The Mtn., the network dedicated to televising Mountain West games and programming, will be off the air after May 31. One of the most immediate questions for Air Force, which will be discussed at the academy over most of the spring, will be what happens to the television broadcasts of its football games.
CBS Sports Network has the rights to the Mountain West games, and has various options for those games. Air Force’s marquee games – such as games at Army and against Navy – should be picked up. The rights for the Falcons’ game at Michigan is controlled by the Wolverines. And some of Air Force’s conference games will be picked up by CBS Sports Network, NBC Sports Network or another party, as negotiated by CBS Sports Network. But The Mtn. broadcast six Air Force games last year, so there’s likely to be some leftover home games that fall in the academy’s lap.
While it sounds like an opportunity for Air Force to make some money, it might not be that easy to sell the rights to games like the opener against Idaho State. There are significant production costs involved (I was told it runs about $50,000-60,000 for a standard definition broadcast, even more for high definition), and a television station would have to figure out if it could make back those costs on advertising.
The Falcons could shop the rights to any unselected home games to Colorado sports cable networks like Root Sports or Altitude, and if that isn’t an option, they could see if a local station is interested. If Air Force can’t find any interested outlets, it could look into options like video streaming games on its website. Broadcasts of Air Force’s road games will also be interesting to track through the upcoming weeks, because Air Force won’t control those rights.
The next few weeks should be interesting at Air Force as it figures out the pieces to the broadcast puzzle for the 2012 football season.
gould and calhoun need to reconsider the Big East now.
They never stopped considering the Big East. They simply shelved the idea for next year. The move to another conference is still “in play”. It’s just cooled off since December. Maybe this rekindles it.
Anyway, this is horrible news for the remaining member schools for this coming season unless there are plans in the works for a new network covering the combined MWC-CUSA.
My guess is the new Combined Conf. will prioritize winning and losing records to fill the game schedules. I believe AF Football will be on the docket, while AF BBall not so much. The obvious season ticket sales
will drive away most BBall coverages with
AF unless our opponents are the premium
teams. I doubt the funds are there to
cover all games as the Mtn/CBS channels did. Gravy train is over…money talks and winning does the talking for TV coverage.
Agree w others ….hope this reignites the Big East consideration and the goal to remain relevant in D1A ……. being an East Coast alum, I am extremely disheartened by the loss of the Mountain — I paid a premium to have access to the AFA sports and Mountain West sports these past 3-4 years and it was an absolute pleasure being able to see every game from afar
Better hope Big East doesn’t land BYU for it’s final 14th spot!!
Deseret News is reporting BYU officials are rethinking joining a conference due to scheduling nightmares!
Several Big East AD’s have stated the 14th team will be a “Western team” and negotiations have been ongoing!
Frank? Frank?
I would bet against BYU/Big East marriage, because BYU can be difficult. Maybe, but there’s a reason it didn’t happen the first time.
As for the AFA/Big East stuff, nothing has changed. The same reasons AFA turned down the Big East months ago are the same reasons that exist today.
Frank,
Lol, at least that is whatLt. Gen. Gould is telling YOU!!!
Sorry but I am not buying today!
Methinks you need to verify/confirm your source info with another source!
Blue,
Looks like the 14th Big East member and Western partner will be BYU, AFA or Fresno State.
The New Big East sports blogs have been in overdrive speculating on who will be joining!
I am not one to buy into the validity of these wacky blogs but one in particular, NCAA-BBS, has been right on the money in predicting expansion decisions!
Wow. MWC reduced to a quite low level national conference! USAF brass needs to rethink the MWC. Navy is killing us in TV football coverage. MWC is now a noose rather than an asset to AFA. How does AFA recruit against Navy in football and men’s BBall with some Football TV and almost none for BBall? Navy will pull away from AFA in football revenue- Army and Navy get $ 4m each for their Dec.game-and recruiting and national exposure.
Washington USAF leadership needs to rethink. While Big East may not be the answer, but the soon to be Big Sky level MWC is not. There are zero national interest teams in MWC except our AFA. This will adversely impact AFA fund raising, which even now lags behind Army and by multiples Navy.
Loutez, I have checked recently, since The Mtn. went under. Heard the same thing. Gould is committed to the Mountain West.
