UND Football and Hockey on the Web - the future of broadcasts?

Last night I had the opportunity to watch some of UND and South Dakota School of Mines game on the internet via Big Sky TV.

I stopped watching the game when the score got out of hand it was apparent that one could be more entertained by watching a UND practice with the number one’s going against the scout team. I had a few of my friends make the comment, “why would UND even play a NAIA team?”

First off, game action is always better than practice action. Game action gives the coaches got a chance to see their players in live action against another foe other than their own team mates. Unfortunately, UND lost their starting quarterback Braden Hanson to a leg injury and appears to be unavailable for a couple of weeks.

I would have to say that my first impression of the Big Sky TV’s on-line version was very good.

There are a couple of things that you will need to do to be able to watch the on-line video – you have to have to down load Adobe Flash Player 10.x and the ONE Vision Plugin. I also highly recommend using the Google Chrome Browser as well.

On line broadcasts are going to be a thing of the future – especially with the NCHC kicking off it’s season in 2013-14. As most of you know the NCHC signed an exclusivity agreement with CBSSN to broadcast at least 18 games and UND will not be able to broadcast the games on FCS like they have in the past because of the exclusivity agreement.

While fans aren’t happy with this, this doesn’t mean the University isn’t trying to solve this issue and there is a lot of time yet to come to a solution. Jayson Hajdu aka @UNDSID posted this new nugget on Sioux Sports.

At this point, Fox College Sports is only picking up men’s hockey. All home men’s hockey games will be broadcast on Fox College Sports for 2012-13 only. Once UND joins the National Collegiate Hockey Conference in 2013-14, CBS Sports Network holds national broadcast rights to all NCHC games. Thus, UND cannot broadcast nationally on another network, even if CBS Sports Network is not showing that particular game.

Is this ideal for UND as an individual institution? Of course not. In college athletics, there is a cost to doing business. Sometimes concessions have to be made for the best interests of the league(s). Now, this doesn’t preclude us from attempting to regain that national footprint in the future. We are well aware of how many loyal fans we have nationwide and we will make every effort to make sure we reach as many as possible, in as many ways as possible.

In the meantime, fans outside of the MidcoSN viewing area will still have the opportunity to view home men’s hockey games via UNDInsider webcasts. We like to think we already offer high-quality webcasts – we pull the feed directly from the television broadcast – but we are still making significant upgrades for the upcoming season.

Specifically, we are upgrading in terms of quality (to near-HD), video player (better streaming for your connection speed) and accessibility (iPad, etc.). Once MidcoSN makes the conversion to HD in 2014-15, our webcasts will also be available in full HD.

With the upgrade to near-HD – and eventually full HD – you’ll still be able to enjoy UND men’s hockey games on your television screen by connecting your computer. It will essentially be the same quality you previously enjoyed, albeit with an extra step involved.

Our goal is to provide our programming to as many fans possible through as many platforms as possible. We’ve come an awful long ways since the days of one or two games per year being broadcast on local network television. In 2012-13, every home game will be available to watch on television, webcasts and mobile devices.

So going forward it appears that on line broadcasts are going to be a wave of the future for UND sports. This is an issue that fans are positive about and while watching sporting events on line is not the best method of watching football and hockey – it at least gives fans an option to listening to the game on line – that’s not a slam on Tim Hennesy either, because he is one of the best hockey play-by-play guys in the business in my humble opinion.

Personally, I prefer to watch hockey live or on a television set as opposed to listening to hockey on a radio or on the computer. Most sports fans that I know are visual people. Talking to other people that I know and through the blog, it appears that there are others that feel the same way.

Let’s not kid ourselves, some schools on line broadcasts are better than others – one of the best free on line broadcasts is the GCI Cable out of Anchorage, Alaska. For the most part the B2 Broadcasts in the past have been questionable and in some cases brutal.

From my vantage point, it appears that the UND will probably be on the fore front of this issue and the athletic department at the University of North Dakota knows that they have a huge fan base outside of the state of North Dakota that is very passionate about UND sports. If there are any updates on this issue I will post it on the blog – I will also keep my ear to the ground.

Big Sky TV Launches Tonight

[OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE]

The Big Sky Conference and America ONE Sports recently agreed to a three-year contract extension, allowing fans and alumni to enjoy free video streams of most football, volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball games held in Big Sky venues.  The new contract also calls for events to be available through iOS and Android mobile devices free of charge. 

With the additions of North Dakota and Southern Utah as full members, and Cal Poly and UC Davis as football affiliate members, Big Sky TV will feature more events than ever.

“America ONE Sports has done a tremendous job distributing our video stream feeds for the last three years,’’ said Big Sky Conference assistant commissioner for media relations Jon Kasper. “Now, America ONE and the league are taking Big Sky TV mobile, something we think fans will appreciate.’’

Big Sky TV is entering its seventh season of service, and fourth with America ONE Sports. Through the years, Big Sky TV has brought thousands of events live and free of charge to computers, giving fans access to events that were previously unavailable to be seen. Fans can begin creating new accounts effective immediately.

“Big Sky TV represents the best of college sports and its members’ fans love their teams,” said Bruce Levine, America ONE Sports Director of Programming “We are extremely pleased to continue our association with the Big Sky Conference and for our part in keeping their fans connected with their favorite teams.”

In order to view games, viewers will need to log on to www.bigskytv.org , and create an account. Fans will then need to click on the Big Sky All-Access Pass to receive access to all events during the season. PC viewers also need to have the One Vision Plugin and Adobe Flash installed on their computers. Accounts created last season will work in 2012-13, however fans will need to make sure to click on this year’s Big Sky All-Access Pass.

Mobile viewing through iOS devices is available immediately. The Android version won’t be available until next week.

This season’s schedule of more than 500 events starts Thursday with football action. At 7 p.m. Central, North Dakota takes on South Dakota Mines from the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, N.D. At 7 p.m. Mountain, two-time co-Big Sky champion and fourth-ranked Montana State opens its season against Chadron State. At 7 p.m. Pacific, UC Davis takes on Azusa Pacific.

On Friday, volleyball makes its debut on Big Sky TV. North Dakota, Northern Colorado and Sacramento State are all hosting tournaments this weekend.

North Dakota opens against South Dakota at 7 p.m. Central, while defending Big Sky champion Northern Colorado takes on Oklahoma at 7 p.m. Mountain. At 6:30 p.m. Pacific, Sacramento State battles Boise State.

On Saturday, North Dakota plays at 1 p.m. and at 7 p.m. Central. Northern Colorado hits the court at Noon Mountain and 7 p.m. Mountain. Sacramento State plays at 1 p.m. Pacific, and again at 7:30 p.m. Pacific.

Saturday’s football slate includes two games. At 4 p.m. Pacific, Cal Poly welcomes San Diego to San Luis Obispo. At 5 p.m. Mountain, Portland State takes on NAIA power Carroll College at JELD-Wen Field. Montana’s home game against South Dakota will not be available on Big Sky TV, only at gogriz.com.

The 2012 football season will feature 12 games televised by ROOT SPORTS. Those games will not be available on Big Sky TV, but will be widely available across the nation in high definition on DirecTV and Dish Network, as well as through many cable providers in the Big Sky footprint.

In all more than 50 games will be video streamed on Big Sky TV.

Are you ready for some football?

I know this isn’t hockey related but it should get you into the mood for the fall... I do think that it’s an exciting time in UND sports as they are now a full member of Division I sports and a member of the Big Sky Conference. The UND football team begins play against the BSC starting on August 30th against South Dakota Mines.