It Starts Here: Year 10 in the NCHC
I've given it some thought and I’ve decided to start a Substack page. I have no idea where I am going to go with this. I am still going to write for The Sports Daily and Inside Hockey. This will be another adventure that I am involved in.
I will use this space to write about random things that I am ruminating about. It will be mostly hockey and football topics. Occasionally, there might be a post about one of my favorite television shows or movies that I have watched. Or not. I may wade into the dirt track racing world.
NCHC.TV Improvement Needed
Earlier today, I was reading Brad Schlossman’s Daily Skate: Five questions for new NCHC commissioner Heather Weems.
First, I have some questions, too. The NCHC is a great hockey conference, but they have a few areas they need to clean up. Their streaming platform is a bit to be desired. What are you going to do to make the video platform better?
This isn’t a new thing. It has been an ongoing problem for the NCHC. I’ve covered this subject a couple of times on my blog. From this past February.
According to a source, after the November 12 game between Miami University and UND (in Oxford, OH), the league sent out a memo instructing member schools that there would be a minimum standard for NCHC.TV. From what I have seen, their broadcast has been better. Not great, but better.
This issue isn’t going away, today, the NCHC tweeted this out.
My Tweet
During the 2021-22 hockey season, I paid $112 for the NCHC’s Annual Pass. I will be honest with you, that’s an awful lot of money to pay for the quality of the product received. I can name 3-4 NCHC schools that have an atrocious webcast. If I was an Athletic Director for one of these schools, I’d be embarrassed.
Two of the schools that have substandard webcasts are Mid-Major MAC schools. The last time I checked, they’re a bigger school than any of the other schools in our conference, yet put out less than desirable webcasts. Two of the schools outclassing them are Division II schools. These same MAC schools have good college football broadcasts on ESPN+.
If I had to rank the top four schools in the conference, the ranking would go like this: 1. UND, 2. DU, 3. SCSU, 4. UMD. The other four schools in the conference need to up their game.
Comparing the other Division I hockey conferences, the NCHC is lagging behind. The Big Ten hockey conference's streaming product is very good. Yes. They are a Power Five conference. Hockey East recently signed a new six-year media rights agreement with ESPN and ESPN+. Atlantic hockey and CCHA hockey teams use Flo Sports. Another platform that is outclassing the NCHC threefold.
Lastly, the NCHC.TV needs to have an App in the Google App Store.