The future of the HL

[wh]

I noticed this post by BigD on the WSU board.  He has several thoughts about proactively raising the profile of the Horizon League.  I like several of his ideas, although I'm not sure about making the HL a "pay site." 


1. Re-brand the HL and it's schools:
Over the past 6-8 years, LeCrone made the mistake of pushing Butler as the HL. With their post season success, he spent the conference's money on full page ads in USA Today congratulating them on their success and even spent money on a TV commercial. The problem with the money he spent on that was it only gave Butler more exposure. He has never done enough to try to gain exposure for all of our teams.

Well, he has a chance to do that soon. We are getting ready to announce the addition of Oakland to the HL in the next few weeks. I hope we are also announcing the addition of another school at the same time, but I don't know if that will happen this year or not. Either way, we are going to get a lot of free press with this. He needs to use that free press to sell the teams that we do have in the conference now.

He needs to spend some of the money Butler left behind to do some advertising for the HL throughout the basketball season. We should run an ad in some of the major papers ever night we are going to have one of our members playing on national TV to help build an audience for them.

We should also help re-brand some of our member schools that need to establish their own identity. Milwaukee fans have long been struggling with their name. They have been dealing with the problem of being a hyphenated college. Sometimes they are called UWM. Sometimes they are called UW-Milwaukee. They would like to be known as just Milwaukee. When the HL works on it's re-branding this year, they should also help get the word out that Milwaukee is the name our friends from Wisconsin want to go by. I think the same should be said for Green Bay and Detroit. Detroit is sometimes called Detroit and sometimes called Detroit Mercy. They need to pick one name and we need to help they sell that one name.


2. Scheduling guidelines:
I have been advocating a scheduling guideline for the HL for years. The A-10 and MVC have guidelines for scheduling that you have to have a certain SOS average for the prior 3 seasons in order to get your share of their conference's NCAA tournament money and TV contract money. I would take it a step further and reward the schools that are doing it right in the HL and punish the teams that are not helping the conference. The 2 things the HL has to offer it's members right now is NCAA tournament money and TV games on ESPN that are part of our contract with ESPN. Currently, each HL team is guaranteed 1 game a year on an ESPN network as part of that contract.

I think the HL should enforce a simple scheduling guideline where all HL schools play a full D1 schedule and have an average SOS of 175 or lower. That is roughly the top 1/2 of college basketball, so it shouldn't be that hard to obtain. If you achieve that you should get your basic share of our NCAA money and be allowed to play a game on ESPN as part of our contract.

I think the teams that are not achieving that should forfeit their NCAA money and not get their TV game on ESPN.

I think we should use that extra money and TV games as a reward for teams that exceed expectations. The teams that are scheduling right and winning should get to split the money forfeited by the underachieving teams and get the extra TV games they also forfeited.

Let's face it, we lost our identity as a conference when we lost Butler. We need to sell our conference to the basketball world at large. We shouldn't be wasting potential exposure on major networks on teams that aren't trying to elevate their game. I would much rather put our best teams on TV and try to build our brand that way.


3. Make he HLN a pay site:
I know this isn't a popular subject with most HL fans because we have all gotten used to seeing all of our games for free. I don't think there is one single major conference that lets you watch their games for free. All top 10 conferences charge to watch games on-line. Most of the crappy mid-majors also charge you to watch games on-line and the quality of their service is nothing compared to the HD picture you get on the HLN.

The HL made the decision to stop paying to have game broadcasted on Fox-sports years ago and used that money to start up and run the HLN. It is about time that we make the HLN a pay site that can sustain itself and maybe even make a little money for each conference member.


4. Buy more TV games for the conference:
We need to get back to the practice of paying to get games on Fox-sports or another sports channel besides the games we get on ESPN. We need to sell our brand and the best way to do that is to get extra TV exposure. Having more games on TV will also help our member schools schedule better OOC games too. It is much easier to schedule a good mid-major to a home/home series if you can promise them their game against you will be on TV. If we stop putting money into the HLN and force it to be a self sustaining entity, we can spend that money on a new TV contract.


5. Start a conference challenge:
Many major conferences have yearly challenge game. The ACC/Big 10 challenge is the most popular. With the ending of Bracket Busters, the HL should push to start a challenge weekend with another mid-major conference and get it sponsored by Fox-sports or ESPN. Ideally we would want to play the MVC or A-10, but I would even be happy with a series against the OVC or MAC if we could get it on TV. We really need to be doing anything we can to get more games on TV, especially games we have a chance to win.


