NEW YORK — In August 2014, the Big East launched the Big East Digital Network with 90 events for the conference’s first foray into live streaming — a way to connect with fans through a new medium. Since then, the Big East has more than doubled the amount of annual games it produces with its partners on the free network, which is available through the FOX Sports GO app.
In a recent conversation with Chief Marketing Officer Ann Wells Crandall and Rick Gentile, Sr. Associate Commissioner for Broadcasting, they highlighted that while no men’s basketball games are broadcast on BEDN because of FOX’s exclusive rights, every conference women’s basketball matchup is televised on the digital property, among other sports like softball, field hockey, soccer and baseball.
In the first season of the BEDN, nearly 70,000 total unique streamers tuned in to the BEDN while its sophomore year in 2015-16 saw that number roughly double to 139,177, according to the conference office. Despite monetization of the BEDN being a relatively moot point now, that could change in the future, as Crandall and Gentile explained.
SportTechie sat down with the Big East — which recently made headlines for its use of VR during this week’s men’s conference tournament — to discuss the evolution of the Big East Digital Network, its No. 1 objective, the Big East’s relationship with FOX Sports, shifts in fans’ content consumption habits and other potential live streaming options such as Facebook Live and Twitter.
Below are outtakes from the interview with Crandall, Gentile and Brad Zak, Director of Social and Digital Content.
Ann Wells Crandall, Chief Marketing Officer, on the original outline for the Big East Digital Network three and a half year ago…
Something we wanted to do with the Big East Digital Network was we wanted to provide as much women’s basketball coverage as we could. We actually have 73 women’s basketball games on the network, and then we digitally stream all of our championships. We have 22 sports, including basketball.
We didn’t want to charge for it because at that time three and a half years ago, everybody was charging for it. We thought that was counter-productive if the idea was to have more exposure for women’s basketball or Olympic sports. … The quality of what the production was, what families and friends got to see was very, very important. One of the things that we looked at was a one camera or two camera option. We decided, under direction (from Rick Gentile), that we wanted to provide the best quality broadcast from all different angles that we possibly could.
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Rick Gentile, Sr. Associate Commissioner, Broadcasting on how the Big East Digital Network kicked off its relationship with FOX Sports…
The best move we’ve made is we had a conversation with (FOX Sports, Senior Vice President, TV Everywhere) Clark Pierce. Clark and I worked together a million years ago at CBS in their CBS Olympic unit. When I heard that Clark was the guy, I called him up and said, ‘Can we put what we’re doing on FOX Sports GO?’ The alternative at that point was our website, which was really very much a work in progress, the schools’ websites or some combination of that. We talked to Clark, and we all got on the phone with him. They had a major commitment to FOX Sports GO, and we said, ‘Let’s go for it.’ And then we said, ‘Can we have our own channel? Can we have the Big East channel on FOX Sports GO?’ There was a lot of conversation back and forth and ultimately the answer was ‘yes.’ We thought it was the perfect opportunity to grow with this whole process.
Gentile on the Big East Digital Network’s No. 1 value proposition…
You could name 150 things, but if you talk to the coaches and ADs in our conference, they will tell you that the most important aspect of what we’re doing, and the reason they’re committed to it is it’s a recruiting tool. You go find a soccer player, a swimmer and say the championships are going to be streamed live on FOX Sports GO. … It’s the most important reason schools want to be part of this thing.
Gentile on partnering with Rush Media for its production of content for the Big East Digital Network…
When we started this, every production company in the country wanted to talk. It was a new thing and a way for you to get your foot in the door. It was actually Clark Pierce who said you have to talk to this guy from Madison, Wis. named Tim Eichorst (Owner of Rush Media Company). We met with Tim, and not only did he undercut everyone when it came to bids, but he listed the equipment for which he could use. He had more equipment and better quality for less than half of what people were charging for each event. Looking at this, we could actually pull it off. The first year we were doing it we didn’t know how many events we could do because we didn’t know how much money we had. Now, we’re looking at something we’re confident we could do over a hundred events…The relationship between us, FOX and Rush is really just unprecedented. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’ve never seen anything like it.
Brad Zak, Director of Social and Digital Content on the Big East broadcasting games on OTT platforms such Facebook Live or Twitter in the future…
We’ve experimented with the thought of it. Part of it is we don’t have any men’s basketball games that are available since they’re all on FOX. That would be the biggest ‘get’ on Facebook Live or Twitter in terms of viewership and driving people towards it. We’ve thought a little about it if it was soccer, lacrosse or women’s basketball and taking it into that area, but we’re still trying to come up with the best strategy for that in terms of what works for us. We’ve utilized it a lot for shoulder content around events for us like Media Day with interviews for players. This year at the Men’s Tournament, we have plans for Facebook Live for the Awards Ceremony as well.