epic lines of sight
small details puncture vision
is this growing old
Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies. But if you ask, I'll say I prefer to think of this as a haiku about UTEP fans ongoing battle to see their team on television.
I wrote last year about AggieVision and what the folks up in Las Cruces have been able to do to get their message out in Crimson ink.
Here's the equation: Tuition Wavers plus State Building Project Money equals Extra Athletic Department Dollars, which all equals AggieVision, New Mexico State's push to get most of the university's athletic competitions on the tube. Not just football and men's hoops, but women's basketball, volleyball, baseball and softball, too.
The theory goes that somebody has a need for programming somewhere, so let's put it up on the bird and see who salutes. Sold advertising is a bonus, not a requirement, when there's extra moo-lah falling from Bill Richardson's wallet for stuff UTEP has to wring from Larry Durham and Paul Foster.
My friends at MetroSports Southwest have saluted, as has Fox Sports' regional cable outlets and markets and stations around New Mexico. Hey, it's free programming!
Yes, the Ags have needed Stan Fulton money and corporate bucks to build their athletic facilities, but an easier path to matching state funds has ramped up a construction schedule that has facilitated some major improvements faster than UTEP can say "basketball practice facility".
The bottom line is that when your state legislature is willing and able to write checks for scholarships and projects, you have more money to make things happen on your own -- like building your own TV network. The Miners do not have this luxury.
But for those UTEP fans who think more TV equals fewer of those oh-so-noticeable empty seats in the Don Haskins Center, AggieVision has not seen much if any increase in fan support up in the City of Crosses.
The Aggies have only averaged 6,158 fans in 14 home men's basketball games despite the fact that NMSU fans have been able to watch Marvin Menzies' team play on the tube considerably more than UTEP fans have been able to see the Miners, though UTEP's paid attendance averages are slightly better.
As for football? Forget any comparison between the two schools. The combined attendance of two football games between Las Cruces High and Mayfield High at Aggie Memorial Stadium comes way too close to the cumulative attendance for the final season of Hal Mumme's Aggie Air Raid.
Yes, television does mean more consciousness, if not better attendance. But TV ain't cheap, as well both schools know.
Consider that NMSU has kept costs down by employing Aggie students to run much of AggieVision's operation. UTEP could do the same, especially now with a burgeoning video media department. But that's mainly for home games. Road games usually mean hiring a local crew. Sometimes, you can get lucky and piggyback off a feed already provided by the home team, but not always.
Even bare bones, it's a five-figure proposition for just about any kind of meaningful game you want to put up on a satellite. Ready to ask advertisers to fork over maybe $50- to $80-thousand for a full year of grid and cage?
I've contended that one way to offset would be to push for Spanish-language play-by-play and market both English and Spanish broadcasts to any and all takers. If advertisers know they'll get more bang for their bucks, they would be much more amenable.
I'm not sure UTEP's marketing folks are able to look this way, for whatever reason, though I imagine they could find help in this endeavor if they chose. Even so, it's certainly no magic wand.
Failing that, more than one Miners fan will be growing older waiting for this vision to take shape.
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