KFGO loses NDSU radio broadcast rights

[jdub27]

27 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Where would KFGO jump to if they screwed us again? The Bison contract has been lost. They have a huge hole in their programing to fill.

The NDSU radio contract was only for 3 years (possibly with a 2 year option, but I would guess NDSU has the discretion on whether it is picked up). UND won't be doing anything on their contract until after next year. I don't see UND doing a 2 year contract (and having a different expiration than their TV rights) so I guess KFGO will sit with that hole for a year because I can't see UND opting out of their current WDAY deal and burning a bridge. However, I imagine knowing that the timing of expiration on the UND and NDSU deals and because KFGO's past behavior, there will be a very beneficial buy-out clause for UND put into the next deal if there wasn't one already.

KFGO will have the same ability to put a bid in for UND's radio affiliation in Fargo as WDAY and any other F-M station that is interested will. Ball will be in their court on what they want to offer. They all know there will competition and that will benefit UND. However one needs to remember this is an affiliation deal, not a flagship one like NDSU was getting, and there is no reason to give anyone preferential treatment, which is what you seem to continue to keep implying by saying UND should be on KFGO end-stop.

[82SiouxGuy]

14 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Where would KFGO jump to if they screwed us again? The Bison contract has been lost. They have a huge hole in their programing to fill.

How about jumping back to NDSU again, just like they did last time. There isn't a guarantee that the new NDSU arrangement is going to work out, and it isn't going to last forever.

KFGO has plenty of options besides giving UND some kind of sweetheart deal. They could play professional sports. They could broadcast major college sports. They could become the home of smaller local college sports. They could expand their news broadcasting. They could broadcast one of the national sports channels in the evening and on the weekend. They aren't going to roll over and hand the keys to UND. But they might be interested in working with UND on a mutually productive contract when the current UND deal is done.

[The Sicatoka]

Can I vote about how KFGO should fill their evening programming?

I'd love it if KFGO followed either KFYR or 640Toronto:
- KFYR runs "Ground Zero with Clyde Lewis" from 9 to midnight on weeknights followed by "Coast to Coast AM"
- CFMJ (640 Toronto) runs the previous day's full four hours of "Coast to Coast AM" from 8 to midnight (Central) and then runs the live show after that. 

CFMJ also runs classic (Art Bell) "Coast to Coast" on weekends. 

Yes, I am an iHeartRadio user. Why do you ask?

[Risky]

Bottom line.  It is too bad we don't have a local radio station in Grand Forks who would really get behind UND sports and create a little interest in UND athletics.    It just isn't happening.    On a different topic, what happened to the live chats the Herald used to do all the time?

[82SiouxGuy]

10 minutes ago, Risky said:

Bottom line.  It is too bad we don't have a local radio station in Grand Forks who would really get behind UND sports and create a little interest in UND athletics.    It just isn't happening.    On a different topic, what happened to the live chats the Herald used to do all the time?

There's plenty of interest in UND sports in Grand Forks. Thousands of tickets are sold each year. Millions of dollars are spent on sponsorship and advertising. It is a major topic of conversation, even among people that don't follow sports. It is the major topic in the Grand Forks Herald sports section. WDAZ always spends time covering UND sports. Every radio station that has a local show talks about UND sports at some point. The only stations that don't are the few that don't have local hosts. KFAN 1440 has Tim and Swyg every morning from 6-9 am, and UND sports is their biggest topic. Other than having a dedicated sports station that covers the local area, I don't know what you're looking for. If the people running the radio stations (2 different companies with 5 stations each) thought they could make money with such a dedicated station I'm sure they would go for it. But they don't even make that work in major markets with large schools, so it probably isn't practical in a smaller market.

I believe that the sportswriters said that they didn't have time to do a weekly live chat, especially getting all of them together at the same time every week.

[mikejm]

Late to this discussion, but a couple of points to consider:

The radio station that buys the rights to NDSU football doesn't sell any of the advertisements aired during the game, or the "official" pre-game or post-game. That is a package produced by and sold by NDSU. KFGO could only sell ads in the pre-pre-game and the extended, non-official post-game.

I'm sure the football games add to the station's listenership, but it isn't doing a lot in the directly-attributable revenue department.

I don't know if that's how UND broadcasts are structured.

[nd1sufan]

On March 29, 2016 at 0:00 PM, Sioux>Bison said:

Whatever we do we need to secure 550 KFYR as they have the best signal in the region that can be heard in all parts of the state and also surrounding states too. NDSU must not have gotten a good offer from FSN. Maybe FSN is going all in to get UND . NDSU is more fit to be on midco anyways.

