Deseret News | BYU finding ways to get games on TV

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Dick Harmon: BYU finding ways to get games on TV

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Dick | 12:35 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

?Question for bergstro must have an issue with long term memory.

A top 20 BYU team never beat a top 20 Ute team in SLC during the Chambers/Vranes et al period in the same year Utah beat BYU in Provo.

The games during that era were are follows:

1978: Utah swept the series
1979, 1980: BYU swept the series
1981: Utah won in SLC, BYU won in Provo

I think he was thinking about 1981 because that's the year Wyoming was also good. Both teams held on their home court that year.

Soccer Stadium | 12:35 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

Is Reals soccer stadium going to be done by next year. If the UTAH-BYU game were played there, that would really send a message. Take away the premier game of the football season. Everyone in Utah could see the game and it could be broadcast to BYU fans by KBYU. I think that would get CSTV's attention.

Bergstro | 12:38 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

In response to the question for me, I always cheer against BYU. That's what makes it a rivalry. Even though, logically, it may make sense to have the rival be a good team, I just always want them to lose.

If it turns out both teams are top notch teams, that makes for a fun game but I'd rather have the days of a 1-25 BYU than a top 20 BYU. Utah can always have big games against UNLV, UNM, or whoever is a top dog that year.

In my opinion, a person just doesn't cheer for their rival - unless it has a direct impact on that person's team winning a championship or something like that.

Comments continue below

Switch fields | 12:42 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

A way to have all BYU and Utah homes games televised is just to switch stadiums. BYU will play homes games at Rice-Eccles and Utah will play at Lavell Edwards. This would definately be neutral sites for both teams...This TV deal gets more and more comical each year!!

Hey comcast | 12:46 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

Mr. Crabb is still OPEN!!!

Real Estate Planning | 12:48 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

Have BYU deed the sporting event venues to Property Reserve, Inc (Real Estate corp owned by LDS church) so that all events are neutral sites.

This would be similar to the outsourcing by the universities of their advertising.

Anonymous | 12:51 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

Harmon makes Crabb sound like some genius, when in reality there's probably an explicit clause in the contract that says "the mtn. shall have no broadcasting rights for games played on neutral playing field," and Crabb is simply telling the Y to take advantage of that clause. I'll start to think Crabb is a genius when he gets the mtn. accessible by all.

Defending Dick | 1:08 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

Dick writes with passion and, I suspect, speed. Whether he evokes duplicity in his writing, or not, is another issue.

Think how little some of you would have to complain about if Dick were to write perfectly.

Switch names | 1:13 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

Along the switch fields comment, why don't they temporarily rename the Lavell Edwards Stadium and the Marriott center until the contract expires? Would that make the venues neutral?

This is sooo cute... | 1:35 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

To hear all you BYU kids try and understand the world of television deals. Remember the Dallas/Green Bay game last week? Only on NFL Network because a deal could not be agreed on to have it on regular cable. It's a systematic problem as cable/satellite/internet evolve. Oops, mighta stepped over the line with that word, sorry. Nevertheless, BYUTV airing the games will hurt the conference and the other teams in the MWC. I've never seen so many Notre Dame wannabes.

Harmon such a Homer | 1:39 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

BYU did not hire the lawyer, BYU AND Utah hired the lawyer, and then the rest of the conference jumped on board.

NCCougarFanatic | 1:42 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

Yes Fanatic, better than always trying to be a critic on the composition and not the subject. However, I will agree if you are being paid the big bucks for your writing (righting) ability, than you should produce. Frankly, I like reading Harmon's articles, as he does not over do his words or terms, he gives you reading entertainment and that is what it is; sporting news facts presented in an entertaining way and not just a fact based view. As far as the slingbox, it is great I have one from HB in Provo and have seen all the games for the past two years, as far as watching the games on the Monitor install a video card and run it on your TV, works great for me. But I would much rather have BYU and other conf games on National Broadcast for exposure, and as an avenue of establishing a bona fide position in the caliber of University the MWC consists of. They have just as much right for the Conf. Champions being an automatic bid into BCS as some of the much smaller Universities that are involved. I hate playing down in competition in Bowls, needs changed.

