Zips on STO 3 times

[K-Roo]

MAC Sports .com

9/11/10 2:00pm Eastern Michigan at Miami University (produced by ONN)

10/9/10 3:30pm Akron at Can't State

10/23/10 3:30pm Western Michigan at Akron (produced by University of Akron)

10/30/10 4:00pm Toledo at Eastern Michigan

11/20/10 2:00pm Eastern Michigan at Buffalo

11/26/10 2:00pm Buffalo at Akron

[Big Zip]

Three games that we all on this board will be attending in person.....great! WTF how about you televise away games and make people actually pay to see the product when it is local. Amazing!

[K-Roo]

How about the fact that Buffalo, WMU and Ohio will have coach's shows.... what do we have?

Hear the crickets chirping????

[skip-zip]

Three games that we all on this board will be attending in person.....great! WTF how about you televise away games and make people actually pay to see the product when it is local. Amazing!

Especially the Nov. 26th game at 2pm. I love that game myself, but many people do have to work that day, or are out of town with family. And if we're not doing well, and the weather is cold, we look awful on TV with 2,000 people in the stands.

[MaxZIP]

STO doesn't want to send a crew too far for no financial reward.

[ZachTheZip]

STO doesn't want to send a crew too far for no financial reward.

Did you even see that Akron just inked an exclusive deal with STO, beyond the MAC package?

[MaxZIP]

STO doesn't want to send a crew too far for no financial reward.

Did you even see that Akron just inked an exclusive deal with STO, beyond the MAC package?

How exclusive is it? Looks like a few teams are in on the exclusive deal. Eastern Michigan? Buffalo? I see it. Just won't be watching any of the games. I would be interested to see some road games though.

[ZachTheZip]

STO doesn't want to send a crew too far for no financial reward.

Did you even see that Akron just inked an exclusive deal with STO, beyond the MAC package?

How exclusive is it? Looks like a few teams are in on the exclusive deal. Eastern Michigan? Buffalo?

I'm going to say this as simply as possible for you. The MAC has a deal with STO. Akron has a deal with STO. They provide different games under different contracts. EMU's games and Buffalo's games are provided by the MAC deal. Akron's game against WMU is covered by Akron's exclusive deal, but was listed with the MAC games because STO listed all their games involving MAC teams at once regardless of whose media contract it fell under (that's why they also listed EMU @ Miami, which is covered under Miami's deal).

Akron's deal with STO is to broadcast a very specific set of games: Versus WMU in football, Michigan and Creighton in soccer, and six men's and women's basketball games (opponents TBA). All the other games are part of the MAC's deal, which, again, is seperate from Akron's deal that just happens to be on the same network. You wouldn't call the SEC and the PAC-10 being "in on the same exclusive deal" just because they both have contracts with ESPN and sometimes play each other.

I believe that the "exclusive" nomenclature for our deal refers more to Akron not being allowed to sign with another station (fox sports, local news channels) to provide additional coverage.

[MaxZIP]

STO doesn't want to send a crew too far for no financial reward.

Did you even see that Akron just inked an exclusive deal with STO, beyond the MAC package?

How exclusive is it? Looks like a few teams are in on the exclusive deal. Eastern Michigan? Buffalo?

I'm going to say this as simply as possible for you. The MAC has a deal with STO. Akron has a deal with STO. They provide different games under different contracts. EMU's games and Buffalo's games are provided by the MAC deal. Akron's game against WMU is covered by Akron's exclusive deal, but was listed with the MAC games because STO listed all their games involving MAC teams at once regardless of whose media contract it fell under (that's why they also listed EMU @ Miami, which is covered under Miami's deal).

Akron's deal with STO is to broadcast a very specific set of games: Versus WMU in football, Michigan and Creighton in soccer, and six men's and women's basketball games (opponents TBA). All the other games are part of the MAC's deal, which, again, is seperate from Akron's deal that just happens to be on the same network. You wouldn't call the SEC and the PAC-10 being "in on the same exclusive deal" just because they both have contracts with ESPN and sometimes play each other.

I believe that the "exclusive" nomenclature for our deal refers more to Akron not being allowed to sign with another station (fox sports, local news channels) to provide additional coverage.

I understand what the deals are. They are stressing the exclusivity of a small (one fb game and some soccer games) deal. Understand? I guess it is a move in the right direction but nothing to get too excited about. I would like to see details of the deal. It would be nice.

[Big Zip]

I will reiterate this is a terrible deal. I don't even think the AD knows who he is working for in this scenario if he signed it. We have an attendance problem this is not Wisconsin. We need to get buts in the seats at home and putting the game on TV is not going to help that one bit. Terrible deal and it speaks of an AD either being in over his head or not understanding the University he is working for.

[MaxZIP]

I will reiterate this is a terrible deal. I don't even think the AD knows who he is working for in this scenario if he signed it. We have an attendance problem this is not Wisconsin. We need to get buts in the seats at home and putting the game on TV is not going to help that one bit. Terrible deal and it speaks of an AD either being in over his head or not understanding the University he is working for.

Agreed. I bet sto paid nearly nothing. This will hurt attendance at the colder games. Why go exclusive if we don't get more from the deal.

[Dr Z]

This is a good opportunity for Akron/Mac football, no doubt....BUT, I wouldn't pat anybody too hard on the back over this deal. My guess is that STO did most of the work. STO is in final edits on a sports program that my wife is involved with, and they come to her league and did 90% of the work. They are aggressively looking for new programming.

Bottom line is that football fans get to see more Zips/Mac on tv. Now the hard part, providing them quality entertainment!

