TV for Omaha looks slim

[UND92,96]

wdaz is the only station that employs a full time staff in grand forks. a majority of those who run fssn are wdaz employees and are easily able to make it all the games. while some people who work for stations in fargo do drive up and work during the games, most of them actually work for the ralph and not for fssn.

while it may be a good idea in theory to have a better station run fssn, i don't think people realize the amount of work that goes into airing these games. it's not an easy production and takes a decent amount of planning.

I understand that it may not be feasible for UND to completely drop WDAZ, but I'd like to think there would be some ramification to DAZ breaking the precedent set years ago that road playoff football games are televised, period.

[southpaw]

I understand that it may not be feasible for UND to completely drop WDAZ, but I'd like to think there would be some ramification to DAZ breaking the precedent set years ago that road playoff football games are televised, period.

sometimes it's out of wdaz's control.

[UND92,96]

sometimes it's out of wdaz's control.

That's why I asked what their excuse is. Between not televising the UNI game (like WDAY did in 2003 when NDSU played @ Montana), and apparently not televising a road playoff game for the first time in memory, something doesn't seem to add up when it comes to WDAZ and UND football. Sweeney needs to explain the situation tonight if he expects to be cut any slack by the viewers on this one.

[Stack]

I just called WDAZ. They said they made a bid for the game to the NCAA. They were just informed today that they had the rights to broadcast the game. However to broadcast the game they need to know by Monday afternoon at the latest to make the necessary arrangements to broadcast an away game.

Net result is the NCAA didn't get back to them soon enough for them to arrange for a crew etc. to go to Omaha. I don't know what it takes to make the "necesssary arrangements" but I'll assume WDAZ tried to figure it out and because they knew so late they couldn't make it work.

No matter what the fan loses.

[sultan]

Something really smells funny on this whole deal. Since we usually televise the road playoff games it seems to me that WDAZ probably could have starting making some preliminary plans with the assumption that there is a pretty good chance that they would of been given the go ahead. I have a feeling there is more to this story.

[coach daddy]

How hard can it be to get camera's, people, and anything else to Omaha to televise the game. today is Wednesday and the game isn't til Saturday. I'd rather have the football game from Omaha on TV than another home hockey game.

[UND92,96]

How hard can it be to get camera's, people, and anything else to Omaha to televise the game. today is Wednesday and the game isn't til Saturday. I'd rather have the football game from Omaha on TV than another home hockey game.

I agree. If this is a matter of making a choice, you're going to tick off a lot more people by failing to televise the football game than you would by failing to televise ONE home hockey game or series.

[bincitysioux]

I just called WDAZ. They said they made a bid for the game to the NCAA. They were just informed today that they had the rights to broadcast the game. However to broadcast the game they need to know by Monday afternoon at the latest to make the necessary arrangements to broadcast an away game.

Net result is the NCAA didn't get back to them soon enough for them to arrange for a crew etc. to go to Omaha. I don't know what it takes to make the "necesssary arrangements" but I'll assume WDAZ tried to figure it out and because they knew so late they couldn't make it work.

No matter what the fan loses.

Just got an e-mail from WDAZ echoing what "Stack" said.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the NCAA did

not give us the rights in a timely manner to make the necessary

arrangements.

This is a joke, and something does indeed smell funny. DAZ has an excellent track record for televising post-season road football games. They are not new at this, and I'm sure did everything they normally do this time of year to get these games on TV like they have every year. Remember 2004? We had 3 road games in the playoffs that year, and every one of them were on DAZ. I don't think that this is WDAZ's fault. Perhaps, more jerking-off from the NCAA? Like UND92,96 said, I can't remember the last time a road playoff game wasn't on TV.

[CMSioux]

I agree. If this is a matter of making a choice, you're going to tick off a lot more people by failing to televise the football game than you would by failing to televise ONE home hockey game or series.

It's takes more than a day or two to arrange for crews, cameras, satelitte time, sell advertising etc. Don't blame WDAZ. I would buy into the theory that the NCAA dragged its feet intentionally so that WDAZ wouldn't be able to make it happen. I think the NCAA is going to cause UND a lot of pain in the future - which because they are an unregulated monopoly they can.

[bincitysioux]

According to the athletic dept., they are still looking into all TV options for this game. Also, WDAZ put in a bid to televise both this weekend's game, and next weekend (should there be one) whether it is home or away.

[sultan]

Pat Sweeney better address the situation on the sports tonight. He also better tell it like it is. If it's true that the ncaa is at fault..so be it. But don't give the NCAA a pardon. I would definitely prefer not to blame WDAZ if they aren't at fault. Just make it clear. Once again couldn't WDAZ have done a lot of things assuming they would have gotten the OK. Life is full of risks and WDAZ could of taken a fairly safe risk.

[southpaw]

Pat Sweeney better address the situation on the sports tonight. He also better tell it like it is. If it's true that the ncaa is at fault..so be it. But don't give the NCAA a pardon. I would definitely prefer not to blame WDAZ if they aren't at fault. Just make it clear. Once again couldn't WDAZ have done a lot of things assuming they would have gotten the OK. Life is full of risks and WDAZ could of taken a fairly safe risk.

i agree. i mean it's not like it's a lot of work to setup advertising for a 3 hour broadcast. that easily could be done in two days, especially when one of them is a holiday. then of course, having a crew of 20 people be on alert in case they have to drive to omaha to put on the show. wdaz seriously needs to get their act together.

[UND92,96]

i agree. i mean it's not like it's a lot of work to setup advertising for a 3 hour broadcast. that easily could be done in two days, especially when one of them is a holiday. then of course, having a crew of 20 people be on alert in case they have to drive to omaha to put on the show. wdaz seriously needs to get their act together.

