencing technical difficulties in our audio , or producing a second tier experience (or worse) as we did in our early years in 1-A. Goes back to the football map zip code relevance: If we can't win the hearts of 37130 FIRST with a top notch product, then where else can we win? Nashville MSA has 1.5 million people. Murfreesboro has 125,000. Rutherford Co. 275,000; the households are here not 1,500 miles away. When the Titans are playing, games are always over the air television and it doesn't matter that their record is 2-14 in a given year. What that says is we basically struggle for airtime consistently on UPN 30 or WNAB 58! Much less the cable channels of ESPN (fill in the blank). It's never seems to be a problem for UT, Vandy, or any of the SEC. All I ask is just why we can't get our act together. C-USA has about the same relevance as the Sun Belt in my view, the scenery didn't change much.
You have to have a product that people want see. We haven't, really. Middle Tennessee has some decent seasons, but what we need are some championships, back to back, some dominating, kick their asses, step on their throats, type of wins in bowls and post season. We have none of that. On the occasions that we do make post season, we manage to stink it up or disappoint.
^This.
Space is right. MT wins, but not consistently. They are exciting on occasion not consistent enough to bring in casual fans in the Nashville area on a weekly basis.
Generally under coach stock, MT has received pretty decent tv coverage compared to conference mates. This upcoming season appears to be trending down some though. Sure, ASN will likely keep broadcasts of games up, but MT seems to be missing out on some of the larger tier national broadcasts vs conf opponents. IMO, this is a result of a loss of some of the energy and attendance associated with the program. I imagine Ws and Ls factor as well. As for TV games, a more than half empty stadium for a college football stadium just does not inspire or stir up excitement and buzz. IMO, the excitement, buzz, and overall atmosphere of a college football (and basketball) game is one of the main reasons so many people tune in to live games. Lately, MT has been bordering on embarrassing in this regard for tv audiences.
Hopefully if MT can win some this year and build a little buzz and energy, maybe the higher tier national broadcast i.e. CBS Sports, Fox Sports 1, type games will be more interested in adding a couple more games for the next season.
Hopefully if MT can win some this year and build a little buzz and energy, maybe the higher tier national broadcast i.e. CBS Sports, Fox Sports 1, type games will be more interested in adding a couple more games for the next season.
My complaint is primarily directed to the fact that none of the four Network TV media outlets: NBC (4), ABC (2) CBS (5) or Fox (17) in Nashville, all of whom serve about 1.5 million potential viewers, ever lead with MT during their evening sportscasts and frequently ignore any sports activity coming out of the Boro. Likewise, the major local sports radio outlets 104 and 102.5 barely mention MT and the Tennessean buries us on the back of the Sports section, if they write about MT at all! You are more likely to hear about Belmont, or TSU than MT. Cause I have Direct TV and the college sports package, I get the vast majority of the actual FB games; and I think ASN and Fox are a substantial improvement over Comcast from years past.
Fully agree! Over the air television coverage is one area that MT has underperformed. We had a handful of games on WSMV 4 in the 1990's against Austin Peay, Tenn Tech, SEMO, and a couple of 1-AA playoff games come to mind. Fox and ASN have helped, but the question is can our product make the jump to the next level in fan base, revenue, facilities, and culture to a P5 level or be the very top of G5?
It's been 20 years since our announcement as a 1-A football program. But, we haven't quite made the inroads regionally which is critical for many reasons. How do we get better? One solution is saturate over the air coverage on one of the four stations above. For decades (even as an OVC member), WKU televised on WBKO-13 (ABC affiliate) in FB and BB (sometimes on "tape delay"). Last count WBKO coverage area is 21 counties in south central Kentucky and six counties in north central Tennessee. Few years ago, it was even possible to pick up WBKO decently in Lebanon with a Sony Watchman pocket tv. WBKO's possible penetration reach was somewhere around 700,000 residents, if you count the northern fringes of the Nashville MSA (WBKO has overlapping programming with WKRN for viewership). WNAB 58 and UPN 30 would work for us, but it has to be aired consistently to get viewership levels needed to build affinity. Yes cable/dish coverage is fine, but not everybody buys sports packages--so the market is sort of segmented today. Will say Fox has been good to date and ASN (provided if we can find it on our local station) has been competent in presentation. Think we have to develop a strong core fan base in Rutherford, Williamson, Wilson, Cannon, Warren, Coffee, Franklin, Moore, Lincoln, and Bedford counties to garner the attention from Nashville media. Marshall, Giles, Lawrence, and Maury are more secondary area to develop, that I see.
Space is right about having a good product. Our performance has to be there too winning the games we are supposed to and not "laying embarrassing eggs" at inopportune times. There are too many games to choose from on any given Saturday and very few would watch a team with a mediocre to losing record. We have to win more as part of the bargain, shall we say.
