Letters to the Editor here

I get the impression many of us are writing or have written in displeasure to various people about the internet broadcast issue. Maybe we could collect them all under one thread? I'd be interested to see what everyone is writing and thinking . . .
-Lisa

Here's my effort, sent to Noel, Brenner, Schafer, and the Sun. Debated the Schafer part - he's got more important things to worry about, but decided to in the end.


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Dear Mr. Noel,

I'm writing on what I hope is a very familiar and tiring subject for you: the recent choices made by Cornell Athletics regarding internet audio and video broadcasting of Cornell men's hockey games. The decisions to sell internet rights to a subscription audio service and subsequently to bar Age Manocchia from broadcasting the game video on a volunteer basis are patronizing, self-serving, short-sighted, and just plain insulting. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised; the press release announcing this new "service" showed just how out of touch the Athletics Administration is from the Lynah Faithful.

For a 6 month hockey season, I would have to pay $42 for the subscription, nearly half the price of student season tickets! No matter how many unnecessary "enhancements" the service may have, there is no way you will convince me it is $42 better than the volunteer-run service that has provided quality reliable broadcasts of the game audio for years - what more could we want? Cornell hockey fans just don't care about division 1-A football and all the other supposed "perks" associated with College Sports Pass. We are solely devoted to Cornell hockey - a fact in which you should take pride, but are instead oblivious to.

I am now dreading the annual hockey team telethon in January, when I will have to explain to a hardworking and deserving member of the hockey team that I will not be making a donation to the program this year. Since the Athletic Department administration appears only to care about money, then that is the one thing that I will have to deny you in order to get your attention. Charging a mandatory fee for audio and simultaneously banning Age's video broadcast is a real slap in the face, not just for me but for other alumni, students, fans, and most especially current and potential players' families. I hope that withholding my donation, however small, will show just how strongly I feel.

The creativeness, energy, enthusiasm, and entrepreneurial spirit of Cornell fans are assets that you can harness to improve the Cornell Athletics experience for everyone. Instead, the Athletics Department seems to believe that these are dangerous forces that must be suppressed because only the Athletics Administration knows what the fans want and how and when they want to receive it. Please try to remember that you are the caretakers of Cornell athletics, not its dictators.

Regretfully,

Robb Newman, BS '94, MEng '95
Fort Worth, TX

Nice letter, Robb. Especially "caretaker" vs. "dictator". I hope that Hockey Parent and Adam will repost theirs here, too, plus John when the group one is ready. For what it's worth, here's mine again. I sent it to Noel, Brenner, the Sun, the Journal and Cornell Magazine. I do hope they come to be overwhelmingly tired of the topic.
-L


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Dear Mr. Noel,

You don't need me to tell you that no team has a more ardent following
than the Cornell hockey team. Big Red Hockey gets the sort of student
and alumni support that I imagine other programs--particularly in the
Ivies--must dream about. And in Age Manocchia's HockeyCam, you had an
unprecedented opportunity to satisfy the team's supporters and keep them
connected to Cornell and Big Red sports. Indeed, "opportunity" isn't
even the right word. You had the *ability*. The technology is
available. The infrastructure was in place. It was volunteer-run and
funded by donations. (My donation included, though I can assure you that
the Athletic Department will get no such donation from me now.) And the
desire for it is tremendous.

What possible reason could your Athletic Department have to reject the
HockeyCam and alienate a large portion of your fanbase? Not to mention
other fans you'll now be unable to reach? Most galling of all is that
you made no effort to communicate with the fans on the matter of
internet broadcasting. I strongly encourage you to rethink your policy
toward the HockeyCam. If you want Cornell supporters to pay for online
broadcasts, then provide the sort of content that justifies it. You are
in the interesting position of dealing with a fanbase that is
sophisticated both in sports and in technology. Give us some credit and
show us some respect. You may find it reciprocated.

Perhaps you feel you're running a business, but you should remember
that Big Red sports fans are motivated by Cornell spirit, and your
bottom line is tied directly to how we're treated and how we feel about
Cornell. After the flurry of bad faith that kicked off this hockey
season, I am not feeling at all positive about the Cornell Athletic
Department, and I'm not alone. The community of Cornell Hockey fans
that you've disrespected will continue to support the team as strongly as ever, and we will find ways to do it without supporting your Department.

Sincerely,
-Lisa McGill '97

Dear Mr. Noel,

By now you are no doubt aware of the growing displeasure among a large group of donating Cornell alumni surrounding recent decisions made by the department that you lead. At the start of the recent hockey season, I was looking forward to hearing the broadcasts of Big Red hockey via the Cornell radio feed. Adam Wodon has proven himself to be a fine young sports broadcaster and it would have been exciting to hear his take on what should be a memorable season on the Hill. Unfortunately, your department made the decision to start charging the Cornell community to listen to Mr. Wodon's broadcasts.

