WKU Football: Thoughts and Reaction to the 2019 Topper TV Schedule

Last Thursday, Conference USA announced their broadcast schedule for the 2019 football season. With the recent announcement that the…

Last Thursday, Conference USA announced their broadcast schedule for the 2019 football season. With the recent announcement that the conference had replaced BeIN with NFL Network, hopes were high for WKU to get a few high profile games on that network as well CBS Sports Network.

Unfortunately for WKU that didn’t come to fruition.

As you can see every one of WKU’s games (besides Arkansas, which is TBA) is slated to be on an online network. One has to think that the 3–9 season that WKU produced in 2018 had to play a huge factor in the decision to not put the Hilltoppers on broadcast TV.

With that in mind, let's analyze the positives and negatives with WKU football’s 2019 television assignments

Positive: All games are on accessible online streams

While it's not great to have every game online, it beats the alternative of not being able to watch the games. As recently as 2014, WKU didn’t have every game on TV/online. As recently as 2017, WKU had several games on CUSA.TV or FloFootball. Both of these services were pricy ($15–20 per month) and not accessible through your smart TV. With ESPN+ and Stadium, both are easily accessible and are available to cast to your smart TV. I have heard several people complain about ESPN+ costing extra money but I’m a firm believer that if you really want something you’ll pay for it.

The price tag for ESPN+ is very reasonable ($5 per month) and you know that the quality will be solid. After the past few years with Stadium, most hardcore WKU fans know how to watch the channel (on Facebook or not) and it does have the advantage of being free as well. While not ideal, having a consistent product on only three platforms makes it easier to follow the team once you know how to watch on ESPN+/Stadium and it will be a godsend for out of area alumni to follow the team.

Negative: Zero games on NFL Network, CBS Sports Network or ESPN

While it is all good and well that WKU football games are available, it was disappointing and surprising to not see the league plug WKU into one of their top tier channels.

The most surprising development was seeing the Louisville game not make any of the big channels (on Stadium) with the conference choosing UTSA vs. Army and Rice vs. Texas (understandable) over it. Other shocking developments included La Tech vs. Grambling and Rice making the big channels four times. Like I stated above, a lot of that can be contributed to WKU’s down season that they’re coming off of. I also think that market size (Bowling Green is tiny compared to most of the conference) played a huge factor with the Hilltoppers getting repeatedly bypassed for other teams. I still think Conference USA needs to follow the path of other leagues and wait until a few weeks before to make the TV assignments.

Positive: Unannounced game against Arkansas will be on SEC Network or ESPNU

While not announced yet, you can all but guarantee that WKU’s November 9th road game at Arkansas will be on broadcast television. During that week there will be only seven games involving SEC teams. The WKU/Arkansas game will be one of three non-conference games for the league joining New Mexico State vs. Ole Miss and Appalachian State at South Carolina. Look for the game to be on SEC Network or ESPU; an official announcement will be made along with game time three weeks prior to kickoff. This will be your only chance to watch the game in a bar or social setting that doesn’t have a streaming set-up.

Negative: Older/casual fans will be hard-pressed to tune-in

The biggest argument against streaming channels is the fact that it’s harder to access for technologically challenged fans. While cord-cutting and smart TVs have become very popular over the past decade, online streams are still a challenge for older fans. Casual fans (WKU alumni/fans with P5 allegiances) may also decide it's not worth their time to find the game and pay that fee for a team they only half care about. As CUSA Report has pointed out in the past, streaming does hurt your non-hardcore viewers. People can’t easily flip back and forth and usually have to want to watch the game to find it. For a program that is looking to pick itself off the deck of two disappointing seasons, it will be harder to gain buzz with most of their casual fans not watching the games.

Overall, there’s not too much to complain about regarding the TV assignments. If you’re reading this, you care enough about WKU and you’ll find a way to tune in.

With the sports rights bubble already starting to pop across all sports, streaming is going to become more and more of an option for non-power conferences. Being on ESPN+ is still better than BeIN/CUSA.tv and the much-maligned conference has improved their TV package in that regard.

I think the combination of recent poor results and small market size turned into a perfect storm for WKU not to be on the bigger channels. Over the past few years that hasn’t happened due to WKU’s prior success. If Tyson Helton bounces back in 2019 (five or more wins), I fully expect WKU football to return to the top tier channels in 2020.