Who’s pocketing the green?
By Sean Hales
9-20-06

In the aftermath of the Mountain West Athletic Conference (MWC) selling its soul—oops, I mean, broadcast rights to the games of the conferences’ member schools—it’s good to see that somebody out there cares.
First and foremost (and maybe, at the same time, last but not least) are Sanpete’s local cable television providers, Manti Telephone and CentraCom Interactive. Before I even made the call to find out if I would have to spend weekends from September to December on the miserable Wastach Front to catch BYU and U of U games on television, the folks at Manti Telephone and CentraCom had already started the process of getting the channels on their systems.
Certainly, the efforts of the people involved at both companies deserve a big, fat round of applause from any BYU and U of U fans in Sanpete.
However, as I watch my beloved Utes on the tube, I’m sure to be consumed with righteous indignation at the Mountain West Conference and ComCast Cable, the company to which the MWC sold its soul—oops, I mean broadcast rights to televised games.
The reason I’ll be so consumed is the greed and hypocrisy illustrated in the actions of the MWC.
Obviously the MWC cares more about making a few extra dollars than fostering the touchy-feely, generous-nature, “here for our fans and students,” line they feed viewers in commercials. If they did care about fans, they wouldn’t sell them out to a heartless national broadcast chain that is willing to exploit Utahns’ devotion to their favorite schools.
In fact, ComCast has a marketing plan that it calls the “BYU pressure point,” which, apparently, is designed to suck the dollars from Utah Mormons who will pay to see BYU win, and from a fair number of non-Mormons who will pay to see them lose.
The MWC and ComCast promoted their new station, The Mountain (MTN), as the first of its kind—an entire station devoted to the athletics of a single conference.
And if this is the way it’s going to be run, let’s hope it’s also the last of its kind.
Let’s also hope the MWC figures out ComCast’s return policy for souls—oops, I mean broadcast rights to member schools’ games—and turns MTN into a free service to fans, because it is a good idea, but not as a tool to leverage money from sports nuts.
Now, on to the hypocrisy.
Schools and athletes caught taking or giving “payment” for commitments for playing time or other considerations related to sports are severely punished.
Certainly, the MWC would have a few choice words and stiff consequences for any of its member schools that violated NJCAA player compensation policies. The NJCAA might have something to say about it, too.
Yet, without any hint of a “Should we really be doing this?” moment, or a “Maybe we should practice what we preach,” moment, the MWC sells—for money, no less, the same substance it is so vigilant to keep from passing between schools and student-athletes—all the rights to broadcast games of its member schools.
Which —for an entity whose sole purpose is to protect and foster the growth (read: fan base) of its member schools’ athletics programs—is its soul.
In summary: while the MWC and other athletics conferences do all they can to keep student-athletes from selling their athletic talents to the highest bidder, The MWC has already sold all of their athletic talent, along with selling out their athletes and fans.
In fact, for all the world’s griping that professional sports are ruined because it’s all about money, but I don’t see a whole lot of difference with collegiate sports. The only real difference is who pockets the green.