Doesn't UND actually buy airtime on FSN for the handful of games they air each year? FSN isn't interested in any Dakotas college affiliation.

[82SiouxGuy]

15 minutes ago, nd1sufan said:

Doesn't UND actually buy airtime on FSN for the handful of games they air each year? FSN isn't interested in any Dakotas college affiliation.

I don't believe that UND pays for airtime. If I remember correctly, UND provides the broadcast production and FSN sells the advertising (UND gets a few ads for the school for each game). If UND were paying for airtime they would also be selling the advertising space to cover costs. FSN gets the product at very little cost to them and fills in gaps in their schedule, while UND gets the PR value and has games that are available to many alumni and fans. FSN likes the UND product because they get a very professional looking broadcast, much better than most school productions.

[nd1sufan]

14 minutes ago, 82SiouxGuy said:

I don't believe that UND pays for airtime. If I remember correctly, UND provides the broadcast production and FSN sells the advertising (UND gets a few ads for the school for each game). If UND were paying for airtime they would also be selling the advertising space to cover costs. FSN gets the product at very little cost to them and fills in gaps in their schedule, while UND gets the PR value and has games that are available to many alumni and fans. FSN likes the UND product because they get a very professional looking broadcast, much better than most school productions.

Makes sense. I don't think FSN has the need for an alliation with a college with 2 major pfrofessional sports teams during the fall and winter months.

[UND1983]

4 minutes ago, nd1sufan said:

Makes sense. I don't think FSN has the need for an alliation with a college with 2 major pfrofessional sports teams during the fall and winter months.

You hope not.

[nd1sufan]

On March 29, 2016 at 10:22 AM, jdub27 said:

I guess I'm not following the part about UND being proactive instead of reactive other than taking a potshot like that just seems like the easy thing to do. UND is currently in the middle of a media contract, one that paid significant cash well before NDSU had one that did. I can assure you that they are exploring multiple options for when their media rights with Midco expire after the 2016-2017 season and looking for the one that provides that balances good revenue and strong coverage for as many people as they can get it to. Having NDSU negotiate their contract with NBC right now should actually help UND from a market value perspective.

As for the radio thing, I'm not positive how that contract works but UND also already has a radio affiliate in Fargo through WDAY 970 that carries football and hockey games. I doubt they look at adding KFGO at this time, especially considering their signal powers are very similar. I would think that Forum Communications was hoping to get a piece of the pie through radio and didn't, so staying on that station could be beneficial to UND in the long run. While not the biggest deal due to smartphones/technology, it would be nice to expand the radio footprint on MBB and WBB.

I'm not sure UND is in any great position when it comes to TV broadcast rights for UND sports. Who will be bidding against Midco for the hockey and BB broadcasts? The statewide networks won't allow primetime interuptions as frequently as necessary to broadcast them on their stations. There is no Fighting Sioux Sports Network anymore. Who do you expect to bid on UND's TV rights?

[82SiouxGuy]

1 hour ago, nd1sufan said:

I'm not sure UND is in any great position when it comes to TV broadcast rights for UND sports. Who will be bidding against Midco for the hockey and BB broadcasts? The statewide networks won't allow primetime interuptions as frequently as necessary to broadcast them on their stations. There is no Fighting Sioux Sports Network anymore. Who do you expect to bid on UND's TV rights?

WDAZ was a big part of the Fighting Sioux Sports Network. Now they supply productions for WDAY'Z Extra which is available in Grand Forks, Fargo, Bismarck, Minot, Williston, and Dickinson. That would be a good start at building their own regional sports network. They are on at least some cable companies in the state. They have the capability to broadcast online, they do on a regular basis. They bid on the last broadcast rights, they may very well bid again now that they have outlets across the state. They could put the football games on the regular ABC stations along with select hockey, basketball, and volleyball, with the rest of the hockey and more basketball and volleyball on the Extra. They could also work with Fox College Sports or another outlet to get wider reach. That is at least one entity that would have the capacity and probably the interest to put in a bid besides Midco. There may be others.

[nd1sufan]

7 hours ago, 82SiouxGuy said:

WDAZ was a big part of the Fighting Sioux Sports Network. Now they supply productions for WDAY'Z Extra which is available in Grand Forks, Fargo, Bismarck, Minot, Williston, and Dickinson. That would be a good start at building their own regional sports network. They are on at least some cable companies in the state. They have the capability to broadcast online, they do on a regular basis. They bid on the last broadcast rights, they may very well bid again now that they have outlets across the state. They could put the football games on the regular ABC stations along with select hockey, basketball, and volleyball, with the rest of the hockey and more basketball and volleyball on the Extra. They could also work with Fox College Sports or another outlet to get wider reach. That is at least one entity that would have the capacity and probably the interest to put in a bid besides Midco. There may be others.

