Television?

[tornado]

I think that is what we are talking about..
50-75% of all Bradley fans - and maybe 90% of all fans who would be targets to market game tickets or season tickets to are people who live nearby and who would have access to local cable systems..
If we cut some deal to get our games in homes in Quincy or Danville, then I would agree that might gain very little but we're talking about keeping our own local fans involved aren't we?

[Vent]

lefty, there were local TV stations who really wanted to televise the games, and a couple that thought they had a good deal in place. But the TV stations wanted the better games that would draw the bigger audiences, while the administration wouldn't do the deal unless they took mainly the bad games (and recall the schedule was loaded with crappy games in 2012, 2013, and 2014). I've talked with people who produced the games for many years. It was the administration'd demands that killed the deal.

In fact, most of the MVC teams do have television deals in place this season to broadcast their games to their local audience through a local network agreement:
Drake televises at least 9 of their games this season on local TV- Mediacom channel MC22
Illinois State has at least 9 of their games televised locally on ComcastSportsNet or Comcast SportsNet Plus
Loyola has a local TV package with Comcast SportsNet Chicago for several of their games
Missouri State University has a bunch of their games televised locally on their own Bears TV Network.
Northern Iowa has a bunch of their games on their own local Panther TV Network in Cedar Falls and other cable systems in Iowa.
And Wichita State has at least 14 of their games televised locally on the Cox channels 2021 or 2022

In fact, Bradley, Evansville, Indiana State, and SIU appear to be the only MVC teams that do not have a local TV deal this season. So somehow, there are 6 teams, most of whom do not have the finances, revenues, or fan following that Bradley has, who have figured out a way to get their games on local TV.

Maybe Bradley should spend a little money and start their own sports television network if there is so much money in it. Even Illinois is not televised on local television anymore, and they are the flagship program of the state. Local television, as far as I'm concerned in the Peoria area is Channel 19, 25, 31 and 43.

[Vent]

You keep local fans involved by winning. We also use to get Bradley games on two and even sometimes three radio stations. Now we only have WMBD. Times have changed. As for people that don't have smart phones or don't have or know how to use computers for ESPN3, there is not enough of those people to pay the bill. As Dylan said...The times they are a changin'.

[Da Coach]

You keep local fans involved by winning. We also use to get Bradley games on two and even sometimes three radio stations. Now we only have WMBD. Times have changed. As for people that don't have smart phones or don't have or know how to use computers for ESPN3, there is not enough of those people to pay the bill. As Dylan said...The times they are a changin'.

Vent, I have to differ here. The older fans, the ones you seem to be referring to, are in fact the ones who donate the disproportionately bigger part of the Bradley Athletic Department donations. And yes, they are decreasing in number, and will continue to decrease, and that is hurting Bradley. Those were the fans who gave money in good years and bad years, even when Bradley wasn't winning. There used to be some of those older fans who even bequeathed money or assets from their estates to Bradley when they died.
But now, there are a lot fewer dedicated younger fans, and the younger generations give far less, and yes, they mostly give only when the team is winning (which hasn't happened in a while). And I suspect they do not have the strong feelings and connection to Bradley that previous generations had, which will translate into few bequeathing money after they're gone.

[tornado]

Vent, I have to differ here. The older fans, the ones you seem to be referring to, are in fact the ones who donate the disproportionately bigger part of the Bradley Athletic Department donations. And yes, they are decreasing in number, and will continue to decrease, and that is hurting Bradley. Those were the fans who gave money in good years and bad years, even when Bradley wasn't winning. ....

in my business I talk with these fans every day - they all know I am a Bradley fan and they readily spark up a conversation...
farmers from Roanoke, pharmacists from Morton, teachers from Washington, and even long ago Woodruff & Central grads who then attended Bradley like my own mother-in-law and her whole family...
and they are all interested in seeing more and hearing more about Bradley basketball...

They miss the TV version of the Dave Snell show with the coach, they miss all those fan-oriented events like the preseason & post-season banquets, and they miss the local TV coverage and broadcasts.
If anyone thinks they don't exist or that it's not worth the time or trouble or that it's not profitable to reach out to them, then I guess you hit the nail on the head as to why our support and fan base that's been super-solid for 75 years has nearly disappeared overnite and plummeted to less than half of what it was just 6-8 years ago.

The way business has been done by the former admin has Bradley basketball on life-support...
I still go, I still donate, I still support Bradley basketball but nobody seems to care that literally tens of thousands of other fans have given up.

[Vent]

Vent, I have to differ here. The older fans, the ones you seem to be referring to, are in fact the ones who donate the disproportionately bigger part of the Bradley Athletic Department donations. And yes, they are decreasing in number, and will continue to decrease, and that is hurting Bradley. Those were the fans who gave money in good years and bad years, even when Bradley wasn't winning. There used to be some of those older fans who even bequeathed money or assets from their estates to Bradley when they died.
But now, there are a lot fewer dedicated younger fans, and the younger generations give far less, and yes, they mostly give only when the team is winning (which hasn't happened in a while). And I suspect they do not have the strong feelings and connection to Bradley that previous generations had, which will translate into few bequeathing money after they're gone.

I meant there aren't enough of the folks that don't have computers or smart phones, to make viewership numbers large enough, to sell advertising for local television (19, 25,31,43) to make it profitable to telecast games.

[Vent]

I don't think the fact we no longer have games televised by local stations has one thing to do with the fact attendance has dwindled. It's because we've stunk for the last several years. I know a lot of season ticket holders that go to games now, because they have tickets and feel obligated. I also notice, the large number of fans that arrive after the game begins, come back to their seats at the 16:00 minute mark of the second half, and leave with 4:00 minutes left in the game. They certainly aren't leaving the game early to beat traffic. Look...this isn't rocket science and doesn't need to be over analyzed. The simple truth is for whatever reasons and there are multiple ones, we are dangerously close to the level of Drake in basketball. We can continue to blame the previous administration, no television, poor Journal Star coverage or whatever. The fact is this...it is up to Chris Reynolds, Brian Wardle and the rest of the coaching staff to fix this and do it quickly. The longer it takes, the more money and fan interest is lost.

[wizard1]

Television?

Winning would solve most of our problems including attendance and student interest. However, winning requires a much higher level of talent which we do not have with the possible exception of our 4 freshmen. Therefore, we must significantly change and upgrade our recruiting which includes adding a couple of talented JC players.
Another big gap in our program rebuilding effort is the lack of television of road and home games. This helps develop fan interest and ultimately attendance and it helps in recruiting. Good players gravitate to programs that have good TV and media coverage and they avoid programs which are "down" and have little or no TV and good media coverage. Adding good TV coverage of BU should be a TOP priority for next year.
Wizard

[Vent]

It's difficult to believe a television station will put together a package until Bradley wins on a consistent basis and attendance gets much better.