OLN/Versus to air NCAA Football, Hoops

[Stevedude530]

Don't be that excited, it's just the Mountain West conference.

OLN will air selected games as part of a deal between Comcast and the MWC to for the conference's own sports network.

Click to read more...

 

[Gator Mike]

It's significant because it reinforces the idea that Versus is a place to find mainstream sports.

Seriously... it couldn't possibly hurt. Boise State/Utah or Bull riding?

 

[Stevedude530]

Isn't it the same thing?

 

[Chileiceman]

Hopefully this will put pressure on cable operators in Wyoming to add OLN to their basic package.
BTW Boise State is not in the MWC

 

[GKJ]

This is going according to plan by my standards. The VS with MWC reaches out to other markets the NHL doesn't cover, if you choose to look at it from that perspective.

 

[ColoradoHockeyFan]

Don't be that excited, it's just the Mountain West conference.

OLN will air selected games as part of a deal between Comcast and the MWC to for the conference's own sports network.

Does that last part mean that these are just redundant broadcasts of games already being shown on the MWC sports network? If that's the case, then that seems more like the reason to not get as excited. Not because it's the MWC (college football at a pretty good level would be a good legitimate addition). But because these wouldn't be exclusive, live broadcasts, if that's the case. Can you clarify what exactly they'll be showing? If I'm reading it wrong, and these will be exclusive and live, then that's great. If they're just redundant or even replays, then it's not as good.

 

[GKJ]

Does that last part mean that these are just redundant broadcasts of games already being shown on the MWC sports network? If that's the case, then that seems more like the reason to not get as excited. Not because it's the MWC (college football at a pretty good level would be a good legitimate addition). But because these wouldn't be exclusive, live broadcasts, if that's the case. Can you clarify what exactly they'll be showing? If I'm reading it wrong, and these will be exclusive and live, then that's great. If they're just redundant or even replays, then it's not as good.

Does the MWC currently have a sports network? Maybe it's more like a merger-type?

 

[ColoradoHockeyFan]

Does the MWC currently have a sports network? Maybe it's more like a merger-type?

Just starting up.

http://themwc.cstv.com/genrel/071906aab.html

 

[GKJ]

These need to be live games. Not replays on Sunday at 9 am

 

[Stevedude530]

I'm pretty sure they'll be live, supplemental is the word their using for the coverage. I think they'll show it on OLN to give it a bigger outlet.

 

[Snap Wilson]

Mountain West football is excellent, very offense-focused with a wide variety of styles. I'd rather watch that than the SEC. This should definitely get it on more cable networks in the mid-southwest.

 

[dabid]

Bosie State has that cool purple turf.

 

[ColoradoHockeyFan]

Is there a link to the story about Versus' involvement?

 

[jkrdevil]

Is there a link to the story about Versus' involvement?

From the link above about the new Mountain West Conference network.

"Supplemental MWC coverage, including selected football and basketball games, will appear on CSTV and Comcast's OLN network, which will be changing its name to Versus in September, 2006."

My guess they will put the big Mountin West Games on OLN/Versus to give them national coverage.

It's obvious OLN/Versus is looking to be more mainstream. This is another example and it can't hurt it's growth it will help.

 

[ColoradoHockeyFan]

From the link above about the new Mountain West Conference network.

"Supplemental MWC coverage, including selected football and basketball games, will appear on CSTV and Comcast's OLN network, which will be changing its name to Versus in September, 2006."

What, you mean you want me to read my own posts now?

(Though I did honestly wonder if Stevedude got his info from another story, possibly focusing on the OLN/Versus perspective.)

 

[Hasbro]

Bosie State has that cool purple turf.

Turn the red tint down on your tv, it's blue.

I'll never get used to calling it the Mountain West, this is the WAC and these schools should have kept the name when they left the conference.

Kind of like the Arrested Development of college football, it may not get the money or ratings of the big boys better it's a better quality show.