The fact that WDAY has al of the ND State tounaments now would make it difficult for them to broadcast the last few weeks of the hockey season. 

[UND1983]

1 hour ago, nd1sufan said:

The fact that WDAY has al of the ND State tounaments now would make it difficult for them to broadcast the last few weeks of the hockey season. 

You are digging deep to find reasons why options won't work for UND.  appreciate the effort.  

[The Sicatoka]

12 hours ago, nd1sufan said:

Makes sense. I don't think FSN has the need for an alliation with a college with 2 major pfrofessional sports teams during the fall and winter months.

Before the Big Ten Network moved them, FSN had room for U of M Gopher sports along with what you mention (two pro teams). 

[82SiouxGuy]

3 hours ago, nd1sufan said:

The fact that WDAY has al of the ND State tounaments now would make it difficult for them to broadcast the last few weeks of the hockey season. 

The fact that WDAY/WDAZ also has the channel for the CW, and possibly 1 more, that they could potentially broadcast on during those very busy weekends makes it very possible for them to handle the load from a broadcast time perspective. Whether you want to admit it or not, they can be a legitimate option if they want to be.

[nd1sufan]

8 hours ago, 82SiouxGuy said:

The fact that WDAY/WDAZ also has the channel for the CW, and possibly 1 more, that they could potentially broadcast on during those very busy weekends makes it very possible for them to handle the load from a broadcast time perspective. Whether you want to admit it or not, they can be a legitimate option if they want to be.

They could be. It will be interesting to see if they make a serious bid. As an occasional college hockey viewer, UND hockey was a much more attractive product when the old WCHA was together. It has certainly lost some of its appeal. I know some will disagree, but I wonder if they have tracked viewership of UND hockey since the move? Does anyone know? By the way, I am a UND hockey fan. I really hope they are able to win it all this year. 

[The Sicatoka]

Interesting observation over the past couple days: 

KFGO mentioned UND in the Frozen Four twice in two hours this morning ... and ... mentioned the verbal by the recruit (Tychonick). They'd mentioned the goalie recruit (Karki) last week on Friday(?). I hadn't heard anything about a UND recruit on that station in probably two years. Now, suddenly, KFGO is college hockey aficionado central? What chang .... nevermind.

[UND1983]

1 hour ago, The Sicatoka said:

Interesting observation over the past couple days: 

KFGO mentioned UND in the Frozen Four twice in two hours this morning ... and ... mentioned the verbal by the recruit (Tychonick). They'd mentioned the goalie recruit (Karki) last week on Friday(?). I hadn't heard anything about a UND recruit on that station in probably two years. Now, suddenly, KFGO is college hockey aficionado central? What chang .... nevermind.

970 was mentioning the Frozen Four all morning.  Good coverage right now.

[Vegas_Sioux]

On 3/29/2016 at 2:33 PM, Sioux>Bison said:

Midco has multiple sports channels so that they can have multiple events going on. the NDSU deal doesn't really affect UND too much

sure it does, who gets the HD channel, unless midco is going to add a second 

[chicofelipe]

On 3/30/2016 at 1:45 PM, southpaw said:

What is to prevent KFGO from just leaving UND high and dry again?  By moving back to KFGO, we pretty much burn a bridge with WDAY just like KFGO did when they dropped UND.  UND could negotiate increased presence on WDAY just as easily as they could with KFGO.  Both stations likely really want UND athletics (although not as much as NDSU athletics).

A better lawyer writing the contract. That is what prevents KFGO from breaking the contract. Negotiating very large termination fees. 

[82SiouxGuy]

5 hours ago, chicofelipe said:

A better lawyer writing the contract. That is what prevents KFGO from breaking the contract. Negotiating very large termination fees. 

Of course they would have to agree to sign that contract.

[fightingsioux4life]

Today on News and Views at 10:05am, Joel Heitkamp, Brian Faison and Jack Michaels announced that KFGO is the new Fargo affiliate for UND athletics. But I won't say I told you so because I am a nice guy at heart.  

[UNDBIZ]

http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=211026897&DB_OEM_ID=13500

UND press release.  I think this means we can check off one item from Hajdu's tweet.  2 to go (logo and hockey boards?).

[Siouxperfan7]

5 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:

http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=211026897&DB_OEM_ID=13500

UND press release.  I think this means we can check off one item from Hajdu's tweet.  2 to go (logo and hockey boards?).

Schloss already broke that today.

http://undhockey.areavoices.com/?p=103359

Looks like its just the logo and the move up to FBS left to go!!