ESPN Full Court

[mufan924]

Hey guys I was trying to do some research on the full court package...I feel like I saw a commercial for it on ESPN the other day, but my memory is bad.

Anyone know if it'll be worth it for following MU from outside of the Milwaukee area? I'm in Chicago. I love CBB and am thinking about getting it regardless, but I assume that the local games would be on the package more than likely since most of their games are gonna be on tv.

Anyone with knowledge on the subject let me know, much appreciated.

[larrym]

I've had it for about 6 years.  Since the jump to the Big East, it's definitely been worth it.  The schedule will be coming out soon, so we'll see how many MU games make it.  However if all Big East contest will be broadcast on one of the ESPN methods (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNPlus and 360) I imagine that there will be a decent number of games that you problably wouldn't get in Chicage; the EPSNPlus games.  That's what it really is, is all of the ESPN Plus games.  There are some Saturdays that you can watch Big East games from 11 am until 10 pm, with very little down time becaue of all the games on Full Court.

I doubt if the Time Warner broadcasts will be available, because those aren't ESPN Plus games.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Schedule will be out very soon.  Last Friday was the day that the bigs get into the room and make their cuts at ESPN.  It's actually kind of cool, literally you go through all the games and figure out which ones make the cut on any given day, weekend, etc.

My guess is a rough of the schedule will come out in a few days and the final one probably in 2 weeks.

[The Man in Gold]

I had it last year and loved it for all the basketball games. 

However MU only had 3 games available on Full Court, the rest were ESPN U or 360 so that was a bit dissapointing.  Hopefully the new season and return of the Big 3 lead to more ESPN+ games when we aren't on ESPN.

[MUCam]

If you are interested in the Marquette basketball games only, then you definitely need to wait until the schedule comes out. As pointed out already, only three MU games were broadcast on ESPN Full Court, making the price of admission per game fairly steep. However, the year before, there were numerous MU games on Full Court, making it a much more attractive (and financially reasonable) option.

Why ESPN Full Court, as a pay-per-view channel, would not show all MU games on the ESPN network is beyond me. Actually, it is not beyond me. It is a clear case of ESPN's money grabbing policies. If they can get you to pay for Full Court, but still have you write your local cable/satellite provider to incorporate ESPNU, then their profit margin increases. That idea back-fired last year, as I did not subscribe to Full Court.

And while I bash ESPN, did anyone watch NFL Gameday, or whatever it is called? They actually did a serious 10 minute piece on Coach Belichick's garb of choice: the hoodie sweater with cut-off sleaves. What a joke of a show. Every weekend I watch approximately 5-10 minutes of Gameday, hoping something has changed. Every weekend, I come away disgusted, but certainly not surprised. Okay, the rant is over.

[Djgoldnboy]

MU Cam, I had this exact conversation yesterday afternoon...if you had only watched ESPN's pregame, you would have thought that only Dallas and the Patriots played yesterday (and the piece on cheating Billacheck's apparel put me over the edge).....I was throughouly disgusted.

[mu_hilltopper]

Wait .. what am I missing?

  I thought ESPN was going to broadcast every BE basketball game .. true, they'll be spread between ESPN/2/ESPNU/360 and the Ocho .. so .. unless you DON'T get ESPNU, why would you need Full Court?

(ESPNU is now a digital channel for TimeWarnerCable, btw, no charge beyond your digital package.)

[rocky_warrior]

  I thought ESPN was going to broadcast every BE basketball game .. true, they'll be spread between ESPN/2/ESPNU/360 and the Ocho .. so .. unless you DON'T get ESPNU, why would you need Full Court?

Well, I was thinking for the non-conference games   Now that they'll all be televised, Full Court *could* pick some of them up I would think.  Of course, whether they do or not remains to be seen...

[Tulsa Warrior]

ESPN Fullcourt was a rip off last season if you wanted to see Marquette.   They need to bundle all the ESPN channels.  FYI, do you know what ESPN charges your cable company?  It accounts for about half of the cable fee.

[mu_hilltopper]

Ah, so you pay for Full Court so you don't miss the Coppin State game?  Now there's a guy with money to burn.

[rocky_warrior]

Ah, so you pay for Full Court so you don't miss the Coppin State game?  Now there's a guy with money to burn.

Hey hey - full court is a LOT less than your lower bowl season tickets    Talk about money to burn - heh...  8)

[ChicosBailBonds]

ESPN Fullcourt was a rip off last season if you wanted to see Marquette.   They need to bundle all the ESPN channels.  FYI, do you know what ESPN charges your cable company?  It accounts for about half of the cable fee.

A bit of hyperbole there.... ESPN charges several dollars per channel to MSO's (i.e. cable and satellite).  No one is holding a gun to any of the MSO's to pay that price.  They have every right to say no during negotiations, but they know if they don't sign ESPN that customers will leave to a service that does.  It's capitalism.  ESPN is not dumb, they didn't go from "who" in 1979 to the absolute power broker in sports television now.  Remember when the networks ruled the day?  Now they are a very very distant 2nd.