I think you know that the reason people are upset is because on the surface, this doesn't appear to be any different from 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2005--all seasons in which road playoff games were televised. I assume the athletic department would pick up at least most of the tab for advertising if that were the difference between it being on tv or not. If there's more to the story this year, fine. Sweeney can let us know that. I just don't think it's realistic to expect people to just accept the fact that it's not going to be televised without being somewhat skeptical as to the reasons.

[teamsioux]

There is no doubt WDAZ should have been ready, inexcusable. It is not as if this was sprung upon them. All season everyone thought the Sioux would be on the road. They should have been planning then, should have known that more than likely their Thanksgiving Day weekend would be on the road. That's life in that type of career. Like Sultan said, it would of have been a fairly safe risk to assume this outcome of having a game on the road this weekend.

[southpaw]

That's life in that type of career.

no, it's not.

[teamsioux]

I have to disagree. If being a part of the media is your career and you think that you should have a set schedule, not ever having a few variables, well then you are probably in the wrong profession.

[sultan]

Apparently some people didn't understand what I was trying to say. We had more than 2 days to prepare for this game. We have known for a week and a half we were playing Winona. So therefore we have known for a week and a half that we were playing in Omaha this Saturday. Since all our road playoff games have been okayed for television for quite a few years by the NCAA it was a safe bet that we would probably be okayed for this one. The NCAA put a little suspense into it but they would have left themselves really wide open for scrutiny if they hadn't okayed the game. Once again it was a pretty safe bet we would have been able to televise the game. Go for it WDAZ.

[southpaw]

I have to disagree. If being a part of the media is your career and you think that you should have a set schedule, not ever having a few variables, well then you are probably in the wrong profession.

nobody expects a perfect continuous schedule in tv. but you can't honestly expect people to be willing to drop any and all plans to be with family so you can watch a playoff football game. i'm all for getting to see as many games on tv as possible, but there are also more important things. a person's career is not their life. most of those who work in the business understand that at times they will have to go out of their way, but there are exceptions. this weekend, i'm willing to give them a pass.

[HockeyMom]

Wouldn't it be something like planning a last minute vacation? Throw your stuff in the car and hit the road.

I guess that I've come to the realization that if you want something bad enough, you can always make a way for it to work, no matter how much time/money you have.

Apparently someone doesn't want this bad enough.

[southpaw]

Wouldn't it be something like planning a last minute vacation? Throw your stuff in the car and hit the road.

I guess that I've come to the realization that if you want something bad enough, you can always make a way for it to work, no matter how much time/money you have.

Apparently someone doesn't want this bad enough.

i'm saying there are a lot of things that need to happen in order to make the "vacation" possible. you need a decent amount of people who know what they're doing to put together a broadcast, especially on the road. it's not a "grab stuff and go" type thing. there is a lot of planning that goes into putting the games together. it's not as simple as just hooking up a couple mics and a camera.

[bincitysioux]

I'm not ready to just yet blame WDAZ for "choosing" not to televise this game. I'm not in the media industry so I don't know what all is involved. I tend to be thinking that the NCAA is screwing with UND. But teamsioux and sultan do have a point. UND & DAZ new with 99% certainty that we would playing in Omaha this weekend, the day that the NW Regional rankings came out. They aren't rookies, they know what is involved, they've been televising road games for decades. If they knew that they had the rights by noon today, and it were at all feasible to get the game on, then they should put it on. Again, I don't know how it all works, but advertising for instance shouldn't be a problem. It is the same five commercials for every FSSN broadcast all season. I don't care if it is a holdiay weekend, and somebody had plans, if one enters the TV industry, they know before hand that they're working hours change with different events. Lots and lots of jobs are that way. If they're not doing it because the crew wants to eat turkey at cousin Bob's this weekend, then that is inexcusable.

But again, I prefer to blame the NCAA for this too.

[teamsioux]

Southpaw,

Once again though, this wasn't a surprise.....no one thought the Sioux would be playing at home all fall anyway. All fall, it was pretty much granted the Sioux would be playing on the road this weekend. So once WDAZ found out on Monday that everything wasn't going as smoothly as planned, they just gave up? Everything should have already been done, so if word did come later...they would be ready to go.

And they are our "Home Team"

[iceberg]

1/2 way through the Winona game, WDAZ should have figured out "OK the road game is a sure bet" and should have started planning for the game regardless.

Getting transponder space on a satellite isn't that tough. Hell, news crews do it all the time. Do you think they have to wait a couple days when a "big" news item hits?

Using the sports theory, Montana Grizzlies televise all their games (via the CBS station in Missoula and all CBS stations in Montana). Usually on Thursday or Friday of the game week they post the satellite coordinates on thier website for the game for alumni parties and fans across the country. So it is possible to get it quickly. Does WDAZ not want to pay for 2 satellite uplinks? (they pay for the FSSN one and they would have to pay for the uplink from Omaha to Grand Forks to insert commercials and the score topper).

Something still doesn't sound right.

[bincitysioux]

Ya, I'm starting to think WDAZ maybe dropping the ball now. In 2004 they broadcast from Houghton, Michigan which is the toughest place to get to in North America from Grand Forks. If they had a full week to prepare a broadcast from that high-school field in the middle of nowhere, I think they have plenty of time to take a drive down I-29 straight into Omaha. We'll see if Sweeney has anything to say about it on the 6:00 news.

[bincitysioux]

Sweeney said no TV. NCAA didn't reply to their bid soon enough. Said they have already bid on next weeks game and plan to air that one. I hope the Sioux win this weekend, otherwise will DAZ broadcast UNO vs. GVSU/USD?