The MAC signs a first of its kind deal...

[Flipper]

https://www.sportico.com/leagues/colleg ... 234667439/

You want our data...pony up the $$$ to Genius. Given the point shaving history at UT and probably elsewhere in the conference...maybe signing a deal so closely tied to sports betting is a "bad look"?

[mbenecke]

The MAC will do anything for money.

See also: “MACtion” in empty stadiums on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in November.

[fanatic13]

Gambling is growing and will continue to grow so I think it's important to be the first here. If anything were committed to midweek games and being unique. If the conference is going to stay committed to these games they need to go further and be a leader with incorporating betting with the broadcast

[mbenecke]

Gambling is growing and will continue to grow so I think it's important to be the first here. If anything were committed to midweek games and being unique. If the conference is going to stay committed to these games they need to go further and be a leader with incorporating betting with the broadcast

I agree with this. Sorry for the snark above.

Absolutely nothing wrong with sports betting, to me. I find it fascinating, though my wife would certainly never let me partake. But it’s about to be legal here in Ohio, and we have to keep up with the times. I get it.

[fanatic13]

Gambling is growing and will continue to grow so I think it's important to be the first here. If anything were committed to midweek games and being unique. If the conference is going to stay committed to these games they need to go further and be a leader with incorporating betting with the broadcast

I agree with this. Sorry for the snark above.

Absolutely nothing wrong with sports betting, to me. I find it fascinating, though my wife would certainly never let me partake. But it’s about to be legal here in Ohio, and we have to keep up with the times. I get it.

No snark taken. I just wanted to be clear my thoughts are if we're going to sell our souls to midweek espn might as well sell the whole thing

[jpfalcon09]

Gotta keep developing new streams of revenue if you want to stay alive.

[TommyG]

I don’t really understand this, but will the avg fan of MAC sports have to pay money to see statistics and live stats? I’m cool with making money, but not if it makes it more difficult to follow the conference.

[hammb]

The way I read it was that the MAC has signed a deal to offload live stats only to Genius. They work with many sports betting sites, so if those sites want access to that data they will have to subscribe to Genius's service to have access to the MAC's stat data. This will heavily effect gamblers who want to place in game bets. IF they're using say BetMGM, they're not going to bet in game MAC games unless BetMGM subscribes to Genius for the stats.

That said, I wonder what the exclusivity ramifications of this deal are. I find it very difficult to imagine that this would supersede our ESPN deal in such a way that ESPN.com wouldn't have access to live stats anymore, but it is conceivable that is the case. Which would mean if ESPN wants to post live stats of MAC games THEY would have to subscribe to Genius.

If this deal does extend to places like espn.com it's another colossal f**k up by the MAC. Making it harder for your fans to actually follow the games/stats? Absurd. Almost as stupid as it would be to make it harder for your fans to actually attend games! Oh, wait...

If the Big 10 did something like this, I can see value in it. ESPN, Cbssports, foxsports, etc, are not going to go without having live stats for Big10 or SEC games. I won't be in the least bit surprised if they just tell us 15 MAC fans to piss off rather than subscribe to get live data. I completely understand the MAC wanting to monetize the data, but the ramifications could very easily end up being yet another crappy fan experience (kind of like monetizing the game times has been).

[jpfalcon09]

The way I read it was that the MAC has signed a deal to offload live stats only to Genius. They work with many sports betting sites, so if those sites want access to that data they will have to subscribe to Genius's service to have access to the MAC's stat data. This will heavily effect gamblers who want to place in game bets. IF they're using say BetMGM, they're not going to bet in game MAC games unless BetMGM subscribes to Genius for the stats.

That said, I wonder what the exclusivity ramifications of this deal are. I find it very difficult to imagine that this would supersede our ESPN deal in such a way that ESPN.com wouldn't have access to live stats anymore, but it is conceivable that is the case. Which would mean if ESPN wants to post live stats of MAC games THEY would have to subscribe to Genius.

If this deal does extend to places like espn.com it's another colossal f**k up by the MAC. Making it harder for your fans to actually follow the games/stats? Absurd. Almost as stupid as it would be to make it harder for your fans to actually attend games! Oh, wait...

If the Big 10 did something like this, I can see value in it. ESPN, Cbssports, foxsports, etc, are not going to go without having live stats for Big10 or SEC games. I won't be in the least bit surprised if they just tell us 15 MAC fans to piss off rather than subscribe to get live data. I completely understand the MAC wanting to monetize the data, but the ramifications could very easily end up being yet another crappy fan experience (kind of like monetizing the game times has been).

Story from FootballScoop...Steinbrecher is kinda talking out of both sides of his mouth.

As it happens, this is the second time Genius Sports has been in the news this week. If you recognize the name, that's likely because Genius Sports was the company that notified the NFL Calvin Ridley bet on games at a Hard Rock sportsbook in Florida.

On that front, Steinbrecher gave mixed messages.

On the one hand, Steinbrecher said the MAC didn't strike this deal to sell its data to Genius, who will then in turn sell that information to sports books.

"We're doing this to control our data, which ends up in the public domain anyway," Steinbrecher told ESPN. "We want to manage that asset. We want that asset to provide value back to our institutions so that we can support our student-athletes, plain and simple."

But on the other hand, Steinbrecher said it would be fine if the conference had done that. "We are of the opinion that the deal we're entering into is consistent with NCAA rules and regulations," he said.

Either way, Steinbrecher "fully expects" this partnership will become a major revenue stream for the MAC. And if that's the case, expect your conference to strike a similar deal soon.

[hammb]

We didn't do it to sell our data, we did it to control our data.

And also we fully expect to make major revenue off of this.

WTF, man....Major revenue that will again of course be hidden behind the guise of the MAC.

This conference has made me FAR too cynical. As somebody who fully supports sports betting, and actually enjoys casually doing so occasionally, I cannot help but say this feels like just another step of the MAC realizing that the only audience they have that will make them any revenue is gamblers. As such they're willing to screw over students, alumni, and any other actual FANS of this conference in order to try and scrape whatever revenues they can from catering to the gamblers. Keeping in mind, of course, that the gamblers have zero connections to the university, will not buy t-shirts, will not send their kids here, and (this is a big one) still won't pump enough money in through these streams to have any appreciable difference in moving the needle towards affordability.

I hope I'm wrong and this is just the MAC being forward thinking enough to realize a potential revenue stream and make some extra cash. But I suspect I'm not. Because those gambling sites are not likely to pay Genius for those live stats if ESPN.com has them. This smells to me like something that MIGHT make the conference slightly more money while at the same time making it worse for the rest of us who actually want to be fans.

[TommyG]

Hope that isn’t the case…I would have to think ESPN approved everything. They basically run MAC football, I can’t imagine ESPN not having access to everything. Now I wouldn’t be shocked if somehow fans get screwed out of something…be it access or money.