Jayson Hajdu

If you have a specific concern, voice it and we can address it. My posts have nothing to do with money. I've got enough to do on a given day without adding "corporate shill on a message board" to the list.

All I'm relaying is what I just watched with my own eyes. And what I watched was marginally better (lighter). Now, everyone is watching on different screens with different settings, so that certainly could account for different viewing experiences. We've heard from people saying it was too dark, and we've also heard from viewers saying there was no difference. What I also mentioned on Twitter is that we are evaluating ALL feedback we are receiving, and that includes the placement of the scoreboard graphic. We literally have a list of items we are evaluating. We are in regular contact with the folks at Midco Sports Network and we'll be sure to address all concerns going forward. Please keep the feedback coming.

All home men's hockey games will indeed be broadcast on Fox College Sports this year.

The audio level was definitely too low and will be addressed for tomorrow's game. Our marketing folks also keep an eye on these discussions, so all constructive feedback is helpful.

All- Thank you for the kind words regarding Opening Drive. Our director of new media, Matt Schill, worked incredibly hard on it, and we're glad you enjoyed it. Opening Drive was meant to be less like Through These Doors and more like HBO's Hard Knocks, which is a behind-the-scenes look at training camp only. While we would love to weave it into a season-long show, we just don't have the manpower at this time to produce two high-quality shows like that. We will continue to provide comprehensive video coverage of the football program throughout the year, it just won't be of the behind-the-scenes variety. A season-long production like Through These Doors takes significant manpower and resources, and while our goal is to eventually provide similar programming for multiple sports, we're not there yet. We are getting there, though. Keep the feedback coming, positive and negative. It's very helpful.

The first episode of UND Sports Extra is now available for on-demand viewing here: http://www.undsports.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?&db_oem_id=13500&id=1038998&DB_MENU_ID=&SPSID=86452&SPID=6409&DB_OEM_ID=13500 We appreciate everyone's patience. In the past, the show aired on Sundays and was available for on-demand viewing on Tuesday. Now that it airs Tuesdays, it will be available on-demand on Thursdays.

Released today by the Big Sky Conference, online and mobile viewing options for 2012-13: http://www.bigskyconf.com/news/2012/8/30/FB_0830123418.aspx

UND Sports Extra will once again be available on-demand at UNDSports.com. Last night's episode is not yet up, but should be in the near future. TEASER ALERT: We've been somewhat tied up the past few days with, ahem, something else. A game-changer for UND. Stay tuned.

Here are the TV viewing options as they stand today: http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=13500&ATCLID=205670445

Having encountered the same problem with other apps, I agree it's frustrating. We'll make this recommendation to Neulion.

When I spoke with a Midcontinent rep on Friday, a deal had not yet been struck with Cable One.

My apologies -- I don't know what FME means. Can you explain it to me? Big Sky TV has indicated that mobile streaming will be a new feature this season. Our upcoming UND Insider iPad app will feature live video, and our current UND Sports mobile apps already stream audio. Jayson

We truly appreciate everyone's patience and understanding. I can assure you that we (beginning with A.D. Brian Faison) most definitely do not take our fans, including those out-of-region, for granted. We'll continue to try to offer our product to as many people, through as many platforms, as possible. There is no perfect solution that will make everyone happy, but we'll do our best. Again, I would remind everyone that this is a fluid situation. Things can, and likely will, change. We also have a strong partner in Midcontinent that is committed to offering the best possible product. They've already indicated they will address two of the issues we have historically been asked the most about: HD and a power-play clock. I would suggest that their willingness to address some of these issues up front should buy them some measure of faith and patience as we move forward. Jayson

I did not say this. I said we are continually improving our stream to make it as high-quality as possible, both for those watching on their computer and those connecting it to their television. Once Midcontinent makes the conversion to high definition, then yes, the webcast stream will be noticeably better than watching a hockey game in standard definition. Jayson

Midco will not be making programming available via FTA, as is their right. I believe Midco addressed this via Twitter earlier this week. As for your skepticism regarding the webcast quality, there's probably nothing more I can say to change your opinion, other than the quality of our webcasts has most definitely improved over the years, and to repeat what I posted earlier: that we are once again making upgrades this year that will continue to enchance the quality.

