CougarCorner

Alot has been said recently about the mess that is the TV deal. The MTN is a terrible deal for BYU fans, not only across the country but here in Utah too. I live in Utah and yet it is impossible for me to watch them on TV in my own home.

With that being said, we would have been completely screwed with the ESPN TV offer too. They wanted to contract with us to play primarily on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday games. This is a killer schedule for any real team. Who honestly believes we'd be able to consistently fill the stadium on Tuesday nights? Not only that they had decided to cut our payout in half, which eventually may have led to the cutting of other sports as we could no longer afford to keep them.

So what would you rather have? The chance to see BYU on TV on a Tuesday night, or listen to them on the radio on Saturdays?

How about this topic for a blast from the past. This is one of the oldest topics in the football forum. Kind of interesting to look back on what we were worried about with the old ESPN offer and what it has transitioned to with the current contract. 4 years later and I still can't get the Mtn in my house (Dish Network)...

Now I guess our biggest worry is getting better opponents to come to Provo versus having to play on Tuesday nights. Although after living through the Mtn debacle, who would now prefer to play on Tuesday or Wednesday night and be on ESPN as opposed to being on the Mtn on Saturday?

I don't mind the games on TV on Tuesdays, I just can't attend games on Tuesday nights...that's my biggest concern. I would like being on TV on an occasional Tuesday because we would have the undivided attention of the nation.

BYU made more money from TV contracts with the Mtn debacle than they did with ESPN. It was a good plan poorly executed. It's not like the MWC was the only one that had issues. In Ohio for the whole first year of the Big 10 network, it wasn't on cable. Sure 1 year compared to 4 years doesn't seem like much, but this was a BCS conference.

I'll be interested to see what happens with the Pac-12 tv deal. My guess is that if they sign with a network and a cable or satellite provider to start their own network, they will end up with the same issues. The cable companies and Direct and Dish are always fighting over things like this.

I don't think we would be where we are with ESPN as a partner if we hadn't branched out on our own with the MTN and won a metric ton of games. ESPN was clearly devaluing our product, and it's hard to blame them with the product we had on the field for a few years there.

hawkwing wrote:I don't think we would be where we are with ESPN as a partner if we hadn't branched out on our own with the MTN and won a metric ton of games. ESPN was clearly devaluing our product, and it's hard to blame them with the product we had on the field for a few years there.

You make a great point here. And, let's not forget, that the only reason ESPN was offering as much as they were at the time (even though it was less than the previous contract) was because they wanted BYU on their station, even though they weren't very good.

stuckinbig10country wrote:

hawkwing wrote:I don't think we would be where we are with ESPN as a partner if we hadn't branched out on our own with the MTN and won a metric ton of games. ESPN was clearly devaluing our product, and it's hard to blame them with the product we had on the field for a few years there.

You make a great point here. And, let's not forget, that the only reason ESPN was offering as much as they were at the time (even though it was less than the previous contract) was because they wanted BYU on their station, even though they weren't very good.

Absolutely agree. Funny how a few years later we get a contract for just us alone that is considerably more than what they were offering for the whole conference.

Man, I just voted in a poll that is 4 years old.

I'm not picky. If BYU played on Wednesday nights at 3am, I'd get up and watch them on BYUTV or ESPN. If the had a home game at 5am on a Saturday morning, I'd be there.

I don't care when BYU plays, I"ll be there.

Whatever happened to underdead? Did he get banned?