Forum: Bison Football or UND Hockey

[MAKBison]

With today's announcement out of UND, I think we might be seeing the real reason for this survey/article: informal data collection. Follow along with me...

Several years ago, which university's media contract to go after was a no-brainer for ForumComm(FCC). They had a newspaper, radio station and TV station in Fargo and only a TV station in Grand Forks. Then several things began to change. The purchase of the GF Herald gave FCC a print stake in GF. Then came the initial contract fiasco. NDSU decided to split the media rights and FCC didn't even bother to submit separate bids. FCC ended up losing the TV rights to Hoak. Then came the president's house cluster-f. Remember that the $1 million that was supposed to pay for the whole thing came from Marcil Sr.(owner of FCC). Those two events pissed him the hell off and severely damaged the relationship between FCC and NDSU. The end result was FCC going after UND's radio contract instead of NDSU's. Now the split was complete.

But let's advance a few years. Chapman is gone. Marcil Sr. has handed over control of FCC to his son, Marcil Jr. I believe the guy at FCC that was in charge of the NDSU media contract was pretty old and has probably retired. Our SID and/or marketing director might also be different. But the big change just happened. Even though it was called the Fighting Sioux Sports Network, it was actually produced by FCC via WDAZ. All those games on FSSN and Fox College Sports? WDAZ people were behind it. You can be damn certain that FCC wasn't doing it out of the goodness of their hearts; they were making money on the deal. But buried in the UND/Midco announcement today was the fact that Midco is taking over all TV production. Goodbye FCC revenue stream.

Now FCC has to make a choice. Do they continue with the new status quo of producing only UND radio and backing it up with GFH print coverage? Or do they put on their big girl panties and go after the NDSU media contracts when they come up for bids? I think that's one of the reasons for the survey/poll in the Forum. They're looking for info on which contract could make them more money. There are pros and cons from every side. From FCC's perspective, there are advantages in going with NDSU and advantages in going with UND. From NDSU's perspective, there are advantages with FCC and advantages with Hoak/RadioFM. I think the next round of contract negotiations could get very interesting. I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see NDSU pairing up with FCC in the next contract.

Something worth reading---TY!!!

[TheBisonator]

With today's announcement out of UND, I think we might be seeing the real reason for this survey/article: informal data collection. Follow along with me...

Several years ago, which university's media contract to go after was a no-brainer for ForumComm(FCC). They had a newspaper, radio station and TV station in Fargo and only a TV station in Grand Forks. Then several things began to change. The purchase of the GF Herald gave FCC a print stake in GF. Then came the initial contract fiasco. NDSU decided to split the media rights and FCC didn't even bother to submit separate bids. FCC ended up losing the TV rights to Hoak. Then came the president's house cluster-f. Remember that the $1 million that was supposed to pay for the whole thing came from Marcil Sr.(owner of FCC). Those two events pissed him the hell off and severely damaged the relationship between FCC and NDSU. The end result was FCC going after UND's radio contract instead of NDSU's. Now the split was complete.

But let's advance a few years. Chapman is gone. Marcil Sr. has handed over control of FCC to his son, Marcil Jr. I believe the guy at FCC that was in charge of the NDSU media contract was pretty old and has probably retired. Our SID and/or marketing director might also be different. But the big change just happened. Even though it was called the Fighting Sioux Sports Network, it was actually produced by FCC via WDAZ. All those games on FSSN and Fox College Sports? WDAZ people were behind it. You can be damn certain that FCC wasn't doing it out of the goodness of their hearts; they were making money on the deal. But buried in the UND/Midco announcement today was the fact that Midco is taking over all TV production. Goodbye FCC revenue stream.

Now FCC has to make a choice. Do they continue with the new status quo of producing only UND radio and backing it up with GFH print coverage? Or do they put on their big girl panties and go after the NDSU media contracts when they come up for bids? I think that's one of the reasons for the survey/poll in the Forum. They're looking for info on which contract could make them more money. There are pros and cons from every side. From FCC's perspective, there are advantages in going with NDSU and advantages in going with UND. From NDSU's perspective, there are advantages with FCC and advantages with Hoak/RadioFM. I think the next round of contract negotiations could get very interesting. I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see NDSU pairing up with FCC in the next contract.

Very intriguing.... And I will go to bed with that freshly in my mind.

[Tatanka]

Next Monday in your Fargo forum: which ND political figures have mustaches? Wait. This just in. They've already done that.

[THEsocalledfan]

You guys read this:

http://www.inforum.com/event/article.../group/Sports/

While NDSU is so incompetent they can't even get their football games in HD or consistently broadcasted regionally, UND has negotiated a deal that guarantees that happens in 3 years (they don't have a regional problem). Proof again that UND is WAY better than NDSU in anything media related. They must be a bigger deal than NDSU football.

