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Any chance in the future ~2 years out state playoff broadcasts come back to Idahosports.com?
Any chance in the future ~2 years out state playoff broadcasts come back to Idahosports.com?
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I am a broadcaster at IdahoSports.com. I don't think anyone has argued that point @sportcrazy. We (idahoSports.com) think it is great when events other than varsity sports get coverage at schools. While we certainly have the ability to do that, it doesn't make sense from a business standpoint to do anything more than varsity games, especially since webcasting is only a small part of what we do.
Yes, the NFHS Network allows schools to broadcast whatever they want. So does Youtube, Facebook, Vimeo, Striv, Twitter and a hundred other online services that don't require the school to spend thousands of dollars on expensive cameras (that they don't even own) and installation. Since production quality isn't a priority if you are thinking of getting a Pixellot, then getting an iPad, laptop and Youtube account is a pretty cheap alternative and doesn't require patrons to pay to watch that tri-meet debate event.
"But the schools get revenue from subscriptions"
It is my understanding that most of the Pixellot contracts are for 5 years and don't allow the school to collect any revenue until the 4th year of the contract - unless they pay an additional $2,000 fee. For the first three years of a five year contract, the schools make nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. Small schools are putting out upwards of $5,000 just for the cameras and then pay thousands more to have them installed. Then they have to either pay ANOTHER $2,000 to start generating a small cut (10%) of the net profits immediately or wait three years for the revenue split to kick in. Since there is a massive shortage of referees in every sport, how about that $7,000 gets used to pay refs more? Wouldn't that do more to increase the number of new referees than countless social media posts? How about paying for shot clocks? How about new text books? Pay off school lunch debt? Chrome Books?
Keep in mind, that revenue split isn't 10% of the total $10-ish subscription. That is 10% of the net profits after all the unitemized administrative, processing and other fees/charges are taken out. Let's be conservative and say those total only 30% which leaves about $7 left to split. 10% is $.70 cents. If a school paid $5,000 + $2,000 installation, that means they have to sell 10,000 monthly subscriptions over the final two years of their contract just to break even. That "might" happen at a 5A or large 4A school, but will it at a 3A, 2A or 1A school?
The schools are also only eligible to generate revenue when patrons sign up for a subscription through the school's personalized affiliate link. If they sign up by following another school's link on social media, their money goes to that school. Fans that sign up by just going directly to the NFHS web site, their money goes to them, meaning 100% goes in to their coffers and no school in Idaho gets any cut of the subscription or monthly renewals that follow. Really makes you think, doesn't it? If only people knew how all of this worked.