MVC Television Deal

[Bluethunder]

I know this has been discussed on the board before, but not for awhile. Does anyone know when the current deal with Fox Sports ends? I don't know when we originally signed it, but over the past few years there have been several national sports channels formed, such as NBC sports, CBS college sports network, Fox Sports 1 and 2, etc. I see several "smaller" conferences frequently playing games on national television while many MVC games are on regional Fox channels. Yes, there a few on ESPN each week (one, sometimes two) but it just seems like we should have a better deal than what we do.

Am hoping maybe our regional deal with Fox expires soon and we can look at moving to CBS College Sports or some other national network that may not even exist yet but looking to start and grab some league deals to fill programming in order to increase our national exposure.

 

[Jason Svoboda]

I believe the Fox Sports Midwest deal ends this year. In 2011 or 2012, they signed a 3 year extension. The same time they signed a 5 year deal with ESPN that goes through 2015-2016. I think.

 

[Jason Svoboda]

On your second paragraph, I think the ESPN deal trumps all if I'm not mistaken or did. I bet the Valley site has it in their archives somewhere. Will be interesting to see if Fox Sports even wants to try to re-up us or not. I don't recall seeing any Valley games on Fox Sports Midwest here in Indy this year.

 

[GuardShock]

On your second paragraph, I think the ESPN deal trumps all if I'm not mistaken or did. I bet the Valley site has it in their archives somewhere. Will be interesting to see if Fox Sports even wants to try to re-up us or not. I don't recall seeing any Valley games on Fox Sports Midwest here in Indy this year.

They are on Fox Sports Indiana sometimes.. Plus everytime I watch a pacers game there is a commercial for Arch Madness and Jake is flashed on there a few times.

 

[BlueSycamore]

Biggest complaint I have always had with Fox Sports for Valley games is the priority for Pacer games. A lot of Valley games were bumped.

 

[Bluethunder]

The question crossed my mind this past weekend when I am looking at the schedule for several national broadcasts on sports channels like NBC sports and CBS college sports network and they were/are broadcasting games from much smaller profile conferences. Made me wonder why we continue to appear primarily on regional networks. Am hoping that when the deal with fox sports expires we can find a more suitable broadcasting partner to possibly raise our conference's national profile.

Might be wishful thinking on my part, considering when the deal expires it is just as likely we will just re-up it for another dozen years without much negotiation.

Maybe we will get another "historic announcement" at the end of the season to say we are staying with fox sports for another three years. Surely that would gin up some discussion and enthusiasm.

 

[IndyTreeFan]

Maybe they'll put us on Fox Sports 1 because we're such a loyal customer...:huh:

 

[Jason Svoboda]

The question crossed my mind this past weekend when I am looking at the schedule for several national broadcasts on sports channels like NBC sports and CBS college sports network and they were/are broadcasting games from much smaller profile conferences. Made me wonder why we continue to appear primarily on regional networks. Am hoping that when the deal with fox sports expires we can find a more suitable broadcasting partner to possibly raise our conference's national profile.

Might be wishful thinking on my part, considering when the deal expires it is just as likely we will just re-up it for another dozen years without much negotiation.

Maybe we will get another "historic announcement" at the end of the season to say we are staying with fox sports for another three years. Surely that would gin up some discussion and enthusiasm.

My guess is because that is all they can get. Do some Googling on ESPN media deals that these conferences sign. They consider ESPN3 as a broadcast and if a lower level contract wants to air it, they'll have to buy out rights from ESPN or pay licensing or something. Not 100% on how that works but that is my guess as to why we've all the sudden seen all of these Valley games on ESPN3 this year.