Byron | 1:53 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

halle freaking luiah

Dennis in WA | 1:58 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

I caught the Louisville game on BYUTV ï¿½cause I happened to notice it in the DesNews pregame article; no such luck on Mich State.
I was apprehensive on the Louisville game as what kind of quality to expect in the bradcast. I was more than pleasantly surprised. The play-by-play and color were very good. The video was superb, including the replays, graphics etc. All-in-all; a very professional production. Especially cause they did it on short notice. I Sent an email telling them how it was appreciated & complementing them on the professionalism. I asked if they picked up camera and other tech work from some service they said it was all BUTV (KBYU). Wow!! I get the occasonal game on CSTV or Versus,ESPN, etc.

Slingbox | 2:29 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

For those of you commenting on the Slingbox, it's the best thing that's ever happened to my husband & me since the stupid mtn. deal. We're in Indiana & hook the Slingbox up to my brother-in-law's cable box in Orem. Then we feed the image & sound up from the laptop to the TV. The picture quality's not very good, but the mtn.'s picture quality was never stellar to begin with! One word of warning though: upon hearing of our success, some other members of my husband's family decided to try it, & it doesn't work as well for them. You need REALLY FAST Internet connections on both ends.

As for BYU-TV, I love the coverage (the LDS commercials can't be beat!), but the reason we're not in the BCS this year is lack of publicity & coverage, & having our sports on BYU-TV will make that worse, not better.

To Slingbox | 2:50 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

The reason BYU isn't in the BCS this year is because we lost 2 games and they were against a 6-6 team and a C-USA team.

The computers don't care if a team is on TV or not so their part of the BCS rankings wouldn't change if BYU were on TV more. And the humans aren't going to put a 2 loss BYU much higher than they did when those losses came against who they did.

I think if BYU fans were honest and objective, we'd think BYU is probably a 15-20 team which is right where we are ranked. Top 10 teams don't lose 2 games with the schedule we had.

Consistentcy trumps | 2:59 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

At last a remedy to this ridiculous impendment to watching the best teams in the MWC on television. BYU has dominated most sports and especially Football and basketball--do not get in the way of BYU fans--they'll find a way to watch their teams rise to the top!

SeattleCougarBlue | 3:07 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

Can we classify the regular season MWC basketball games as a "round robin" for seeding in the year-end MWC tournament? Then we could see all the games! Same with football... a "round robin" tournament round for a bowl game birth!

Nolo | 3:29 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

BYU has a whole staff of attorneys and more than enough administration types. Why did we get into this mess to begin with? Why can't the inhouse guys read a contract? This looks pretty elementary to me. When do heads roll in Provo and Denver over this fiasco!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????

BYUTV Is Not Bad | 3:51 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

I want to point out that having all games on BYUTV is not the best long term solution as some have mentioned. However, it isn't all that bad for bargaining right now. I'm guessing that the BYU-TV ratings are a lot higher than what the games on Versus and CSTV would have done. If we can show that to Comcast/Satellite providers, maybe that gives us the bargaining chip we have been looking for.

Modest Proposal | 3:58 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

In order to force the BCS conference cartel to give-up the strangle-hold they have on college football, thenon-BCS teams need to band together and do the following:
1. Cancel en-mass all future games they have scheduled with the BCS conference teams.
2. Have in place replacement games with teams from other non-BCS conference teams.
3. Establish a playoff between the five non-BCS conference champions plus three at-large teams.

Do this unless the BCS conferences agree to do the following:
1. Implement at 16 team playoff which includes an automatic invitaion to all 11 Bowl subdivision conferences.
2. Insist that all future games be scheduled on a home and away basis. No more two for one games.

