ESPN Has a Problem Getting The MTN

ESPN radio announcers have a thing against the The MTN Sports Network.

The Mountain West Conference (MWC) in 2006 decided to establish its own conference network, similar to the Big Ten Network, and other speciality channels.

The decision effected coverage of the conference for all sports.  It meant the MWC got more games on television, but national exposure was cut back dramatically.

Honestly, most Western teams are—to an extent—discriminated against simply because geography means that they are behind Eastern coverage centers. This means that some teams do not get the national attention they deserve—for example, the Utah Utes football teams of 2005 and 2008.

So already put down by networks like ESPN, the MTN Network offers the league a place to put themselves controlled by them. ESPN radio hosts over the last few weeks, and probably farther back than that, have called it "The worst TV contract ever."

Now, I understand it is not the greatest thing if you want exposure for your league to be restricted to the Mountain West area on cable and Directv if you buy their sports pack.

However, it seems mostly like sour grapes on the part of ESPN.

When MWC commissioner Craig Thompson was on Football Tonight back in January he pointed out that the league was bothered by having games on Thursdays and other days that were not in the traditional Saturday afternoon time slot.

One has to wonder why ESPN allows its radio hosts to go off, and I think mostly it is Doug Gottlieb who expresses this opinion. It still is a turn off to hear a national broadcaster attacking others.

My only major disappointment with the network—one that would help those of us who do not have the station—is there isn't a way to watch it on-line. To me, internet Pay-Per-View and Hi-Definition TV broadcast are the biggest problems with the network.

So please ESPN, lay off the Mountain West Conference—they are new, and given time the network could be a must have for real sports fans.