Economics of Sports

One of the most fascinating things about the mountain west conference has been the TV deal.  Anyone who follows Utah, BYU or anyone who has tried to watch a game involving mountain west teams will cringe at the thought of "the mtn".  Its hard to find the channel.  When it is located, its filled with talking heads and off the wall number shows like "Its a numbers game". 

During the actual games, the commentary is poor, the analysts are very ron boone-esque and the cameraman gets lost more often than a kid on the first day at a new school. 

Ultimately, this TV network (and the lack of money and exposure) were what caused Utah and BYU to jump ship this past summer.  But taking a look at its history reveals an interesting economic scenario.

Rewind to 2006.  The Mountain West, led by commissioner Craig Thompson, was looking for a TV deal with ESPN.  However, the terms were not fair.  ESPN wanted the MWC teams to play games at hours and on odd days.  For instance, every team would need to play some Thursday and some Friday games to be on TV.  During basketball, ESPN wanted to continue the "big monday" games that tipped off at ten p.m. local time.  In the minds of the MWC, this was not worth it. 

So, the idea was formed to create a Mountain West channel.  It was to be the saving system of a conference looking to make a name for itself. 

Contract negotiations started.  It was not well received.  Only a few providers were willing to pick it up.  Eventually, it got going, but the quality has never improved.  The revenue never came.  The flagship programs took off for greener pastures.


It remains to be seen what will happen to this conference without Utah and BYU.  But the economic and business examples that brought this about are numerous.  Not wanting to sell out his clients (the MWC schools) Craig Thompson took a shot for the fences.  Ultimately, his gamble cost him his two biggest clients.  What would have happened had he gone for ESPN's demands?  Perhaps the Mountain West would have been on the verge of a BCS automatic berth.  But now, its just small schools struggling to make it, though some are exceptionally talented.