Whats the deal with I2sports

[upperdeck]

I dont see any info at cornellbigred.com and i2sports calendar is about 6 months old.. I did find this link http://i2sports.com/events/390/ but its also old..  It also seems that charging $5 to watch a game for season ticket holders is kinda like double taxation..  Its bad enough to have a miss a game and be out the $20 a ticket but then to charged again to try and watch it.. But its also normal policy to not think things thru and charge for something that outa be free

[KeithK]

I don't see a problem with charging a season ticket holder who can't make it to the game.  Not to sound like a d***, but if you buy a ticket you can't use then that's your problem. Besides, it's not like you can't sell the ticket to someone else to use.

I do have a problem with the Athletic Dept. charging for this (and the audio).  If they had sense they'd want to encourage alums to support the team and encourage parents and future recruits to see what Lynah and Cornell hockey is all about.  But that's a subject that's been beaten to death several times.

[jtwcornell91]

I don't have a real problem with charging for video, since there's a lot less precedent for free video.  I'd be happy to pay for the video if some of the money were used to subsidize free audio.

[KeithK]

[q]I don't have a real problem with charging for video, since there's a lot less precedent for free video. I'd be happy to pay for the video if some of the money were used to subsidize free audio.[/q]I'd be less inclined to complain about charging for video if the audio was free.  But there was (Age) and is (Colgate) free video around, so it's not without precedent.  

[upperdeck]

Its not so much charging but price policy. $5 a game or $60 for the season if the numbers are correct, no hint of a schedule, no promotion. are they trying to make money or recoup the costs of doing this? And it easy to say you cant sell tickets you cant use, but with kids that decision to go or not is often done last minute and 40 minutes from lynah. it would be nice to rewatch the game even if i do go but i cant see paying money to watch a game i was at. in that case its lost revenue to them. everyone is out to make money on this type of thing. for cornell there is no increase ticket sales because there are no seats left. what profit does this create are 100-200 people buying in at$5 in which case they create $1000 a game for 12 games $12000 and much of that goes back to i2sports. if they really want to make money why farm it out why not just produce it and serve it out ourselves, they could probably get students to run the show for free the servers and software is cheap instead of splitting costs. this isnt a high production tv type show. if they want to make money then do it and make money if they want to nickel and dime people then fund it and make all the alumni have an easy way to watch the program..

[Robb]

Actually, last year (obviously nobody knows ANYTHING about this year yet), anyone could watch the archived games for free after the fact - can't remember how long it took them to post the videos, but it wasn't long.  So strike that from your at best partially informed list of gripes.  ::rolleyes::

[CowbellGuy]

It would also help if CIT were willing to waive the $2/gb NUBB charge, but they were disinclined to, last I checked. At the low bitrate I was using, it was still something like 500MB/person/game. With a more useful bitrate and free access, that would end up being a significant chunk of change. The software I was using was $500, which your generous donations (mostly) covered. A decent server would run a couple grand and another computer to do the compression and production in the rink for another couple grand, and we haven't even talked about cameras. The team camera was a) poor quality and b) poorly operated. If you're going to do it right, you'll need a couple cameras to boot. So even if you're getting free manpower, it's not an insignificant, though mostly one-off, investment.

[marty]

Doesn't the question remain as to whether we will even have video this year from I2?  I agree with upperdeck because I can find no link to Cornell Hockey information from I2 for the 2004-05 year.

[Will]

DeltaOne already got an e-mail back from i2sports saying as such, right?  Even if apparently their web site sucks.

[KeithK]

The one-time cost of setting up the system to broadcast might not be cheap, but I think it would be something that alums would donate money for.  We demonstrated this in the past with the original audio server, though admittedly forum folks only put up a fraction of the cost before the boosters agreed to foot the rest of the bill.  Bandwidth is another issue entirely.
My guess is that Athletics is not trying to make money off of this.  They just don't want to deal with the mechanics of running the system.  So they farmed it out.

[Al DeFlorio]

[Q]KeithK Wrote:
My guess is that Athletics is not trying to make money off of this.  They just don't want to deal with the mechanics of running the system.  So they farmed it out.[/q]
I believe you're right, Keith.  What would be interesting to know is how much Colgate pays i2sports to make free video available for all home games

[billhoward]

cornellbigred.com lists radio and a gametracker but no television. Darn. When you have web TV, you complain about how lousy the picture is, and no replays. Then you complain even more when you can't get it at all.

[JS \'93]

This was on the CSTV website today.  The Cornell hockey link is finally posted on the I2Sports website.  
--------------------------------------------------
2004-05 Cornell Hockey Webcasts Available Through i2Sports.com
 
Big Red fans can catch all 14 games from Lynah Rink  


Oct. 28, 2004

ITHACA, N.Y.--Fans who cannot make it to Lynah Rink this season will again have the opportunity to catch Big Red webcasts through i2sports.com, the University announced Thursday. Cornell men's hockey has played to a sellout crowd for the past 50 games, including four exhibitions. The partnership with i2sports.com will again allow fans who could not get tickets and out-of-town fans an opportunity to catch all of the action on the East Hill.

All 14 regular-season games will be offered through i2sports webcasting service. The webcasts will be produced using two camera angles and will include play-by-play action from Cornell's official broadcaster, Jason Weinstein.

A subscription fee of $5 per game or $65 for all 14 regular-season games is required. The fee allows fans access to the webcast as well as access to archived games.

More information on i2sports and the Cornell hockey webcasts can be found on their website: www.i2sports.com.

I2sports is an internet sports broadcast corporation located at Syracuse University's CASE Center. It produces and webcasts LIVE amateur sporting events including track meets, footraces, ice hockey, field hockey, wrestling, football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, swimming and diving, lacrosse, soccer, softball and baseball, as well as business and academic events.

It is recommended that viewers go to www.i2sports.com in advance of an upcoming event to test their systems and make sure they have compatible hardware, software, internet connections, etc. The following provides general system requirement information. Please consult www.i2sports.com to find out if you will be able to get the broadcasts.


    Webcasts Technical Requirements
    Before you attempt to
    view the webcasts, please make sure your computer system meets the following
    requirements:
   
      Microsoft Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP
     
      Macintosh 9.1 or higher
      Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher Netscape will not work
      Download:
       Mac
      | PC
      Microsoft Windows Media Player 6.4 or 7  
      Download:
       Mac
      | PC
     
      Internet Explorer Security Setting at Medium

[KeithK]

[q]What would be interesting to know is how much Colgate pays i2sports to make free video available for all home games [/q]In fairness, I wouldn't be surprised if there was higher demand for Cornell hockey on the internet than Colgate.  Nothing against Colgate, of course (nothing to see here, woofing gods!).  Just my estimate of the teams' relative following.  If I'm right then i2sports would logically charge Cornell more for blanket service than they would charge Colgate.

[Al DeFlorio]

[Q]KeithK Wrote:

 [Q2]What would be interesting to know is how much Colgate pays i2sports to make free video available for all home games [/Q]
In fairness, I wouldn't be surprised if there was higher demand for Cornell hockey on the internet than Colgate.  Nothing against Colgate, of course (nothing to see here, woofing gods!).  Just my estimate of the teams' relative following.  If I'm right then i2sports would logically charge Cornell more for blanket service than they would charge Colgate.[/q]
The demand is likely higher, but is the cost?  Certainly it would cost no more to originate the broadcasts for us than for them.  And there must be some cost to manage the subscription process rather than just make it available to everyone.  Additional cost for server capacity?  Age?  Bill Howard?