Welcome to this week's edition of the HuskieWire.com Q&A.
Every Thursday, I'll answer your NIU and MAC-related questions right here. Do you have a question about NIU or the MAC? E-mail your questions to me at jsahly@daily-chronicle.com and I'll answer them next Thursday.
Here are this week's questions and answers:
Ed asked: "I am outraged by ESPN's refusal to televise either of the Huskies last two games of the season where the West Division championship may be on the line. We have made many a concession to ESPN with the Thursday night games (which hurt our attendance) and despite the success of our team all we got this year was ESPNU and a slap in the face for the last two games with no TV at all. Has our AD sent a letter of concern to the MAC commissioner advising of this concern? Also how many years are left with ESPN after this one? I am all for getting out of the ESPN contract and negotiating with a newly revamped VERSUS or the BIG TEN Network, or even just going with Comcast Sportsnet at this point. The conference needs to get out of this horrible contract."
John Sahly: There was a whole lot of anger this week over ESPN's decision to relegate next week's NIU-Central Michigan game to ESPN360.com instead of ESPNU. Daily Chronicle sports editor Jon Styf weighed in on it here. I have yet to hear a MAC coach say something positive about this contract without immediately bringing up what they dislike about it, so Ed is certainly not alone in his angst.
But, I'll try and address Ed's (and it's not just Ed, a lot of you e-mailed with the exact same question) concerns and ideas.
– I really don't think a letter of concern would do much. This isn't the Better Business Bureau. Jeff Compher can call Jon Steinbrecher, if you really want that. I'm pretty sure they've exchanged cell phone numbers.
– This is the first year of an eight-year contract extension with ESPN.
– I've heard this "we need to get out of the ESPN contract" talk a lot, from many, many people. My question is, how do you propose the MAC does that? The ink is barely dry on this deal. Do you think any network would want to negotiate with a conference that agrees to an eight-year deal with a network, then backs out of it nine months later?
First, let's stop with the Big Ten Network talk. When do you think the Big Ten Network would put on a MAC conference game like NIU-Ohio or Temple-Central Michigan? Wednesday at 3? Monday at noon? The Big Ten Network has programming other than Saturdays, including primetime programming during the week. On top of that, BTN would charge the conference a lot of money to put on a MAC conference game to take place on its network instead of Big Ten programming, especially on a Saturday. Oh yeah, did I mention this network is for the Big Ten? Big Ten schools would not react well to this, so say goodbye to Big Ten teams either scheduling MAC teams or the payouts would significantly shrink. Either way, that's not something the MAC can afford.
As for VERSUS, they've swallowed up Big 12 and Mountain West games. How does the MAC look compared to those two conferences? It would be more of the same, weeknight games and start times probably before NHL games, so maybe 4 p.m. on a Tuesday.
I also talked with Steinbrecher about the possibility of a MAC network when he visited NIU a few months ago. There's no chance of that, at least in the immediate future.
Now, I think there is something to the local route, though it might not be exactly what Ed wants. Under the terms of the three-year deal the Daily Chronicle obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, International Sports Properties, on behalf of NIU, signed with Comcast SportsNet, NIU has given the rights to Comcast to broadcast 3-4 games a season (those games will be in HD starting next season, by the way). The NIU games that Comcast broadcasts have to be mutually agreed upon by the two parties. This season, Comcast broadcast three NIU games and isn't scheduled to do another one.
As many of you are probably aware, this Saturday's game at Ohio won't be on TV, which leads me to this idea...
If you're NIU, wouldn't it be a good idea to tell the MAC to schedule one Saturday home game in November, then tell Comcast that the minimum isn't good enough and pay them the roughly $36,800 carriage fee (that fee applies only to 2010, it was $28,500 per game this season) it will cost to broadcast that fourth game? It still leaves NIU open to be scheduled for ESPN games during its other three November conference games but guarantees a Saturday home televised game. One Saturday home game isn't too much to ask and it doesn't jeopardize the conference's deal with ESPN. If the MAC is that desperate for television exposure, wouldn't making a one-game exception for each team that can have a local affiliate (Comcast, FSN Ohio, etc.) broadcast a November game on a Saturday in the heat of the conference season make sense? Wouldn't that get more games on TV than the MAC has this season?
I'm sure there is some flawed logic in there that someone will let me know about, but if anyone else has any ideas, I'll put the best in next week's Q&A. E-mail them to me (jsahly@daily-chronicle.com) by Tuesday at 5 p.m.
HUSKIEFOOTBALLFAN asked: 1) What is the extent of Meco [Brown's] injury suffered in the Ball State game?
2) Will Justin Anderson be seeing more playing time?
JS: NIU coach Jerry Kill said at Tuesday's news conference that if the game were that day, Brown likely would play, so I expect to see him out there. Brown is playing on an injured ankle.
Kill said he would be comfortable playing Justin Anderson and Ricky Crider. I think the health of Chad Spann's shoulder and Me'co Brown's ankle will determine Anderson and Crider's playing time.