[Bison bison]

Attempts to reach FCC Broadcasting late Monday were unsuccessful.

[4mcruenomore]

If our football program keeps winning and can win another championship, TV deals don't matter imo. You just have to keep winning, we can't go back to 3-8 or getting owned by UNI.

[roadwarrior]

Attempts to reach FCC Broadcasting late Monday were unsuccessful.

That was pretty funny to read in today's Forum! LOL

[THEsocalledfan]

Now FCC has to make a choice. Do they continue with the new status quo of producing only UND radio and backing it up with GFH print coverage? Or do they put on their big girl panties and go after the NDSU media contracts when they come up for bids? I think that's one of the reasons for the survey/poll in the Forum. They're looking for info on which contract could make them more money. There are pros and cons from every side. From FCC's perspective, there are advantages in going with NDSU and advantages in going with UND. From NDSU's perspective, there are advantages with FCC and advantages with Hoak/RadioFM. I think the next round of contract negotiations could get very interesting. I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see NDSU pairing up with FCC in the next contract.

Wish I had read this before I posted. While I would much rather have FCC to this Hoak crap, the question is still how to broadcast regionally, not just in ND. I would think FCC could figure out the HD stuff.

Contrast this to UND who basically used FCC to broaden their reach, very successfully, to the point where Midco saw the value. Think about this, UND will have every hockey game at home broadcasted in HD and distributed regionally. (I admit I am assuming it will be on Midco Sports Net.) That is a huge coup in my book, particularly if they maintain a way to get on satellite, too, for national folks. NDSU needs to get a deal that will better allow them to get on regional television. I still think FSN and FCS Central should be the targets and there would be no better way for showing who the bigger fish in the pond is. Yes, NDSU may need to be flexible on game times, but there has to be a way to get this done.

[HerdBot]

With today's announcement out of UND, I think we might be seeing the real reason for this survey/article: informal data collection. Follow along with me...

Several years ago, which university's media contract to go after was a no-brainer for ForumComm(FCC). They had a newspaper, radio station and TV station in Fargo and only a TV station in Grand Forks. Then several things began to change. The purchase of the GF Herald gave FCC a print stake in GF. Then came the initial contract fiasco. NDSU decided to split the media rights and FCC didn't even bother to submit separate bids. FCC ended up losing the TV rights to Hoak. Then came the president's house cluster-f. Remember that the $1 million that was supposed to pay for the whole thing came from Marcil Sr.(owner of FCC). Those two events pissed him the hell off and severely damaged the relationship between FCC and NDSU. The end result was FCC going after UND's radio contract instead of NDSU's. Now the split was complete.

But let's advance a few years. Chapman is gone. Marcil Sr. has handed over control of FCC to his son, Marcil Jr. I believe the guy at FCC that was in charge of the NDSU media contract was pretty old and has probably retired. Our SID and/or marketing director might also be different. But the big change just happened. Even though it was called the Fighting Sioux Sports Network, it was actually produced by FCC via WDAZ. All those games on FSSN and Fox College Sports? WDAZ people were behind it. You can be damn certain that FCC wasn't doing it out of the goodness of their hearts; they were making money on the deal. But buried in the UND/Midco announcement today was the fact that Midco is taking over all TV production. Goodbye FCC revenue stream.

Now FCC has to make a choice. Do they continue with the new status quo of producing only UND radio and backing it up with GFH print coverage? Or do they put on their big girl panties and go after the NDSU media contracts when they come up for bids? I think that's one of the reasons for the survey/poll in the Forum. They're looking for info on which contract could make them more money. There are pros and cons from every side. From FCC's perspective, there are advantages in going with NDSU and advantages in going with UND. From NDSU's perspective, there are advantages with FCC and advantages with Hoak/RadioFM. I think the next round of contract negotiations could get very interesting. I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see NDSU pairing up with FCC in the next contract.

Good post. If I remember though the Forum did put in a bid but NDSU rejected it. I think it was the right decision by NDSU at the time. Radio Fargo Moorhead has the best ratings and coverage. Its not even close. TV is mixed although KVLY gives us statewide coverage and more games but no HD. What kind of coverage can we get with WDAY? Would it be statewide? Would it be HD?

And newspaper is really sort of a dying thing.

I like WDAY. By far they offer the best news coverage on Bison athletics and its a big reason why I actually watch their news.

[RedRiver]

Define regional. UND will be on in some markets in ND, SD and limited markets in MN. NDSU football is on in all ND markets and limited markets in SD and MN through ND. I don't see any difference or advantage under this new contract for UND other than HD. And the markets in SD don't care about hockey.