I figured there was a fee. That is soooooooooooooooooooooo stupid. The last 2 seasons, I watched all the home games from here in Vegas. I even watched until the final play of that horrible final game loss to SDSU. I can understand wanting to make some additional revenue. I can also understand the thinking that if games are available for free on the internet, then people who live close enough to attend games might stay home.
The problem though, is the fan base keeps getting older. There are more people each year who are loyal fans, but no longer able to make it to games due to health reasons. Then there are those of us who live thousands of miles away. Add in 1 playoff appearance in the last 13 seasons, and making people pay for games is ludicrous. Especially if the quality of the broadcast is terrible. This is yet another way to alienate the fan base. Those of us who do not attend games may not provide any revenue to the University, but we can donate money if we are in a position to do so and wish to do so. And, the vast majority of people who live in the Ytown area and watch on-line likely are not attending the games now that the internet feed is no longer free.
I hope this same thing is not done for the basketball games. I watch as many games as possible, both men and women thanks to the HL network on line. I will not watch if there is a fee. Heck, I can watch UNLV football games on-line for free. They stink, but they are an FBS school. Last weeks home game against NIU was on-line for free The games are aired by the MWC Network on line. Today's game at Houston is on ESPN3. And, UNLV has trouble averaging the 15,000 fans required for home games. Stadium is 5-7 miles from campus, program has been bad for a long time, there is so much to do here entertainment wise, and this is first and foremost a basketball town. With no pro team, the Runnin Rebels(only the basketball team has Runnin in their name) are our pro team.
Point being, an FBS school which has trouble drawing fans offers home games on-line for free, while YSU, and FCS team now charges for games on-line. Would be interesting if Scalzo or some other member of the media can find out how many people pay to watch the YSU games on the internet, and how much profit YSU makes from charging for the games. If the net is $5,000 - $10,000 per game, that is $15,000 - $30,000 for these 3 OOC games alone. But, if the net is only a few hundred dollars, or even say $1,000-$2,000 per game, not sure if it is worth alienating even more people than have already been alienated.