Happy Friday, everyone. Please bear with me on this lengthy post. Hopefully it will address the various questions regarding broadcast viewing. First, here is the tentative Midco Sports Network schedule for the upcoming year: https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/848716.pdf?ATCLID=205499028&SPSID=58715&SPID=6409&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=13500 Please note that the football game against Montana will be broadcast by Root Sports, not MidcoSN. MidcoSN does not yet have a deal in place with DirecTV. All home and conference road games for football, volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball can be viewed for free on Big Sky TV at BigSkyConf.com. Men’s and women’s hockey can be viewed live or on-demand on UND Insider at UNDSports.com. UND Insider is also your ticket to live video and audio streams of exclusive events such as women’s soccer, baseball and softball not available anywhere else. 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. The recent exposure we’ve had with the Fox College Sports deal is quite an anomaly in today’s world of college athletics. An increasing number of conferences are now dictating the terms of national television rights. As I mentioned earlier, that is a cost of doing business when seeking affiliation with elite-level conferences. But, as I also mentioned, we’ll continue to attempt to regain at least some of that national footprint going forward. When that will happen, I don’t yet know, but these things are fluid. The situation as it stands today could be quite different down the road. But in the meantime, I urge you to utilize our other platforms for viewing our events. The world of technology is ever-evolving, and we’re doing our best to keep up while still trying to balance the needs of those who view through traditional platforms like television. That’s the positive in a technology-driven world – you are no longer restricted to viewing solely through your television. I’ve mentioned this before in Twitter discussions on the same topic: in 2012, if there is a game you want to watch, chances are you’ll be able to find it. You just may have to do so through non-traditional means. Hopefully this answered your many questions. If I missed anything, please feel free to ask.

All- We certainly understand the consternation many of you have conveyed. I'll address a number of things discussed in this thread in the very near future, including the upgrades to our webcasts we are implementing for this upcoming year. Need to knock some other things off the ol' to-do list first, though.

I can't spill the beans just yet because it isn't officially finalized, but we do have a new plan in place for that role. We're pretty excited about both the radio and television crews we'll have in place for the upcoming year.

Brian was not aware that a photo of the banner had been put out via Twitter and Facebook by UND Athletics employees. As I mentioned, he spent virtually his entire day on the phone conducting interviews related to Tuesday's election, so he wasn't actively perusing social media websites. He happened to pop out of his office at one point shortly after Wayne Nelson (who had seen the photo on Twitter) had arrived in our office, and saw Wayne taking a photo of the banner. Having not known a photo had already circulated online, he assumed it was Wayne's photo (and accompanying article) that broke the story. No conspiracies, nothing to see here. Are we going to involve Scotland Yard next, or can we all just move along?

Absolutely, we will be upgrading all of our pregame and in-game elements, particulary with the move to the Big Sky Conference. But I would still ask that you temper your immediate expectations; some of these elements will be immediately noticeable, but some will improve over time. We have a vision of where we want to be, but it takes time to get there (in some cases). For those fans who can't be in attendance, we're also working hard to improve the quality of our webcasts for all sports. In defense of the Alerus Center, they do not have the full-time staff devoted to these areas that Engelstad Arena does. I don't mean that as an excuse or a cop-out, but as a reality. Having said that, we'll work hand-in-hand on improving our gameday presentations. We do monitor many of the threads associated with these discussions and much of that feedback, good and bad, is vital and always welcome.

Just to clarify a few things before this really takes on a life of it's own (too late!): As soon as the package was opened, Brian Faison called Mr. Taylor and left him a message, indicating we had received the banner. Shortly after that, while Mr. Faison was doing a series of radio interviews regarding Tuesday's election results, a staff member tweeted a picture of the banner (a couple of other staff members also put a photo on their personal Facebook pages). Wayne Nelson, seeing the tweet, came down to the athletics office to take a picture of his own. The banner was re-packaged and shipped to NDSU yesterday. Our profession can be a stressful one -- the months and years leading up to Tuesday's vote serving as Exhibit A -- and we're all guilty of taking ourselves a little too seriously at times. Every now and then, it's okay to have a little fun. After all, it's sports. No disrespect was ever intended.

In a word: No. In more than a word: We were actually discussing this very story in our office this morning. Our philosophy is to encourage social media use among our student-athletes. It's on us as administrators to educate them how to use it properly, rather than just punish them when they use it improperly. We accept that there will be slip-ups along the way (and there certainly have been), but when you are dealing with 400 student-athletes, that's a fact of life that isn't exclusive to social media.

I appreciate all of the questions, not only on this forum, but on Twitter as well. But there are so many questions still, that I'm thinking everyone may be best served if we hold a live chat in the near future in attempt to best answer all of your questions in one place. Once we nail down a date on our end, I'll be sure to give everyone a heads-up. It likely won't be as early as this week, but definitely in the near future.

Good points by all. If I could tell our fans one thing, I would stress patience. These changes are still a year-and-a-half away. We are developing a plan for when that time arrives, and that year-and-a-half gives us time to explore the plan. Although it's far too early in that process to make any promises today, I can at least assure you that we will always strive to offer the best possible viewing options across multiple platforms, not just television. A lot can, and likely will, change in the next year-and-a-half (and beyond). Is yesterday's news positive for out-of-region fans? If I told you it was, I'd be lying. But we (administration) are determined to make the best of it, and thankfully in the year 2012 we are no longer restricted to just television or radio. We do not take our fans' devotion for granted. We're also well aware that our audience extends far beyond the local and regional viewing areas. With that in mind, please know that making our product available to as many people as possible will always be our goal. But these things take time, so please don't give up on us yet.

UND still has the rights to stream all games live, with the exception of home games that are broadcast on CBS Sports Network.