(09-15-2022 12:00 PM)epasnoopy Wrote: I would happily give up terrible ESPNU/ESPN+ weekday coverage for all Saturdays on Amazon, Apple TV, Netflix, or Peacock.
They'd want weekday games too. The difference is, without a fixed number of slots and different levels of carriage for different slots, the MAC might be able to get away with a single Midweek Game on Tuesday and a single Midweek Game on Wednesday, for the whole season, and only go up to two in November if CBSSN wanted to partner in, rather than typically three per Tuesday and three per Wednesday for ESPN to get a choice to pick from for ESPN2, then CBSSN a choice if the number 2 game looked attractive to them, then the third game on ESPNU or ESPN+.
But so long as ESPN2 is broader exposure than Amazon Prime, I reckon the MAC Presidents would prefer the ESPN deal.
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(09-15-2022 01:07 PM)epasnoopy Wrote: However, what the midweek games have morphed into is not advantageous for the MAC schools. I have no problem with a game or two a week showcased on a midweek night, but to have basically everyone playing only in the middle of the week (and many relegated to ESPNU or even ESPN+) is not a great situation especially as more and more people drop cable. ...
"A game or two a week" is not what the #MACtion deal was every about. It was always based on two games a night, and two #MACTion nights for most #MACtion weeks, in return for ESPN picking their preferred game of the two on ESPN2.
The third game on one of those days is the evolution, and with the development of Thursday night as an NFL game and #MACTion moving from Tuesday/Thursday to Tuesday/Wednesday, and the side-contract between ESPN and CBSSN opening up more broadcast slots, it could well have been the MAC that went to three games on one of those nights because of the greater ease in swinging between Tuesday and Wednesday and the need to burn a bye to swing between Tuesday/Wednesday and Saturday.
If FBS went to a 14 week season with two byes, it might be easier to go back to two #MACtion games per night.