Looking for a TV Deal

Bloomberg News reports that Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris is looking for a national TV sports deal.

The key point is Harris may want to force the Ivy schools with regional TV deals to give their best games up to whatever major network might take us on.

It's an interesting prospect because I'd like to see Ivy football and basketball games get a more permanent home. Right now, most of the national networks broadcasting our games are obviously not too well-schooled on the league and our history.

Of course, it's not just football and basketball. Lacrosse could become a major draw for such a deal if indeed the sport's popularity is catching on as much as I'm told it is. I say "I'm told," because I haven't seen any ratings numbers on LAX.

And then there's this nagging feeling I have that this whole discussion may be moot. With the advancements in streaming video that you can hook up to your TV, (like with ROKU boxes), the Ivy League could easily make its own network almost overnight. This will look like a great option once more people go with these devices in their homes. That number I know is growing.

Imagine the following scenario:

The league sets up a decent, but low cost, studio location for a pregame show on football Saturdays and basketball weekends. Then the viewers can simply click on the Ivy game they want to see. All the Ivy schools already have video services set up for home games, so the only issue here would be making sure cameras are available for out of conference road contests.

Then all we need is finding the right on-air studio team, a la Brent Musburger, Phyllis George and Jimmy "The Greek" from the old days on CBS.