Bank of Kentucky & the 9th and 10th Region - No Radio/Internet Broadcasting

[Jim Schue]

What makes you think that the people running the tournament for the 10th are upset enough that it won't come back. I think that decision is made by the schools in the 37th for this area. Yes maybe there have been some issues, but I don't hear Campbell County School officials complaining about the arena.

 

I would think the other schools would have an oppo to nix it if the 37th District schools proposed it again. They have that right, don't they?

[ColonelMike]

What's curious to me as an outsider looking in on all this mess is how the administrations of the schools that typically have radio or internet coverage are reacting.

 

If your school doesn't typically have coverage, it may seem to be no big deal to you. But for the schools with regular coverage, the internet/radio guys become part of the extended school basketball family. What are the principals, athletic directors, and coaches at places such as Bishop Brossart, CovCath, etc., saying about all this?

Edited February 18, 2009 by ColonelMike
typo

[Plato]

I would think the other schools would have an oppo to nix it if the 37th District schools proposed it again. They have that right, don't they?

 

I don't think so. I think the host schools recommend a venue to the KHSAA for approval, but the other districts don't have an official voice.

[Randy Parker]

The Fieldhouse doesn't look so bad now does it!

 

Good call.

[MJAlltheWay24]

The unfortunate thing is that Mr. Molley's comments reflect what almost everyone here has suspected: this is all about money. It's not about a celebration of the kids and their families and schools. It's all being done to ensure that the BOK Arena can wring as much money as possible out of the deal to make the guarantee promised to the regions. I'm not saying this isn't an admirable goal - but it should be secondary to the mission of the region tournament.

 

I liked your post, but I disagree with this paragraph. I don't think they are trying to wring out as much money as they can. I think they are doing what they think is best in order to ensure that they don't lose money in all this. If it was really about wringing in more money don't you think they would have made the broadcast fee a little more affordable to make some money off that as well?

[bbleser]

Joe Danneman of Fox19 is airing a segment on this issue @ 6:30 tonight. He just came out to do a brief interview w/ NKYSports.com, I believe he interviewed KR Sports as well.

[Mustang]

What's curious to me as an outsider looking in on all this mess is how the administrations of the schools that typically have radio or internet coverage are reacting.

 

If your school doesn't typically have coverage, it may seem to be no big deal to you. But for the schools with regular coverage, the internet/radio guys become part of the extended school basketball family. What are the principals, athletic directors, and coaches at places such as Bishop Brossart, CovCath, etc., saying about all this?

 

Not knowing whether we will even be in the 10th Region Tournament or not, I'm maintaining a low profile about slamming my shoe on the desk and then perhaps becoming an outsider looking in anyway. I like to think that I know my place when it comes to the real world of broadcasting. I/we (Brossart) simply provide a service to our fans, players, parents, out-of-town residents/relatives, alumni, and servicemen overseas. Other than having and voiced my outspoken opinion about the short-sightedness of the BOKC connections, I would be somewhat understanding were we not permitted to broadcast our games live, but I certainly don't understand the restriction on "tape delay," and would be willing to pony up a reasonable useage fee to do the game/games on that basis were the opportunity to arise.

 

By restricting air-wave only broadcasts to the outlying districts, the two tournaments are going to be conducted in a vacuum. Come tournament time we are all interested in the goings on of the tournament regardless of what team we support, and that opportunity provided by KR Sports, NoKySports, and WFTM streams in the past allowing us to listen in to the "other" games will not exist. There will be no archives of the game broadcasts for the players and their parents to go home to listen to, or to share with their kids and grandkids someday. My nephew Ben Sandfoss, a marine in Iraq, will not get to listen to Uncle Dave broadcast "across the nation, around the world, and to ships at sea." Mustang parents Dave Ruberg or Dave Trentman who often travel to China will have to rely on text messages instead of getting the play by play. We have all of this wonderful technology available but have chosen to go back to the 90s and beyond. Since when has the almighty dollar become more important than fan interest or customer service??? Unfortunately, we all have found out the answer to that this week.

 

If it becomes necessary, how about the schools of the 10th Region all agreeing to kick back $375 of the $4375 share money per team, before the participants have been determined, as a good will gesture to try to influence the money-mongers at the BOKC to soften their stance?

