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Nebraska moving away from Learfield/IMG

It's a crap shoot that they better hope they get right.
Not sure how it's a crapshoot. If it works out, great! If it doesn't, resign with Learfield or another company. My guess is it wasn't going to be as lucrative this time as it was last, less guarantee anyway.
 
Not sure how it's a crapshoot. If it works out, great! If it doesn't, resign with Learfield or another company. My guess is it wasn't going to be as lucrative this time as it was last, less guarantee anyway.

I could see the bolded being the case. The Athletic Department knew the bids were going to come in lower than they would have liked, so they are banking on a rebound from football and men's basketball over the next couple of years. Should that happen, they'll go back to these companies and try again. Why lock yourself into a long-term contract you don't like?
 
Good to see us leading again, absolutely nothing wrong with this decision. Leaders lead, others will follow.
This was my thought as well. Everyone laughed at us when we started weight lifting. Now look at the College world. IMG is just a bunch of Lawyers getting fat on the backs of others. We are a university with a law school. I am sure we have some good business lawyers that are alumni. They can negotiate with radio etc. This may help keep a higher percentage home.
 
Nebraska moving away from Learfield/IMG is a very bold move, especially with the records of our major sports as of late (ok maybe more than just lately). Only P5 school to do so. Guess I could see Clemson and Bama doing so, but did not think we would.

Maybe they will upgrade the play-by-play for football?

Hope it goes very well. Time will tell.

Thoughts?

Cash grab to keep things in house. They need to figure out where they will get advertising from now. Hire back Meyers and they may have a shot but i'm sure he's happy where he is now.
 



If this will do something to get rid of those awful ads on the football post-game radio show then I support this 100%!
 
Nothing ventured is nothing gained. So kudo's to the program for attempting something different then what the rest of the college athletic herd is doing now. The BTN got ripped by many so called experts when it was started. How did that work out? Bottom line give it 100% for a couple of years and count the chips or lack of when the dealing is done.

On the other hand there is the Longhorn Network and how has that worked out?
 



Haven't listened to a FB game on the radio in a loooog time, since every game is on TV.
That's why I specified the post-game show. Once the game is over I like to listen to the post-game interviews, commentary and analysis.
 
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On the other hand there is the Longhorn Network and how has that worked out?
First off this isn't a 20 year deal which BTW pays Texas 15 million a year for what? I hope ESPN is losing their shirt on paying Texas 300 million. Just saying. If this doesn't work out financially Huskers can easily make another deal with Learfield/IMG. I really don't believe Nebraska has a lot to lose giving this a try. I really like that our athletic department is willing to do something no else has tried.
 
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First off this isn't a 20 year deal which BTW pays Texas 15 million a year for what? I hope ESPN is losing their shirt on paying Texas 300 million. Just saying. If this doesn't work out financially Huskers can easily make another deal with Learfield/IMG. I really don't believe Nebraska has a lot to lose giving this a try. I really like that our athletic department is willing to do something no else has tried.

I couldn't agree more!
 
That's why I specified the post-game show. Once the game is over I like to listen to the post-game interviews, commentary and analysis.

You need to listen to Big Red Overreaction. You won’t hear a commercial per minute of post game conversation.
 
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This is a very interesting endeavor by DONU. Several points from me:
1. I was at KASI on the ISU Football Broadcast crew in 1992, which is when KASI sold-out to Learfield as they began buying stations and accumulating their network for broadcasting.

The point here is that Learfield has over time gotten significant debt to be able to have their very large radio network.
Radio revenue is not something that is easy to escalate. The amount of airtime, especially at sporting events is finite (even after you name everything: "this extra point brought to you by......").
So it would be interesting to know just how much or little money actually flows down hill to the schools.
2. Nebraska, more than most schools still has a National Radio (maybe not so much TV) audience, in part because of our older fan base, who remember the glory years.

If you recall, before Learfield, we had stations in Minnesota (alumni supported), Arkansas, Wisconsin, California, Oregon, South Dakota, Iowa, Oklahoma, Nevada (Vegas, baby!), Texas, and Colorado.
Those alumni are still there, hungry for Husker football on the radio, despite BTN, or maybe because of it :).

3. Revenue: DONU can sell ad time and profit where Learfield IMG could not because their cost base is much smaller: they didnt buy anything to get there.
Only question is finding stations that will/can carry the games live, which will probably be a mix of AM and FM stations.

4. Who else is like DONU?
-Major football tradition
-large National alumni, many of whom are older, like the radio as much as TV
-Have enough resources to go their own way?
Answer: Notre Dame


I predict this "Back to the Future" move by DONU will be a large success, that will be emulated by others.

GBR

PS:
If they need someone for their Score Board Show, that's what I did for ISU, I am available, and I work for free :).

I think I told the story that I always wanted to do Husker Football on the radio after growing up listening to beloved Lyell.
In 1992, ISU's last game was against Colorado, DONU was not playing that weekend and so KFAB carried our broadcast.
My Mom and Dad got to hear me broadcasting football on KFAB; man, woman and child was that a thrill for me!
 
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