MAC ESPN Deal Consummated....or something like that

Right before he announced he was heading out the door, Rick Chryst and the conference announced that the MAC had entered into a long-term deal with the world wide leader in sports, ESPN.

You can find the press release on the MAC website by clicking here. But, here are the basic tenets of the deal.

• The deal lasts until the 2016-17 season. Yes, really.
• ESPN will produce at least 25 MAC events on the "ESPN Platform"
• Here's a nice little phrase from the ESPN dude that says a lot...."The MAC and its member institutions have always had a shared vision of the benefits of creative scheduling."
• ESPN will show at least 6 MAC men's or women's basketball games on one of the three channels.
• The MAC will continue in the Bracket Buster and will have an increased presence in the basketball tournaments ESPN owns.
• The MAC weekday football package will continue.
• There will be regional MAC game of the week telecasts as well through ESPN Plus.

Our MACblogging colleague at Over The Pylon weighed in recently on this, and he had some fine points we will look at momentarily.

First, though, I have blogged numerous times about my feelings about the virtues of "schedule flexibility." It all comes down to the start of the debate. The MAC feels that exposure is a good thing that improves the quality of play and the players we recruit.

I believe that is a debatable proposition, and that if ESPN exposure really were good for the quality of MAC football and basketball, then MAC football and basketball would be improving, rather than getting worse, as they are doing. (Note previous posts about eight straight bowl game losses and a dreadful out of conference performance this season in men's hoops).

Further, I think that the weekday games is straining our already fragile fan base, in the name of appeasing some couch potato in Bismark, South Dakota who lost his remote control two years ago while watching ESPN Bassmasters.

OK, that was a cheap shot.

But, I feel strongly that success begins at home, and if we want to sit at the grown up table, we're going to have to build our home fan bases. And, weekday games are just plain tough on fans. Beyond just getting there, you have far less opportunity for the tailgate/gameday atmosphere.

You know, I could even accept moving to a weekday for an ESPN or ESPN2 slot. But, I think it is completely wrong for us to inconvenience our true fans for the privilege of being on ESPNU which, which has signficantly less carriage. (It is not even a for-purchase option on Comcast, the nation's largest cable network).

That's all football, of course. Basketball isn't such a big deal, because those games can be any night already.

So, what SHOULD the MAC do? Now, we introduce Over the Pylon to the conversation.

If the MAC wants respect on a national level, hopping in bed with ESPN is not the way to do that. You know what would be better? Forcing the conference members to develop winning programs. Instituting a conference-wide expectation of support from the administration of the member schools. Figuring out creative ways to generate revenue and share that among the institutions that comprise the conference membership. Helping to build or rebuild facilities to create positive recruiting tools. Most importantly, showcase your members and the student athletes that have the possibility to generate interest on a national level.

To this, I say amen. If you are Tuesday night filler for ESPN because all the real college football teams play on Saturday, then you are Tuesday night filler. ESPN has to have something on the air, and you're it. But, it doesn't get you respect. In fact, it does the opposite.

The Missouri Valley Conference has done a lot by requiring schools to buy home games in basketball, and requiring investment in athletic programs. And, in the meantime, they have gone from being a peer conference to a MAC to being head and shoulders above the MAC. Anyway, you want respect. Win a bowl game. Win a non-confernece game on the road. How did Butler do it?

I will add an additional thought, which is to invest in up and coming coaches. The last MAC heyday included Urban Meyer, Terry Hoepner, and Brian Kelly. (I will spare you my theory that Marshall raised the level of MAC football by creating a very high competitive standard, and that once their play fell and they left, the bar was lowered for MAC schools and we met the challenge. OK, I guess I didn't actually spare you).

Perhaps a Football 101 is needed for these folks who make decisions at the MAC office and the member schools. Because right now, at this very moment, all are receiving failing grades in that class.

And that is ultimately the point. The MAC is failing now and simply not as good as it was even a few years ago. More of the same is not going to make it better.

Let me just look at one last part of the theory behind which these weekday games was created: the idea that talented student athletes see the MAC on ESPN on Tuesday nights and want to come here.

Three things.

• Most MAC recruits come from our natural footprint and already know plenty about us.
• Most (if not all) MAC recuirts would go to a BCS school if they had a chance, and I don't blame them. Being filler in ESPN's schedule is not going to change that.
• Why are the players we recruited before the weekday games better than the players we recruited after?

I understand that this deal is right in line with the conventional wisdom. That doesn't make it right, and I just think we are paying an unduly high price for little return.