6. Finish out expansion:
As I mentioned above, the HL is expected to announce the addition of Oakland in the next few weeks. If we are only adding Oakland, we need to start putting the full court press on team #10. If we already have #10 committed to joining the HL, we need to start working on #11 and 12. The best way to keep the HL together and to get us into the top 1 is to have a strong HL that no one wants to leave.

[crusaderjoe]

With regard to branding, the conference should drop "Horizon League" and go back to "Midwestern Collegiate Conference".  There's no more "Mid-Continent Conference" to cause confusion with the MCC acronym within the same geographical region.  Also, when the Summit League changed its name, it devalued some of the uniqueness of the HL brand/trademark because there became two competing fanciful conference brands used in the same geographical marketplace.  The MCC is a much stronger athletic brand than the HL, IMO.

[a3uge]

Branding an acronym is a lot harder than branding something like "Horizon" or "Summit." In a league where there's a dozen conferences that are known by two or three seemingly random letters (they  always end in a C), it is much easier to remember an actual word. This is why the MVC tries to brand themselves as The Valley. Does a basic sports fan know what MAAC or OVC stand for? What about the WCC? Those acronyms just bleed together.

It would also be weird to go with a geographical name in case the league needed to move in a different direction. The intention of the A10 was to have ten schools close to each other on the Atlantic Coast. It's really weird to have St Louis play in said league.

[classof2014]

I agree, I like how the Horizon League sounds. It's original and it's easy to remember. So many of the conferences just sound the same. The only new name I kinda like is something that uses 'Great Lakes' in the name. Like the Great Lakes Athletic Conference the GLAC or the Great Lakes Conference. But like with the A-10, if we were to get a team from Kentucky it doesn't fit at all with the geographical name. I think we should stick with the Horizon. We're not a part of the jumbled alphabetical acronyms that all sound the same. I can see how people can get the Horizon and Summit confused but I guess it's better than being confused with 5 other conferences.

I don't foresee a league name change coming any time soon. We already bigger fish to fry that are more important than, should we change our conference name.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Does a basic sports fan know what MAAC or OVC stand for?

Mediocre And Awful Conference
Other Valley Conference

next.

The only new name I kinda like is something that uses 'Great Lakes' in the name. Like the Great Lakes Athletic Conference the GLAC or the Great Lakes Conference.

Are you setshot in disguise?  Oh no wait, this is D2 and he's all D3.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes_Intercollegiate_Athletic_Conference
Or maybe
http://www.glvcsports.com/

Or maybe you're from Hammond.
http://www.nwitimes.com/conferences/great-lakes-athletic-conference/

[a3uge]

I'm surprised nobody has tried to sponsor a conference. It could be a source of revenue... The Discover Card Horizon League... The Bridgestone Atlantic Sun Conference... Tampex Summit League???

[setshot]

Wabash College and Valpo U. would make great conference traveling companions. "Oh that will be the day ----." NCC! NCC! NCC!

[FWalum]

3. Make he HLN a pay site:
I know this isn't a popular subject with most HL fans because we have all gotten used to seeing all of our games for free. I don't think there is one single major conference that lets you watch their games for free. All top 10 conferences charge to watch games on-line. Most of the crappy mid-majors also charge you to watch games on-line and the quality of their service is nothing compared to the HD picture you get on the HLN.

The HL made the decision to stop paying to have game broadcasted on Fox-sports years ago and used that money to start up and run the HLN. It is about time that we make the HLN a pay site that can sustain itself and maybe even make a little money for each conference member.

Just about the only thing I truly disagree with.  We have major conference streaming capabilities that are the envy of every mid-major conference and you want to change. This is about exposure to your alumni and fan base not about making money.  I would also bet that we have more viewers than the bottom 3 or 4 of your top 10 conferences.  Move the HLN to a pay site and viewership would probably decrease by 50%.  Do you think that this might affect the rates paid by our advertising partners? I am savvy enough that I will watch for free on some eastern block sponsored streaming site with a few glitches and pauses as long as I have Todd to back it up on the radio.  The internet is a FREE culture, look how hard the music and movie industries have had to fight the FREE idea. Better to go with the flow, give your teams exposure to their fans, alumni and your advertising partners and our Brand will be better off.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

We have major conference streaming capabilities that are the envy of every mid-major conference and you want to change. This is about exposure to your alumni and fan base not about making money.

Exactly.  Like when I was in a band ten, eleven years ago.  We had a legitimate shot and we chose to get paid over giving it away free.

