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Post by ptctitan on Oct 6, 2021 10:28:27 GMT -5
Link2021-22 #HLMBB National Television Schedule Saturday, Dec. 4 RMU at Milwaukee, 12 p.m. ET (ESPNU) Friday, Jan. 7* Milwaukee at Detroit Mercy OR Cleveland State at RMU, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN2 Wildcard) Friday, Jan. 28 Cleveland State at Wright State, 9 p.m. ET (ESPNU) Friday, Feb. 11* Wright State at Milwaukee OR Oakland at RMU, 7 p.m. ET (ESPNU Wildcard) Friday, Feb. 18* Wright State at Oakland OR Cleveland State at Milwaukee, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN2 Wildcard) Monday, March 7 Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship Semifinal No. 1 (ESPN2/ESPNU) Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship Semifinal No. 2 (ESPN2/ESPNU) Tuesday, March 8 Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship Game, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN/ESPN2) *One game will be selected to air as part of the wild card selection process and will be announced 14 days in advance of the game.
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 6, 2021 12:09:32 GMT -5
Link2021-22 #HLMBB National Television Schedule Saturday, Dec. 4 RMU at Milwaukee, 12 p.m. ET (ESPNU) Friday, Jan. 7* Milwaukee at Detroit Mercy OR Cleveland State at RMU, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN2 Wildcard) Friday, Jan. 28 Cleveland State at Wright State, 9 p.m. ET (ESPNU) Friday, Feb. 11* Wright State at Milwaukee OR Oakland at RMU, 7 p.m. ET (ESPNU Wildcard) Friday, Feb. 18* Wright State at Oakland OR Cleveland State at Milwaukee, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN2 Wildcard) Monday, March 7 Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship Semifinal No. 1 (ESPN2/ESPNU) Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship Semifinal No. 2 (ESPN2/ESPNU) Tuesday, March 8 Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship Game, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN/ESPN2) *One game will be selected to air as part of the wild card selection process and will be announced 14 days in advance of the game. Pretty skimpy. I would hope they go with Milwaukee @ Detroit on January 7 -- they get one of the top scorers (Davis) in the country vs. one of the top players in the country (Baldwin), two potential all-americans.
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Post by ptctitan on Oct 6, 2021 12:42:42 GMT -5
You can see from this schedule which 6 teams the league office believes are its top contenders in this season. It sees CSU, RMU & UWM as 1-3 and us, WSU, & OU as 4-6.
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Post by JDetroitTitan on Oct 6, 2021 13:06:02 GMT -5
You can see from this schedule which 6 teams the league office believes are its top contenders in this season. It sees CSU, RMU & UWM as 1-3 and us, WSU, & OU as 4-6. To me it looks like they are pushing for Milwaukee (possibly 4 out of 5 match-ups) the only match up that doesn't have a possible Milwaukee is the number 1 vs 2 from last season game (WSU VS CSU).
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 6, 2021 13:28:57 GMT -5
You can see from this schedule which 6 teams the league office believes are its top contenders in this season. It sees CSU, RMU & UWM as 1-3 and us, WSU, & OU as 4-6. I suspect it's more just that they think that they can market PBJ. To the extent they're predicting team performance, I'd read their top three as Milwaukee, WSU, CSU. We get a game due to the PBJ/Davis match up. In other words December 4 -- they're going to open with PBJ over the marquee team match up, WSU @ CSU. I'm a little surprised they didn't list the latter as an "or" game. But they figure this early in the year, it will be too early to call PBJ a flop--they can hype him and the story of him going mid-major to play for Dad no matter what. Jan. 7. --The Jan 7/8 games in the HL are really boring other than PBJ v. Antoine. But if one of the stars is injured or one or both have really underperformed, they need a back up. CSU @ RMU is the only other game that remotely pairs contenders. Jan 28 -- they take the two teams almost everyone has picked #1-2 -- CSU @ WSU. Not wanting to air this matchup twice may be why Dec. 4 is all Milwaukee. Feb. 11 -- This is another weekend of mediocre matchups. WSU @ MIlwaukee clearly looks the best now. If it doesn't look so good in February, OU/RMU is the only one likely to have any chance of pairing two teams with winning records. Feb. 18 -- Now they're just trying to predict the home stretch. CSU and WSU are the preseason faves, so they get the nod, and both have decent opponents-- Milwaukee w/ PBJ v. CSU (which they probably hope gets the nod), but as of today, WSU/OU if necessary. Detroit/NKU is that weekend, but they're looking at the preseason polls and that match up looks a bit iffier. So really, they like Milwaukee, probably due more to PBJ than to predicting the team, although they figure the team will be OK, and then CSU and WSU as the top two teams in the league (which is what most folks seem to think). Oakland and RMU just get in the right place at the right time--I highly doubt RMU gets that Feb. 11 date, and they won't get Jan. 7 either if the PBJ/Antoine match up looks at all decent. Likewise, I doubt very much that OU ends up on the 2/11 game, and won't get 2/18 either unless CSU and Milwaukee are both out of contention and at least one of OU/WSU are in contention. Not surprisingly, the bottom five teams projected for the league (UIC, YSU, GB, IUPUI, PFW) get shut out. NKU is the team that gets gypped, although in the end OU and Detroit may not get games either, with my guess being that we're more likely to get a game than OU.
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Post by ptctitan on Oct 7, 2021 8:45:18 GMT -5
It's also primarily ESPN's decision. They pay the rights fee to the HL. The HL distributes the fees to the member schools. The member schools use those fees to cover the cost of producing their own TV broadcasts. And they have to buy the time back from ESPN to air their games on ESPN+ and ESPN3. So, it's partly a circular cash flow scheme.
ESPN sells the ads for the 5 major broadcasts on their cable TV platforms. And they give a negotiated amount of time to the HL and member schools for their own "public service" ads.
In return, the HL gets its tournament semifinals and finals on the ESPN main platform and they get their own local TV feeds subsidized. The schools can then try and sell their own ad time on their own broadcasts to cover more costs and maybe even create enough cash flow to subsidize buying the radio time for those broadcasts.
ESPN wants to make a profit on this deal. HL teams do not drive large viewership ratings. ESPN will open with PBJ because they have a vested interest in PBJ succeeding given that they rated him as one of the top prospects entering D1 ball. They can use PBJ to cross-market their website and material behind their paywall.
HL is using PBJ to market their league. ESPN, however, only wants good games on their normal cable TV platforms because the cable providers are paying ESPN by the subscriber for the rights to broadcast ESPN2 and ESPNU. If too many games are bad, then ESPN's rights will decline by even more next contract time and they'll have to lay off more highly priced on-air talent.
HL has very little negotiating power here. ESPN wants PBJ. They get him twice guaranteed and 3 times if they choose that wildcard vs Cleveland State.
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