Navy will not play a snap in the BE until 2015 and given the fact that the BE is just as bad at keeping its premier football programs (all of which couldn’t hold a candle to the success of BYU, UT, TCU and BSU) in the fold as the MWC I wouldn’t bet big on the Mids being in a better position that AF finds itself in right now when they enter conference play.
While the Navy football coaching staff tried to make the most of their commitment to the BE in their recent recruiting efforts, KN was whimpering about how tough it was going to be for his program to play a conference schedule vs. an independent schedule. The simple and direct response for the AF coaching staff to a potential recruit who asks about Navy eventually being in the BE is to point out that AF has extensive past performance in playing in a conference and beating Navy and Army while doing so. All the talk in the world about how cool it will be to play in the BE means squat as long as the CIC Trophy remains on the Hill.
Navy and Army always have had deeper pockets than AF simply because they have been around longer and have more alumni support. The AFA alumni have recently shown they can make a significant impact on athletics and in particular the football program through their generous donations. The new indoor training facility became a reality because alumni rallied around the vision of a dynamic leader i.e. Coach Calhoun who they know is one of their own.
AF is second to none in terms of training facilities for its athletes, but what Navy and Army do have an edge on AF in is the improvements they have made to their respective football stadiums. There is a laundry list of needs at Falcon Stadium that need to be addressed and the bottom line is the alumni need to answer the call to make that happen.
While the Army-Navy game has been and always will be one of college footballs greatest traditional rivalries; it has lost the competitive draw it had many years ago. There is no disputing that the AF-Navy game has become one of the most heated and competitive rivalry games in all of college football. When CBS picked up the game last year it was evident that this game had reached a level of competitive entertainment that put it on a big time stage.
Given the show put on by both programs in their 2011 match up, I’d say it pretty obvious that the reason for the rumored 9:30 or 10:00 AM start time for the 2012 game has to do with CBS picking the game up again and wanting maximum exposure on the East Coast for the broadcast. How this will translate to $s for AF is yet to be seen, but it certainly looks like a positive step towards a significant pay day.
The interest in BE football beyond their regional footprint is minimal at best. If Cincinnati and Louisville bug out to the Big 12 or ACC the interest become even smaller; Rutgers vs. Temple has zero appeal beyond the Delaware Expressway and I-295.
While a move to the BE still might be in play, the smart move was to stay put and see where the ever changing winds of college football blow the BCS and realignment to in the next 8 months.
No one is mentioning the 10 million it will cost AF to leave the MWC….that is why Gen. Gould is so firm on remaining for the next three years they are tied to a Contract with the Mountain. AF is not leaving the Mountain…do you have any idea the ridicule AF will face by expending 10 million dollars to change conferences? The alum cannot come up with that kind of donations to pay this separation fee.
IMO
FPC,
I will be more surprised if AFA IS NOT in the Big East by 2015!
Simler points out the Big East struggles to hold onto their premier football teams. However, there is nothing wrong with institutions attempting to better themselves, right?
Mizzou, A&M, Utes, Huskers, Buffs, TCU all left decent conferences for perceived btter ones. Big East accepted this, moved on and re-created itself into a new and exciting conference that rivals the ACC!
AFA can sit and sit and sit and do nothing as an option.
We can sit and watch as the Big East adds BYU or Fresno as their final 14th member!
We can then be stuck in a depleted conference!
FPC, AFA will make 10 MILLION ANNUALLY in TV money with the new negotiated Big East media deal!
No chump change there………………
If AFA was guaranteed $10m annually in TV money they would have gone. That’s what the BE is selling to teams they’re trying to lure, nobody seems to think they’re going to get that.
They might be in the BE by 2015, but it’ll be because there’s a new superintendent. I don’t know what else to say.
Frank,
Nobody?
Uhhhhhhh, I don’t think so!
The Big East has the only expired conference media contract available for the next few years.
They will have broadcast suitors bidding on this Eastern to Western time zone conference that will fill airwave time slots!
NBC/Comcast, Fox Sports Network, ESPN.
It’s a no-brainer!
AFA did not jump at Big East last year becuase the expansion was in it’s infancy. Lots of question marks at the time.
It was also the classic chicken/egg situation!
AFA joins B/E with Navy on board then increases Conference marketability and increases $$$ payout to schools.
AFA doesn’t join then $$ payout a tad smaller.
AFA will be playing Navy in a BE conference rivalry game in 2015!!