 

[Stevedude530]

Well, the NHL is the Arrested Development of sports in general.

 

[crashlanding]

Well, the NHL is the Arrested Development of sports in general.

I see...the NHL MUST put out DVDs of season 93 (or whatever season we're in).

 

[Regency]

Hopefully this will put pressure on cable operators in Wyoming to add OLN to their basic package.
BTW Boise State is not in the MWC

They will be in a couple of years as they want to move conferences.

 

[Chileiceman]

They will be in a couple of years as they want to move conferences.

University of Wyoming plays in the MWC. They are everyones home team there, because other than a single A baseball team and an NIFL team there really is nothing else. So it would only be fair if Wyomingites could watch their team, and right now OLN is not an many basic cable packages there

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Mountain West football is excellent, very offense-focused with a wide variety of styles. I'd rather watch that than the SEC. This should definitely get it on more cable networks in the mid-southwest.

I agree, im a big10 fan myself, like the Pac10 as well, but I absolutely hate watching SEC football, couple that with the SEC on CBS and I fall right asleep.

Mountain West has some decent teams who are pretty fun to watch, and id say that their conference is more exciting than that of the WAC's, or its at least equal, because in the WAC Boise St and Hawaii are pretty fun teams to watch.

 

[Regency]

University of Wyoming plays in the MWC. They are everyones home team there, because other than a single A baseball team and an NIFL team there really is nothing else. So it would only be fair if Wyomingites could watch their team, and right now OLN is not an many basic cable packages there

I was referring to Boise State.

 

[Hasbro]

University of Wyoming plays in the MWC. They are everyones home team there, because other than a single A baseball team and an NIFL team there really is nothing else. So it would only be fair if Wyomingites could watch their team, and right now OLN is not an many basic cable packages there

It's the only 4 year college in the State too. Professionaly it's Colorado territory.

Should also mention BYU has a Notre Dame type fanbase and people in the service often adopt Air Force as their team and the Falcons do have a hockey program.

 

[nashtrash25]

Here's the deal with Mountain West and Versus/OLN:

The Mountain West used to be with ESPN but signed with CSTV for a boatload of money. Part of that deal was the creation of a sub-network called The Mtn., which will be a 24-hour sports network that carries only Mountain West Sports (everything from football to women's volleyball, etc.).

A couple weeks ago, CSTV signed a deal with Comcast in which each of the two parties would own 50% of The Mtn. Another aspect of that deal was to get OLN/Versus (also owned by Comcast) involved.

So this fall, CSTV will air eight MWC games on its national channel. Eight ADDITIONAL games will air on Versus/OLN national. The OLN football schedule includes some pretty big national matchups like Air Force-BYU. TCU will also be on OLN five times, which is big since TCU could be in contention to crack the BCS this year. A couple of those games are on Thursday nights, which means head-to-head with ESPN's Thursday night game. If TCU is in the mix, that will certainly draw viewers over from ESPN and expose Versus/OLN to a wide array of people.

Versus/OLN will also be broadcasting like 20 basketball games. This will be a good year for that since the MWC will be extremely strong -- kind of like the Missouri Valley was last year.

This is a big step that hopefully leads to larger distribution of OLN/Versus.

 

[Stevedude530]

Here's the MWC on Versus Schedule
9/16 Texas Tech vs. TCU, 5:30 PM ET
9/28 BYU vs. TCU, 6:00 PM ET
9/30 Boise St. vs. Utah, 3:00 PM ET
10/5 TCU vs. Utah, 9:00 PM ET
10/28 BYU vs. Air Force, 2:00 PM ET
11/4 TCU vs. UNLV, 3:00 PM ET
11/11 Colorado St. vs. Utah, 2:00 PM ET
11/18 San Diego St. vs. TCU, 4:00 PM ET

One of OLN's Games (9/28) will air right before OLN airs a brand new episode of "Fight Night". They'll have live Football and then live Boxing.