[K-Roo]

please.... less butts in seats is a false premise. There is no "choice" for average Joe Sportsfan. He's not deciding whether to go to the Info/JAR or watch on STO. He doesn't know/care UA exists.

It's possible butts in seats might actually go up if the Zips put on a good show. Joe sees a game on STO and he and his buddies decide to come to a game or two.....

Being on TV elevates the perception of the program... now we need to take advantage -- something with which UA constantly struggles.

[tbozeglav]

To those who think this is a terrible idea because it doesn't put butts in the seats...

You need to expose our product (the team) to a larger audience before they will WANT to come to the game, especially during those colder games. STO provides a channel (literally) for NEOhio to view Zips futbol and football. Futbol will undoubtedly get people to come out since they team is good, but football NEEDs to do well before people will get interested. Win some games, get some highlights on ESPN, get lots of local media coverage and the general public will slowly catch on to whats going on here. Like it or not, but you have to do these kinds of deals to get attendance up!

[ZachTheZip]

Our deal is not a bad one, simply because it's our deal. Not every school even has a local TV package, instead just riding their conference's package. Anything beyond the MAC's deal is icing.

[Blue & Gold]

To those who think this is a terrible idea because it doesn't put butts in the seats...

You need to expose our product (the team) to a larger audience before they will WANT to come to the game, especially during those colder games. STO provides a channel (literally) for NEOhio to view Zips futbol and football. Futbol will undoubtedly get people to come out since they team is good, but football NEEDs to do well before people will get interested. Win some games, get some highlights on ESPN, get lots of local media coverage and the general public will slowly catch on to whats going on here. Like it or not, but you have to do these kinds of deals to get attendance up!

I agree. Any and all TV is good. The more the better. It makes Zips football even more of an event. I do wish, however, that we had some of the away games televised. Oh, well. It's a start!

[ZachTheZip]

To those who think this is a terrible idea because it doesn't put butts in the seats...

You need to expose our product (the team) to a larger audience before they will WANT to come to the game, especially during those colder games. STO provides a channel (literally) for NEOhio to view Zips futbol and football. Futbol will undoubtedly get people to come out since they team is good, but football NEEDs to do well before people will get interested. Win some games, get some highlights on ESPN, get lots of local media coverage and the general public will slowly catch on to whats going on here. Like it or not, but you have to do these kinds of deals to get attendance up!

I agree. Any and all TV is good. The more the better. It makes Zips football even more of an event. I do wish, however, that we had some of the away games televised. Oh, well. It's a start!

The problem is that away game broadcasts would have to be produced by the hosting school. It's expensive and most MAC schools aren't willing to put that much effort into it (thankfully we are, a good sign towards separating our athletic department from the rest of the MAC) beyond Ball State who has their own TV station and production crew.

This might also become a huge step towards having broadcast-quality ZipsZone streams online.

[Spin]

So we hurt attendance at home games, take away a neat chance for those who attend games to see more, and still only get about half the exposure a Baldwin Wallace or Mount U gets.

[eguins]

So we hurt attendance at home games, take away a neat chance for those who attend games to see more, and still only get about half the exposure a Baldwin Wallace or Mount U gets.

Would not at all be surprised if two of those six basketball games on STO are against CSU and YSU... Just saying..

[xu9697]

Ladies and Gents...

This is year #1 of the deal. YEAR 1!!!

Let's give it some time. STO is trying to build their brand, and the more that Akron is a part of it the better chance we have to build our brand.

Speaking about football specifically= MAYBE we lose a few butts in the seats..but that will be temporary if the team wins. Once the team starts winning, this will just be additional good exposure. Winning will always be the key.

And, this can help for recruiting. Some kids might not go to the game (never would have b/c of lack of interest, have not heard of it or really considered it, etc), but see them on TV and start thinking about. "Wow, that looks like a great place". During the game..hopefully we get shots of the stadium, facilities, campus, city, etc. Also, we are getting to more homes and more areas where people were NOT going to travel to the game anyways.

If this is at all bad, it is MUCH less bad than good. Much.

[ZachTheZip]

So we hurt attendance at home games, take away a neat chance for those who attend games to see more, and still only get about half the exposure a Baldwin Wallace or Mount U gets.

Would not at all be surprised if two of those six basketball games on STO are against CSU and YSU... Just saying..

I would actually hope those two are part of the package. It makes sense if you want more viewers from the area to watch on TV (for the lazy people who think Akron is too far a drive from Cleveland or Youngstown).

[Big Zip]

And the end of the day the decision puts money in Larry Dolan's hands and even if I though it was a good idea I wouldn't want anything to do with it.

[GP1]

This is a good deal for UofA.....not great, but good. Regional television is about the best avenue the MAC can get. Tuesday and Wednesday night ESPN games have not been good for the MAC and this is a step in the right direction of getting away from that disaster.

Like DrZ said. This is a good deal for the schools. Now the schools have to live up their end of the deal and provide quality entertainment for those watching the games. If the games are good, it will increase ticket sales.

[Zipsrifle]

I don't think this will impact attendance that much. I like to think that zips fans are a pretty die hard bunch and will make the trip anyway. Put me in the camp that sees this as a step in the right direction.

[Zipgrad01]

I don't think this will impact attendance that much. I like to think that zips fans are a pretty die hard bunch and will make the trip anyway. Put me in the camp that sees this as a step in the right direction.

I really dont think that it will hurt attendance. The people that want to watch the zips will be at the game. The "casual" football fan in the area will more than likely be watching a higher profile game that is televised. I am sure some people will watch just to see what the local team has, but unlike the past we can't afford to lay an egg during every big opportunity that we get. The last thing we need is to stink and have the casual fan think "yep, they still suck. That is a waste of my time."