Do We Need A Big 12 Network?

You know, when I first heard about the Big Ten Network, I was one of the skeptics. Who the hell would want to watch women's field hockey on a cable channel? That was my main question. I didn't think there was a market at all for the non-revenue sports that can't even sellout their games, forget garner television time.

Well, it turns out I may have been partially correct. There probably aren't that many people (outside of parents and friends) who watch women's field hockey on the Big Ten Network, but that isn't the genius of this network. No, the genius of the Big Ten Network is that it gives them a platform to show Big Ten football games all through the Fall. While any games not picked up for broadcast are shown live on the BTN on Saturdays, the real joy comes on the other six days of the week, when they can show replays. College football fans like me who are starved to watch football, any football, can tune in and watch replays of Ohio State-Penn State or Michigan-Minnesota or any other conference or non-conference games played in the previous week. The nice thing is that after reading about a competitive Big Ten game in the Sunday morning paper, I can tune in later that week and watch the game for myself. This is especially helpful when you're debating fans on another blog about how competitive their conference or team is. The football coverage alone makes the Big Ten Network worth watching. The commercials running 24/7/365 marketing the schools inbetween the games and coaches shows is just gravy.

So, this brings me to my question: Should the Big 12 Conference form their own television network? Obviously, there are many positives to consider. Our own television network could ensure that every single non-conference and conference football game that is not televised because it wasn't picked by ABC/ESPN/FSSW/VS that week will still be shown. Our own network means we can showcase men's and women's basketball games. It means we can give this conference the attention it deserves when college baseball season rolls around.

Flipping through the channels, I see that the Mountain West Conference has their own network. I see that Brigham Young University has their own channel on which they occasionally show games. Reading the news, I see that texas is trying to reach a deal where they will secure their own sports channel. It seems to me that the Big 12 Conference needs to step it up and take advantage of this opportunity. The advantages in marketing and extra exposure we could get by showing all of the football and basketball games not picked up by the conference's contracted sports networks makes having our own conference network worth it. We could locate the network offices in Dallas, along with the conference home office. We could show all conference baseball, softball, and soccer games not already scheduled for television. I really don't see how we would lose on this proposition. I have officially become a convert.