Spring 2021 FCS: Scouting for the next Donald Parham

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Tank55
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Re: Spring 2021 FCS: Scouting for the next Donald Parham

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As a CAA fan, I'm a little miffed to see Richmond excluded, but they had so many COVID problems it's hard to complain.
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Re: Spring 2021 FCS: Scouting for the next Donald Parham

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I like the two Big Sky/Valley matchups, maybe this becomes a thing (Eastern and NDSU played in 2016-17, and NDSU's also played Montana a few times) scheduling-wise
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Re: Spring 2021 FCS: Scouting for the next Donald Parham

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I will say, I really like the 16-team field over 24. Feels right.
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Re: Spring 2021 FCS: Scouting for the next Donald Parham

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So let me get this straight: no non-HBCU games on ESPN3 (all on ESPN+) in the regular season, and now they shift it to ESPN3 for the playoffs? That's, um, inconsistent to put it mildly.
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Re: Spring 2021 FCS: Scouting for the next Donald Parham

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johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 4:53 pm So let me get this straight: no non-HBCU games on ESPN3 (all on ESPN+) in the regular season, and now they shift it to ESPN3 for the playoffs? That's, um, inconsistent to put it mildly.
Not really, since ESPN has rights (or de facto anyway) to the playoffs, whereas regular season games that were aired on local and regional non-ESPN outlets (and a few games on CBSSN and NBCSN in the last couple weeks) are merely moving over. I'm also pretty sure ESPN+ wasn't in use for the 2019 playoffs either.

Not exactly sure when ESPN took the whole thing over, cause the NDSU/EWU quarterfinal game in 2010 was aired on both SWX and NBC North Dakota in addition to ESPN+ out-of-market as was every game through the quarters (maybe around the time FCS kickoff started being a thing). But there you have it.
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Re: Spring 2021 FCS: Scouting for the next Donald Parham

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MGB01 wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 5:22 pm
johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 4:53 pm So let me get this straight: no non-HBCU games on ESPN3 (all on ESPN+) in the regular season, and now they shift it to ESPN3 for the playoffs? That's, um, inconsistent to put it mildly.
Not really, since ESPN has rights (or de facto anyway) to the playoffs, whereas regular season games that were aired on local and regional non-ESPN outlets (and a few games on CBSSN and NBCSN in the last couple weeks) are merely moving over. I'm also pretty sure ESPN+ wasn't in use for the 2019 playoffs either.

Not exactly sure when ESPN took the whole thing over, cause the NDSU/EWU quarterfinal game in 2010 was aired on both SWX and NBC North Dakota in addition to ESPN+ out-of-market as was every game through the quarters (maybe around the time FCS kickoff started being a thing). But there you have it.
It just seems odd to put it mildly, or just plain greedy to put it more harshly, to do such a split.

You have ESPN+, which is the subscription standalone service, then you have ESPN3, which is the TV Everywhere service. There's no overlap between the two in terms of individual games. So for people who wanted to follow the spring season, they were roped into buying ESPN+, which is targeted at the cord-cutter market, but then when the playoffs come, they have to use a login from a cable or pay-OTT provider (granted, most broadband internet is through cable providers anyway, but those who use satellite or mobile Internet, or in areas where the cable provider won't pay for ESPN3 access, get left out in the cold). I would have much preferred they either made the games available on both platforms simultaneously for maximum access, or at least choose one platform or the other consistently so that viewers could plan their budgets.
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Re: Spring 2021 FCS: Scouting for the next Donald Parham

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The regular season deals were all negotiated by the conferences individually and the deal for the FCS playoffs was negotiated separately with the NCAA. The SWAC was on ESPN3, some others were on ESPN+, others were on an entirely different platform (like the CAA on FloSports). It wasn't all part of a big grand plan between FCS and ESPN.
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Re: Spring 2021 FCS: Scouting for the next Donald Parham

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Tank55 wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 9:38 pm The regular season deals were all negotiated by the conferences individually and the deal for the FCS playoffs was negotiated separately with the NCAA. The SWAC was on ESPN3, some others were on ESPN+, others were on an entirely different platform (like the CAA on FloSports). It wasn't all part of a big grand plan between FCS and ESPN.
I guess, to an extent.

I'm just surprised that given the deals were all with ESPN that they were so inflexible in terms of platform. This could have been better coordinated/positioned.
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Re: Spring 2021 FCS: Scouting for the next Donald Parham

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No arguments there.
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Re: Spring 2021 FCS: Scouting for the next Donald Parham

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I wouldn't write EWU off against NDSU, although NDSU is at home. A lot depends on which EB3 shows up to play; he is, after all, a Walter Payton Award finalist.
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