This would force the BCS conferences to play each other and stop padding thier records with home games against outclassed oponents that can't compete against teams getting BCS money.
If the non-BCS teams have to pay some penalty for canceling games they could pay the penalty with revenue from their own eight team playoff.
I believe this would be enough to at least get the BCS bullys to come to the negotiation table and deal in good faith.

Ken Baguley | 4:38 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

I recently left Dish Network after 9 and 1/2 years. I had called them repeatedly, as I did Direct TV. That's been for the last two years impatiently waiting. I finally Dropped Dish and told them this was the only way I could punish them for not delivering on The MTN. Even though I went to Direct TV who also doesn't provide The MTN I felt this was the only way I could punish Dish Network...Silly Huh? Well, at least Direct TV made promises that negotiations would eventually bring about their achieving The MTN. That was a thread of HOPE. How else can we beat this thing? Carry on the legal search Counsellor Crabbe...

Kelly Crabb | 4:49 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

I found the clause in question because although I did my undergrad at BYU, I got my law degree at Columbia, instead of the much inferior BYU law school. Check my bio at the firm's website.

Andrew | 5:16 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

What if the Mtn went online like CSTV does? Charge something like 100 bucks a year to watch all games, including non-football, online. If I wasn't at the Y right now, I'd do it.

Uncle George | 5:43 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

This TV talk would all be unnecessary and Y would have been in a BCS conference had Snow, Jensen & others officials at Y not been a sleep at the wheel when the Big 8 conference expanded in 1996-7.

JayCee | 6:36 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

It isn't the fault of Comcast, Dish or DirecTV. They are just doing what "money comes first, the devil with the public" mercenary organizations do. The ones to blame are those who made these irresponsible agreements with comecast to start with. I would like to know if it was the MTN executives, the College Presidents, or who, but that answer will probably never come to light. Where are all these "investigative reporters" when an answer might step on someone's toes?

RICHMO | 6:37 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

Bergstro, You and all the others like you just don't get it. I live in SEC country and SEC fans all support their teams unbelievably against their rivals but also strongly support their follow SEC teams against non-SEC teams. But then maybe they understand how it helps their own team when their follow conference members do well outside the SEC. It's a shame some people will cut their nose off to spite their face which is what we have in the young MWC.

fan | 7:34 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

I hate the mtn.! Anything has got to be better the insane deal the MWC has now.

Doing Fine, Thanks | 7:45 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

Richmo, as one of the "others" I can tell you we get it just fine. We know it helps the other teams in the conference when BYU defeats non-conference opponents. We've also had it up to our ears with the average BYU fan's holier-than-thou attitude toward the conference and it's other members. We could be a little more supportive if BYU fan wasn't constantly spouting this "leave the MWC for the [insert BCS league that doesn't want BYU]" rhetoric.

Better yet are the calls for BYU to go independent. Good luck with that. They could fare well enough in football, but have fun scheduling those 16-18 basketball games after New Year's, when the rest of the college basketball world is playing conference games. Well, I suppose it could schedule a 12-game series with UVSU.

don | 8:02 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

it cracks me up if BYU & Utah would of stayed in the WAC they would of been on TV more. the TV revenue would have have easily taken care of the cost of traveling to Hawaii. this season Nevada, Boise State and Hawaii were on ESPN nearly twice per month. In many sports the WAC is more competitive than MWC. All those years BYU and Utah spent building the reputation of the WAC is wasted with the lack of TV coverage of the MWC. It is all about money and BYU and the MWC are both awarded the toilet bowl game playing a 6-6 UCLA team who just fired their coach.

Dave | 9:05 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

Now that the games are on BYU-TV, I'm gonna get greedy and ask for some High Def broadcasts...why not!!

Seattle | 9:58 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

IF the TV contract is not providing us with what was promised why dont they cancel the contract and renegotiate it with whoever they can?

That sounds like what everyone wants.