Louter, you know Air Force knew for weeks that Navy was going to the Big East when it made its decision, right? Nothing has really surprised AFA in the past few months.
AFA could very well play Navy in a BE game in 2015 … if the new superintendent after Gould wants to go to the BE. Like I said, I don’t know what else to say about it.
No debate with AFA’s Navy to BE knowledge.
Not an issue.
Let’s agree to disagree but also to remember our conversation!
Louter,
“Simler points out the Big East struggles to hold onto their premier football teams. However, there is nothing wrong with institutions attempting to better themselves, right?” There is absolutely nothing wrong with institutions trying to better themselves and those in the BE with football programs that want to see them improve their level of play have left or going to leave what for greener pastures. That should tell you something about what they thought the current and future condition of the conference is and will be.
For all of KN’s hue and cry about how tough it will be for Navy to play in the BE the reality is he and the Navy AD are intuitive enough to know in 2015 their conference play likely will not include Cincinnati and no Louisville. What is left or what will come in will be manageable and for the most part regional for the Mids. Navy knows it is entering a basketball conference that has no requirement for them to play hoops in it. Great deal for Navy all around.
The BE without Cincinnati and Louisville leaves the eastern region of this newly found east-west divided conference in a position that will require them to go after the same programs from the CUSA AF will be with in this new alliance i.e. FIU, ECU, Marshall etc. That in no way improves the position of any program affiliated with the BE and would likely lead to the demise of current their current TV contract.
The assumption that Lieutenant General Gould or AD Dr. Hans Mueh operate in a vacuum on the Hill is naive at best. They a susceptible to pressures from different sources with the most influential coming top down in their chain of command. While a new Superintendent and AD might champion a move to the BE, the key just might be a new Chief of Staff of the Air Force. The bottom line is no one in the debate here has a clue as to what led to the decision by the current Superintendent and the AD to stay in the MWC. Absolutely nothing wrong with speculation or voicing your opinion on what you’d like to see, but the insider slant is simply amusing.
Mike S.,
Wow, couldn’t disagree with you more!
First of all, Louisville is the only program that has garnered serious attention from the bigger conferences. Cincy is going nowhere!
UConn had some sniffs from the ACC but that was it!
I don’t think the Big East is one bit concerned about Louisville leaving as there are many institutions to replace them.
Pitt and Syracuse were heavily recruited by the ACC because Tobacco Road had fallen behind the Big East as the top national basketball conference! Their baskeball prowess, not football, is the reason Pitt & Cuse got an invite! This courtship began years ago and Pitt & Cuse felt ACC was more stable and stronger academically! Good for them!
West Virginia made their move to enhance their football!
SDSU, BSU, SMU, Houston, UCF, Navy, etc together are easily stronger in football than the likes of Cuse and Pitt!
Demise of current TV contract???!!! Mike, man you’ve been sniffing way to much of that model airplane glue!!
This national football conference operating in the largest media markets in the country covering 4 different time zones and ready to saturate the airwaves with games from coast to coast will leave it’s mark and it’s brand very shortly!
Now throw in the likes of NBC/Comcast, Fox National Sports and ESPN ready to out negotiate each other for the contract rights to fill their open airwave time slots with programming a football hungry nation is clamoring for, well now you’ve got yourself a serious conference and a significant revenue producer that will earn universities in the $10 million per annum range!!!!
What educational institution can afford to ignore these revenue opportunities!?
Oh yeah, I forgot, we are a government institution so we don’t need to be too concerned about that sort of thing! Besides, we don’t need no stinkin Boise State, SDSU, Houston, Louisville, Cincy, UConn, etc. when we have the likes of big time Wyoming and CSU rivalries to content ourselves with!
C’mon dude let’s get in the game!
Better to leave than be left behind……………….
Cincinnati ranges between being the 33rd to 35th largest TV market in the US and the ACC wouldn’t have an interest if they expand further; really? The fact of the matter is over the past 20 years the resurgent football program at the University of Cincinnati has been a great success story. The program has outstanding facilities and has been embraced by the people of Cincinnati.
Next?
Mike
So, therefore Cincy will be a member of the ACC because of there above average media market and their reputation as a fine educational institution???
You pretty much described dozens of universities!
I guess if that’s all it took then conferences would turn into revolving doors……