 

In all of my years of involvement I have never seen so many of us so passionate and on the same page about a single issue, that started as an E/Mail, then made it to the blogs, has graduated to the front page of the Enquirer, is being the topic of sports talk shows, and when Eric Deters and Richard Skinner get ahold of it will probably go nationwide. With all of this pressure, I think that the BOKC folks have no other choice than to take their contract and wipe their behinds with it. What started out as a great opportunity for NKU and the BOKC to endear themselves to the Northern Kentucky and Northcentral Kentucky high school community has now bitten them and given them this huge black-eye, long before the first tournament game has even been played there.

 

I will really be shocked, and develop a whole new respect for corporate-business arena management, if we don't win here. Keep up the good work :thumb:

[bbleser]

Not knowing whether we will even be in the 10th Region Tournament or not, I'm maintaining a low profile about slamming my shoe on the desk and then perhaps becoming an outsider looking in anyway. I like to think that I know my place when it comes to the real world of broadcasting. I/we (Brossart) simply provide a service to our fans, players, parents, out-of-town residents/relatives, alumni, and servicemen overseas. Other than having and voiced my outspoken opinion about the short-sightedness of the BOKC connections, I would be somewhat understanding were we not permitted to broadcast our games live, but I certainly don't understand the restriction on "tape delay," and would be willing to pony up a reasonable useage fee to do the game/games on that basis were the opportunity to arise.

 

By restricting air-wave only broadcasts to the outlying districts, the two tournaments are going to be conducted in a vacuum. Come tournament time we are all interested in the goings on of the tournament regardless of what team we support, and that opportunity provided by KR Sports, NoKySports, and WFTM streams in the past allowing us to listen in to the "other" games will not exist. There will be no archives of the game broadcasts for the players and their parents to go home to listen to, or to share with their kids and grandkids someday. My nephew Ben Sandfoss, a marine in Iraq, will not get to listen to Uncle Dave broadcast "across the nation, around the world, and to ships at sea." Mustang parents Dave Ruberg or Dave Trentman who often travel to China will have to rely on text messages instead of getting the play by play. Since when has the almighty dollar become more important than fan interest or customer service??? Unfortunately, we all have found out the answer to that this week.

 

If it becomes necessary, how about the schools of the 10th Region all agreeing to kick back $375 of the $4375 share money per team, before the participants have been determined, as a good will gesture to try to influence the money-mongers at the BOKC to soften their stance?

 

In all of my years of involvement I have never seen so many of us so passionate and on the same page about a single issue, that started as an E/Mail, then made it to the blogs, has graduated to the front page of the Enquirer, is being the topic of sports talk shows, and when Eric Deters and Richard Skinner get ahold of it will probably go nationwide. With all of this pressure, I think that the BOKC folks have no other choice than to take their contract and wipe their behinds with it. What started out as a great opportunity for NKU and the BOKC to endear themselves to the Northern Kentucky and Northcentral Kentucky high school community has now bitten them and given them this huge black-eye, long before the first tournament game has even been played there.

 

I will really be shocked, and develop a whole new respect for corporate-business arena management, if we don't win here. Keep up the good work :thumb:

 

Well said!!:thumb:

[Theoldguy]

Joe Danneman of Fox19 is airing a segment on this issue @ 6:30 tonight. He just came out to do a brief interview w/ NKYSports.com, I believe he interviewed KR Sports as well.

 

Joe is I believe the older brother of part time radio voice Mikey D of the CovCath Internet Radio Network team....

[KY Buckeye]

For some reason, I'm envisioning reporters running to a bank of telephones to call in their stories.

 

Kind of like the 1940s or thereabouts.

 

Indeed. I'm really excited about spending the second half of games looking at my watch and weighing my options between...

 

1. Bolting out of the arena without doing any interviews and making the hour drive back to do a rush job on the story.

2. Driving all over the area beforehand to scout out a nice spot to steal wireless.

3. Relaying the information over the phone like it's the 1940s.

 

... Either way, the quality of the coverage will suffer and the readers are the ones who get shortchanged.

 

Quite often I end up making the call between these options on the fly because there's nothing else that can be done about it. I never would have imagined I'd be doing the same thing for the biggest games of the year, especially when they're held in the same state of the art facility I sat in with my laptop back in December.