The contract | 10:11 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

Something people do not understand... The mtn contract is not just a MWC contract. The conference signed on, as well as each school individually. So, even if BYU were to go to the WAC, independent, etc, that still would not solve the problem! Comcast would still own all the rights.

BYU is quite culpable here. Did they even have a single lawyer read the contract before signing? Blame Craig Thompson, blame comcast, blame whoever, but the fact it that the BYU administration and Athletic Dept made a colossal mistake. I don't like the word "ineptitude" but that is simply the case.

whoopi | 10:12 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

Sorry - I'm not falling for it. A few games on BYU-TV that "dodge" the Mtn contract are not enough - all the options are exhausted and we got a few extra basketball games. I want all football games on TV without extra equipment or using my computer... ESPN built BYU's program and the recruits are growing up with so much technology at their disposal they will laugh when they are asked to attend a school with a pathetic TV deal like the Mtn. It's got to be fixed asap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Northern California Trouble | 10:45 p.m. Dec. 11, 2007

This has to do with the BYU radio play by play broadcasts. For many decades Northern Calif could
hear the games live over KSL 1160 from SLC. Now because a station on 1140 thinks they have the right to cover over KSL's channel, the games are
being JAMMED and covered over by incessant
data stream noise. This is all done in the name of
"HD Radio", which is 'supposed to give more choices.
The corporate bosses at KHTK know about this and don't really care. They say that's a Utah station
and it doesn't concern them. This is sloppy technology! It takes 5 regular AM channels. So much for the ads that say "More Choices?" No more
BYU games in No. Calif. The FCC for over 2 years didn't aloow this digital interference to happen at night because of this very situation. About 3 months ago it became permissible and so we LOOSE
the BYU games. The FCC in Washington is taking response on this issue. They have a website with both regular addresses and e-mail addresses.

This new stuff might fly on the FM radio channels, but on AM it's like trying to play
basketball on a tenniscourt!

Gabriel | 1:40 a.m. Dec. 12, 2007

It seems that some fans still don't get it; we need our games to be televised on ESPN, especially the football games, they are the ones that help teams with their exposure to get recognized, they don't talk about the teams that they don't broadcast their games. Do you think Hawaii would have made it to the BCS without ESPN, no way.... . What I think we need to do is just find a way to get out this MTN deal, at least get the outside conference games on ESPN, or if that doesn't work... just get away of this conference, unless of course we get used to the idea of having a very good team and being the only ones to know about it..... for ten long years.

IT's Time | 8:42 a.m. Dec. 12, 2007

Now is the time for the BYU administration to come forward and provide a statement concerning direction and corrective action concerning this outragious situation.

Comcast is a common "snake oil saleman" right out of the old west. And like the pioneer roots found all across the MWC, these fans need to "run these varments out of town."

Contracts provide a statement of agreement, costs and period of execution in order to protect the parties involved. Certainly comcast has failed to provide distribution of the product and the expense of the Universities.

Surly, the state representatives in Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, New Mexico, South California, and Colorado carry enough political weight to have a meaning "discussion" with Comcast...

When Lavell retired | 8:45 a.m. Dec. 12, 2007

...it all went hell in a hand basket!!!

Fatty River Pig - in WA | 12:54 p.m. Dec. 12, 2007

While those who say they have watched more BYU games on VS/CSTV than on ESPN (6 of 12), that may be true for broadcast. But with ESPN I could pay $10 to $15 and watch it on ESPN GamePlan. If I invite over a couple of the boys and they contribute, I pay five bucks and see the game. This year, I couldn't even watch most of the games online like I could last year. That's not progress, it's another step back.

Great!! | 1:33 p.m. Dec. 12, 2007

I agree with Fatty River Pig. I watched several games on the internet last year, but this year I tried three times to watch games on the internet and could not since they were not showing the BYU/Whomever game on CSTV any of those times. It is getting worse, until now. The only way for Comcast to get BYU to stop putting games on BYU-TV is to get a better distribution channel going, which could actually benefit all of the conference members. It surely can't hurt them any more than the current situation.

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