I ask, what sort of market research did you do before making this decision to charge for access to the games? Surely you sampled the demand side implications of your actions, correct? While I'd like to believe that Cornell Athletics made a reasonsed and scientific business decision, somehow that seems unlikely given the enormous amount of public embarrassment that has now been caused for your department.

Today also comes word from Ithaca that your department has made the command decision to disallow Age Manocchia's HockeyCam at Cornell home games. I am frankly stunned by the flippant judgement excercised by your department in pulling the plug on Mr. Manocchia's volunteer effort. HockeyCam was a groundbreaking program that could only serve to expand Cornell hockey's base of fans, media, and talented recruits. Whatever personal vendetta your department has toward Mr. Manocchia must be set aside for the good of the entire community.

Not only will I refrain from paying your webcast fees, but I also write to inform you that my donations to Cornell University and Cornell Athletics have been suspended effective immediately. Do not underestimate the great number of alumni who are in the process of doing the exact same thing. Dr. Rawlings has recieved a carbon copy of this letter; along with the editors of The Cornell Daily Sun, The Ithaca Journal, and The New York Times, respectively. It may very well be too late to save my donation, but for the sake of Cornell University and its hundreds of brilliant student athletes, eliminate the webcast fee and allow HockeyCam at Lynah Rink.

Regards,

Adam J. Simons '01

Isn't copying the New York Times a little.... petty? Come on. We're not UPenn students. Let's not blow things out of proportion.

You might want to be careful with using the term 'Cornell Community'. Technically, those people in Ithaca/Cornell/Outer Areas can listen to the games on the crappy AM channel. Atheletics response will probably be very quick to point that out. I can't really offer a better term because Alumni network doesn't apply to those who just want to listen or are out of town. Just my thoughts.

Nope, I think it's smart to write to the NYT, Lowell. Two reasons:

1) The largest percentage of the Cornell alumni base (and thus, the donation power base) is obviously within the NYT daily distribution radius.

2) If we are serious about this, why play grab-ass with Ithaca editors when we can go to a real national publication with our concerns?


Tom, I think that Point 1 also speaks to your concerns (and I certainly do appreciate the constructive ideas). Over 95% of the donation base is outside of the Ithaca AM radio listening band. Thus, local alums/etc aren't nearly as important to the University as are others. That's not at all to slight this 5% group, as there are some great individuals near Ithaca, but overall as a group this constiuancy doesn't carry much weight because of their lack of capital.

If a few of you letter-writers would like to get together and write one letter, I, for one, would be willing to co-sign it and help support its publication in the Sun as a ad, if they don't want to print it as a letter.

Please, step up and let's get it done, it's important.

Well, this is moot now, but thanks I'm in.

[q]1) The largest percentage of the Cornell alumni base (and thus, the donation power base) is obviously within the NYT daily distribution radius.[/q]

Well, given that the daily distribution radius is the entire country, I agree with you.

[q]2) If we are serious about this, why play grab-ass with Ithaca editors when we can go to a real national publication with our concerns?[/q]

Because, quite frankly, they don't care. Plus (and this next bias comes from experiences that very few people on this list will understand), I have a strong aversion to sending letters to everybody and their mother in order to cause the biggest ruckus possible. It's not that I don't think people should create a fuss about things they truly care about; it's just that I think you have to step back and ask, "Am I taking myself a little too seriously here?" That is, do I really believe these people (in this case, the Times) are going to care, and if so, do I really just want to get other people in trouble? I know others disagree with me, but I don't. I don't want national attention brought to Cornell because the Athletic department has a poor history of communicating with its hockey fans, or because they are charging for internet broadcasting. While I understand that simplifies what has become a very emotionally charged issue, that's how other people would see it. I think it would just make us look whiny (even if that is an unfair perception).

Also, I don't think any of the decisions have been done with malice. Aside from some brusque interactions with Age, I doubt anybody on this list believes that Andy Noel, Anita Brenner, and whoever else were sitting in their plush Teagle offices with their feet up on their desks, cackling away in delight at the frustration they were causing the Faithful by signing this OCSN contract, stupid as it may have been. Stupidity and ignorance, I think, can justly breed frustration, anger, and some sort of action to improve the situation. These actions, however, should stop short of mean-spirited revenge. Just my two shekels.

But like I said, it doesn't matter. The New York Times won't care.

Penn sucks.

Sorry, it's force of habit.