 

I know of other places that have banned live blogging, and while I don't agree with it, I at least see their argument. The idea of banning all computers, however, makes absolutely no sense at all.

 

Well played BOKC. You couldn't possibly have alienated and angered more people if you tried.

[Nkysportsblog]

Joe is I believe the older brother of part time radio voice Mikey D of the CovCath Internet Radio Network team....

 

He is indeed.

[gametime]

He is indeed.

I'm guessing they didn't plan for so many of us "small timers" to be contacting our more big time connections with this story. Mo, Lance, 5 and now 19 along with Ryan's story in the Enquirer. Good press indeed BOK...

[leatherneck]

How Many of the other 15 regions restrict the broadcasting of their regional tournament games? Please let me know if you have an answer. I'd bet probably none to the extent of what's going to happen at the BoKC. What's next pay per view for High School regional tournament? This is HIGH SCHOOL for heaven's sake not professional sports.

 

I don't know, but I assume most of them don't play in a facility like BOK with the capacity that the BOK does. Furthermore, if my understanding is correct, didn't BOK guarantee a certain amount of money to each of the schools participating? If so, BOK has to make sure that the revenues are sufficient to cover the costs of running the event: I seriously doubt they will be using volunteers to man security and maintenance matters, which is of course an expense that wouldn't be present if the event was hosted at a high school.

 

I'm not sure that not permitting the games to be broadcast will result in a much greater attendance, but BOK does (and for the matter so does the NFL that mandates a blackout of local broadcasting if the game is not sold out in advance; but hey, what does the NFL know about the money part of the business.). And make no doubt about it; BOK is and HAS to be concerned heavily about the money side of hosting these events. It's not real world to think otherwise.

 

If the 9th and 10th region coaches weren't fine with BOK getting the broadcasting rights, they shouldn't have voted to have the events at BOK. Methinks people upset about the situation are setting their sights on the wrong party.

[leatherneck]

I really don't see how "the kids" will be adversely affected by allowing radio broadcast coverage ... I always thought such stuff enhanced interest in the event.

 

You missed my point. If playing in BOK is going to be something special to the kids (and it may actually help the winner get ready for Rupp by playing on the big court) and if BOK feels the only way that they can host the event and not lose their shirts is to not permit broadcasting, then permitting broadcasting would be adverse to the kids because it would mean the event would not be at BOK.

 

It's a shame that some people will not be able to attend the games due to money or other reasons, but come on people, we're talking high school basketball games. You'd think with all the real suffering going on in this country and with our young men and women in harm's way while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, we'd keep things in perspective.

[gametime]

I don't know, but I assume most of them don't play in a facility like BOK with the capacity that the BOK does. Furthermore, if my understanding is correct, didn't BOK guarantee a certain amount of money to each of the schools participating? If so, BOK has to make sure that the revenues are sufficient to cover the costs of running the event: I seriously doubt they will be using volunteers to man security and maintenance matters, which is of course an expense that wouldn't be present if the event was hosted at a high school.

 

I'm not sure that not permitting the games to be broadcast will result in a much greater attendance, but BOK does (and for the matter so does the NFL that mandates a blackout of local broadcasting if the game is not sold out in advance; but hey, what does the NFL know about the money part of the business.). And make no doubt about it; BOK is and HAS to be concerned heavily about the money side of hosting these events. It's not real world to think otherwise.

 

If the 9th and 10th region coaches weren't fine with BOK getting the broadcasting rights, they shouldn't have voted to have the events at BOK. Methinks people upset about the situation are setting their sights on the wrong party.

 

To begin with, it's obvious that he has succumbed to the old fear of "more press = less gate," despite the fact that studies have shown over and over again that "more press = more excitement = more gate." You missed the first round game? You may not go to the second round. But if you heard the excitement of that down-to-the-wire first round game on the air...you may find you can't stay away from the tournament. Folks, we studied this in broadcast school in the late 1970s, and it's been re-affirmed by countless studies since...

 

In KY, it's especially amazing to find someone who thinks this is true. UK and U of L have almost every basketball game broadcast...yet they consistently rank in the top 5 in the nation in attendance. Can you say "positive correlation?"

 

:idunno: