Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

This is something that has been bothering me for quite some time now, and I really don't know why I havne't said anything until now.

I'll start this out very simply: I am absolutely infuriated that there has been no announcement so far of a relationship between the MAC and Sports Time Ohio. STO, as some of you may know, is the new cable network that carries Indians games and is run by WKYC (the NBC affiliate) in Cleveland. Currently, STO is off-air for most of hte day, and only on in the evenings with the Indians, an outdoor show about Ohio, and some other very random programming. STO has been taking a lot of heat locally, in the Plain Dealer especially, for not expanding their programming lineup very much beyond the Indians in well over seven months.

Now, here is my thinking: STO/WKYC are based in Cleveland. The MAC offices are in Cleveland. STO is really hurting for programming options. The MAC is really hurting regionally for media coverage. Essentially, STO has nothing and the MAC has nothing - one would think that a relationship would naturally develop given this set of circumstances, right? So am I the only one that is perplexed that the conference is seemingly sitting on their hands on this one?

The adjective "Ohio" is part of STO's name, and fact is that there are no less than SIX MAC schools in the State of OHIO. Now, I'm sure some of our troll friends around here are going to say that STO is holding out for "better options," but how could that be the case when the only other option in terms of collegiate athletics (the Big 11) has already recently established it's own cable network? Additionally, I would be willing to bet that the Indians would be all for a MAC/STO relationship because it would give STO an opportunity to fan out into the southern part of the state, and vicariously, pump Indians Baseball into traditionally National League territory.In my opinion, there really is no excuse for an STO holdout, and as a result, the bottle stop spinning in the direction of MAC officials. I like Rick Chryst. I've met him and he is a great guy. He was a friggin' riot in the GMAC Bowl parade in 2004. He has done some phenomenal things for the conference, and he should be credited in large part for the founding of the International Bowl. Actually, I couldn't think of a better guy to be in charge of this conference. Still, the fact that the MAC has not gotten anything done with STO, I think, is a direct result of his inaction.

I have been meaning to write Mr. Chryst for a while now but have not gotten around to it. As I thought about it today, though, I don't think one letter would really get the point across. If you agree with me (and if you don't please tell me why and why not...I admit that I could very well be totally off-base here), I would encourage all of you, including our UT friends that frequent this board, to write letters to MAC officials encouraging them to get this done. I know that some of you are going to say that if a lot of MAC contests are widely televised, attendence at MAC games is going to fall off, but I am of the firm opinion that any coverage of the MAC is good for the MAC, and especially amongst our alumni, will encourage more direct involvement with MAC athletics. But that is just me, you are free to disagree.

I guess I would just like to see what you all think about this topic. I don't claim to know anything, but outside of the Cleveland area, I'm not sure if many people have thought about this very much.

Doesn't the MAC have some sort of deal with Fox Sports Ohio?

If that's any kind of exclusive, you can write hyperbole till the UT cheerleaders come home and it's not gonna matter.

TG1996 wrote: you can write hyperbole till the UT cheerleaders come home.

zzzzzing!


And BO, just because it's logical doesn't mean it's ever going to happen.

Maybe STO doesn't have the money to make a deal happen. With the Indians bombing this year, their ratings might not be so hot. I have no idea as to the financial situation of the network, so this is all guesswork.

Along those lines, perhaps the MAC doesn't see STO as a stable enough commodity to partner with. Beggars can't be choosers, but they don't have to be suicidal either.

Maybe MAC schools don't want to spend whatever it would take to make all of their gamedays "TV ready", whatever that may entail.

Perhaps there is some wording in the MAC's TV contract with ESPN that would prohibit such a partnership.


Basically, in theory I think it's a fine idea. However, there are a TON of details we know absolutely nothing about, and I generally don't take up a letter writing campaign unless I know 100% I'm in the right.

Now, normally that isn't a problem, since I'm 100% right 99.9% of the time. But remember, this was your idea.....and you're an idiot.

Well you can both just bite me.

I really didn't mean to be writing in "hyperbole," I was just trying to promote a discussion. Luckily, you two retards responded first, so we're pretty much guaranteed that this discussion will spiral into namecalling and partial-nudity. That should be fun!

But in all seriousness it has always been my impression that there is no exclusivity built into either of the contracts that the MAC holds with FSN or ESPN. To my knowledge, both of those contracts state that FSN and ESPN will show X number of games from certain sports. It isn't as if they are airing every game at every opportunity they have - far from it. Trick billiards tournaments are clearly a more lucrative programming option for FSN.

Anyhow, if there is, in fact, exclusivity built into the MAC's existing contracts, I will fully retract my comments and subject myself to the tomato-slinging that will surely ensue.

Either way, you two can continue to bite me.

What's stoping STO from approaching the individual MAC Ohio schools and seeing if they would be interested in replaying their Coach's shows on a weekly basis? It gives the schools an expanded audience and it gives STO some more relevant "ohio" sports programming tio air. Does the MAC agreement with FSNO prohibit this?

Haven't any of you watched any of those Indians games on STO? That station is CLUELESS about how to run a network. It has been horrible coverage all year from cameras not working, to audio blinking out, to not being able to get carried in certain markets. They have a ways to go just to become stable enough to start thinking about adding programming.

That being said, they have added the Browns training camp report, which pretty well sucks since they don't show hardly any film of practice. It's just a couple guys talking about camp for the day...the only good thing about it is the press conferences with players/coaches. That's besides the point, however, the point is that they have started to add some programming into the mix.

The president of the network was on 1470 earlier in the year when they were still trying to get onto Buckeye cable (not sure if they ever did, I imagine they did). He is a Miami grad and was very aware of the possibilities the MAC presents for them. He also mentioned that they purchased the broadcast rights to a LOT of old OSU footage. He said that as they started to add more programming hours they would show some of that classic OSU footage, but that they were also very interested in trying to get something done with the MAC. Still he had a pretty far out timetable (like 1 year) before they were even thinking about 12 hours of broadcasting a day.

Give them time, it's still a VERY young network, and still VERY raw. In the future I think you may start to see some MAC related programming find its way onto STO, but for now, it'd be cool if they could somehow get the one thing (Indians Baseball) that they do figured out.