Bad choice.  You could argue that you shouldn't have to choose between "being paid" and "being heard" but that's the reality these days.

[Big D]

Just about the only thing I truly disagree with.  We have major conference streaming capabilities that are the envy of every mid-major conference and you want to change. This is about exposure to your alumni and fan base not about making money. 

Wrong.  This is about gaining exposure OUTSIDE of your alumni and fan base so that you can increase the size of your fan base.   We spend between 150K and 200K a year running the HLN.  The HLN was established in 2006, so the HL has spent close to 1.4 million dollars giving away our product for free and I don't think there is a single program in the HL that can say their fan base has increased in that time frame.  I would much rather put that money into trying to get more of our games on TV so casual basketball fans will have a chance to see our product.  I don't have a problem with giving away our product for free if it serves a purpose like increasing our fan base.  I think more exposure on TV will do that for the HL that is why I am advocating buying more TV time for games.  The HLN has failed to increase our conference's exposure.  The biggest problem is you actually have to go looking for the HLN to find it online to try our product.  Do you think many casual fans finding their way to the HLN without already looking for it?  I don't, but I do think they might find one of our teams play on TV while they channel surf.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I don't think there is a single program in the HL that can say their fan base has increased in that time frame.

If you had made such a statement on Wikipedia, it would immediately have been flagged as "This section needs additional, heck, any, citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources, and Jimmy the Panther no longer counts. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed."

while they channel surf.

um...this isn't 1997.

[blackpantheruwm]

I don't think there is a single program in the HL that can say their fan base has increased in that time frame.

If you had made such a statement on Wikipedia, it would immediately have been flagged as "This section needs additional, heck, any, citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources, and Jimmy the Panther no longer counts. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed."

while they channel surf.

um...this isn't 1997.

My articles are cited on Wikipedia, so you can see how college professors refuse to let Wikipedia be used as a source

I would prefer that HLN continues to be a free-pay, but how is this? You allow students and season-ticket holders a chance to subscribe to HLN at a deeply discounted price

A television contract *should* be easier to come by now that NBC has begun to pump real cash into Versus (now NBC Sports) and CBS is preparing its own sports network to expand to the NBC Sports level and FOX is getting ready to launch at that level immediately in August.  The Horizon League doesn't have football, but between men's and women's basketball and baseball/softball (and even some soccer) there's enough original content for the conference to sell to the networks, even if the non-revenue sports don't add any money to the package.

The fact that the Horizon League unanimously voted to upgrade HLN to HD is significant in that equipment for HD broadcasting will be available for any broadcast. Even today, many schools don't have the capability to broadcast in HD, and networks have to go to local TV or even nearby cities to get equipment to broadcast in HD.  That wouldn't need to happen at any Horizon League school.  That has to boost our attractiveness to potential networks, no matter how slight.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I think Jimmy is right in that TV, legit non-Interweb TV, will be easier to come by in this arrangement, but here's the thing on a "pay"-HLN-HD:  you aren't going to grow the brand that way.

Hear me out, and sorry, wh:  we have to approach this like the Obama reelection campaign.

When you're a mid-major, you're not going to recruit fans very easily.  How many of you became a fan of Weber State simply because you were channel surfing late at night and got hooked on some Big Sky action?

Exactly.

So what you have to do is excite your base, not try to expand it.  The world isn't crawling with VU fans that are just waiting to be made by embracing a plucky underdog on ESPNU two Thursdays in February.  But you do have a lot of alumni and friends of the university--I fall into the latter--who will get more invested in the fate of the program.

I think of myself, of STL, and other fans--the HLN (and this site) made us BETTER fans, made us MORE invested than just score-checkers the day after, or whatever.

Obama and his team wrote off the middle, because they figured they had to cut their losses, and not to waste energy trying to win them back--after all, with what?  So they got the left wing fired up about random things, and while they didn't have nearly the numbers of 2008, they had enough to win, and, in the end, isn't that all that matters?

Or take religion (religion and politics in the same post! I win the interwebs!) for another example.  Rather than put all your energy into evangelization, a necessary part, put a good deal of it into catechizing the people that are already there.  (Because let's face it, a lot of those people need evangelization too!) Get them from "I show up on Christmas & Easter" to "I go pretty much every Sunday".  Help get those latter people to the point where "I go every Sunday no matter what".  The people that are already THERE, you help get to "I make my faith a part of my everyday life", and so on 'up the ladder', up to sainthood.

