Ripped from the USCHO message board ( I see a few eLynah folks already engaged in that discussion):
[Q]Colgate Home Webcasts
Colgate University Television (a student run television station) will be webcasting most/all of Colgate's home games next season through i2sports.com. There will be a per game charge (approx. $5), or Colgate sports enthusiasts can purchase a season package (approx. $50) which will include home football and basketball games as well. Official dates of the broadcasts will be released ASAP. (Some games may be covered by Empire Sports Network, NESN, etc. which would not allow us to webcast the games.) Viewers will need a high-speed connection to receive the streaming video.[/Q]
Cornell fans have been lucky enough to get webcasts of home games for free thanks to the donations and tireless efforts of several individuals. The picture quality seems to be steadily improving. The resurection at the end of last season was almost good enough to allow one follow the action. However, the Colgate webcast last season blew me away. It was practically like watching TV (OK a bad portable TV). I felt like I was really watching the game.
My point is that I would pay even $5/game for that kind of quality. I suspect many others would too (hopefully they can still use Adam as the play-by-play). The webcast uses a professional service so presumably Athletics is happy. It would take some "volunteer" effort and equipment from a student station (or perhaps an Ithaca station) but that should be doable (where do I donate?).
Am I crazy or should I be jealous of Colgate in thinking that we can and should get this going here?
P.S. I love the Gilbert Gottfried comment about the Colgate announcer
Getting the Colgate webcasts to this level has taken a number of years. When we started doing it a few years ago, it was very amatuer, but has gotten better each year. i2sports is out of Syracuse I believe, and they have broadcast Cornell events in the past. So I assume it could be done for Cornell, even with both teams playing on the same night. 5 bucks a game is a bit steep, but 50 for the season isn't bad at all when you consider you are getting what has to be at least 15 home hockey games a year, plus 5 or 6 football games and a few home basketball games. Plus, I believe we will still be keeping our free radio service. So people who don't want to pay, or don't like the CUTV broadcasts or have a fast enough internet still have an option. I'd also assume all the road games will still be on the free radio, and possibly some games over break.
QuoteGary-Colgate'02 wrote:
Plus, I believe we will still be keeping our free radio service. So people who don't want to pay, or don't like the CUTV broadcasts or have a fast enough internet still have an option.
I think this is key, and something Cornell's athletic department should note. If we had a pay video service and continued free audio webcast, I'd happily subscribe to the former, but be glad that the latter existed for an array of reasons. (Not the least of which is the fun of catching the tail end of everyone's radio broadcast as all the games around the league end, which just wouldn't work if I had to go off an subscribe to each team's service first.)