Instead of trying to make HL / VU "converts", let's get the alums, greater community, etc. fired up, more heavily invested, with a readily available HLN.  (This is the second step; the first is to have a product worth tuning in for, of course.) Because with our size school (smaller) and nature (private) we could only get converts by making the Final Four consecutive years, pretty much :/

This is why there's so much hand-wringing about the student section--it's the canary in the mine for "how are we doing in making our future alums invested?"

[StlVUFan]

Or take religion (religion and politics in the same post! I win the interwebs!) for another example.  Rather than put all your energy into evangelization, a necessary part, put a good deal of it into catechizing the people that are already there.  (Because let's face it, a lot of those people need evangelization too!) Get them from "I show up on Christmas & Easter" to "I go pretty much every Sunday".  Help get those latter people to the point where "I go every Sunday no matter what".  The people that are already THERE, you help get to "I make my faith a part of my everyday life", and so on 'up the ladder', up to sainthood.

Bonus: they're the ones that do most of the true evangelization anyway.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Bonus: they're the ones that do most of the true evangelization anyway.

[FWalum]

When you're a mid-major, you're not going to recruit fans very easily.  How many of you became a fan of Weber State simply because you were channel surfing late at night and got hooked on some Big Sky action?

Exactly.

So what you have to do is excite your base, not try to expand it.  The world isn't crawling with VU fans that are just waiting to be made by embracing a plucky underdog on ESPNU two Thursdays in February.  But you do have a lot of alumni and friends of the university--I fall into the latter--who will get more invested in the fate of the program.

I think of myself, of STL, and other fans--the HLN (and this site) made us BETTER fans, made us MORE invested than just score-checkers the day after, or whatever.

EXACTLY!  I can think of a number of alumni that I know that are much better fans (and probably donors) now because of the HLN broadcasts.  Case in point, my brother-in-law out in Rockville, MD who thinks it is great that he can watch many of the VU games on HLN.  We have talked more about basketball in the last few years then in the previous 20, just because of HLN.

I am not trying to get "casual" fans to watch HL games, I want more of the people that have some kind of vested interest in their teams to feel like their university is trying to give them something back rather than always asking for a handout... or in this case an HLN subscription.

[valpo95]

It's true that the Horizon League is missing out on some revenue by not charging for the subscription, but that is not really the point.  I'm sure the leauge has some of the stats, but consider the following:  Would the HL be able to get 10,000 annual subscriptions at $20.00 each to fund the $200,000 estimated to produce it?  My sense is, no.  (If someone has better numbers of how many people or how much they'd be willing to pay, make your case.)

As it is, it is probably much easier for a school like Valparaiso to get 200 donors to pony up $100 each as a donation to the school, and the school gets to keep $20,000 in donations.  It is much easier to do such low-level donations when the HLN provides the games for free.  I know personally, as a Crusader Fund contributor, I'd like to think that part of the value I get for my donations is getting to watch VU hoops.  If they were to make the HLN a subscription model, I'd be annoyed. 

[LaPorteAveApostle]

It's true that the Horizon League is missing out on some revenue by not charging for the subscription, but that is not really the point.  ...  If they were to make the HLN a subscription model, I'd be annoyed. 

Bravo. 

[Dave_2010]

Considering that the league seems to have its financial books in order even while taking the hit on HLN production, I would be extremely disappointed if HLN went to a subscription model.

If the network goes to a subscription model, I hope that the league would reinvest the money in further improving its media product instead of just using the cash to balance HLN's books. As it currently stands, the spring sports and studio coverage from the network are both disappointing at best. Both would have to be improved to justify putting content behind a pay wall.

[valpopal]

Do we now give Northern Kentucky the edge as an eventual entry into the Horizon League as NKU today moved another step closer toward possibly joining the HL?

Northern Kentucky has just hired Green Bay's Athletic Director, Ken Bothof. He was also a chair of the Horizon League Executive Committee and a chair of the Horizon League Finance Committee. He is replacing interim AD Mike Cusack, formerly the Athletic Director at Wright State and the person who arranged Wright State's move from the Mid-Continent Conference into the Horizon League. Bothof should be able to negotiate a smooth transition to the Horizon League for NKU.

The description of NKU's athletic program (the teams' accomplishments, the attendance figures, the academic success, the facilities, and the fundraising campaign) in the article announcing Bothof's hiring reads like it was designed as a case for entry into the Horizon League.

http://www.nku.edu/news/_130626bothof.html?DB_OEM_ID=22500