The likelihood of an Ivy League basketball television deal is nonexistent, but that does not mean fans won’t be able to watch their Quakers in all Ivy League contests.
Sure, the Ancient Eight makes it on TV when ESPN sends out one of its B-crews to the Palestra or to Lavietes Pavillion for an important league contest, but there is simply not enough money surrounding Ivy basketball for the powers at be to make a big move.
Twenty years ago, that reality would irritate any avid Ivy sports fan, who would have to rely on newspapers to find out the scores from an Ivy League roadtrip.
Now, however, the landscape has changed for the better.
Not only are there wonderful tools such as Twitter around that allow those in attendance to keep fans up to date, but streaming video has become more prominent.
The issue with streaming in the Ivy League has always been that, if you are part of Penn’s subscription service, when the Quakers go up to Brown, those games are still not able to be viewed without having to head to Brown’s own streaming service and purchase the game from the university Penn is visiting.
Of course, tell those complaints to the sports fan of two decades ago and the response would not be positive.
Yet, the new Ivy League deal most assuredly makes things easier for the Penn faithful going forward.
Not only does the new deal include the ability to watch every Ancient Eight contest in basketball, but the amount of sports that one will be able to watch will only grow as the connection between the Ivy and NeuLion grows strong.
This is a big step in the right direction for the league not so much about the ability to watch games regardless of venue, but more about those in charge recognizing that the steps that will make the Ivy League more prominent.
Still, there are some limitations when it comes to the new digital deal.
For starters, price will definitely be a question. Athletic Director Steve Bilsky said that he and the rest of the ADs in the Ancient Eight had yet to set a price for the service, but Bilsky believed it would be around the price of Penn’s own service.
Penn charged $9.95 for a day pass, $11.95 for a month-long package and $79.95 for year-long access, prices which must have been set for a reason, but they make it difficult for fans to tune in just for one big game.
In addition, while making sure that all the schools are up to the same standard is something that Bilsky admitted could prove to issues going forward.
As of last year, the spectrum in regards to Ivy League video production quality was incredibly large, with Penn on the better side of the Ancient Eight, thanks to the money that was put into Penn Sports Network and its new high-quality cameras.
Getting all of the Ivies up to par will be difficult, but if the network can make enough revenue, then perhaps the schools with the weakest production will be able to raise the bar.
Despite the challenges that the new Ivy Digital Network will face in its infancy, it will improve the way that family, friends and fans can watch their favorite teams and athletes play games across the Ivy League.
JOHN PHILLIPS is a rising senior English major from Philadelphia, Pa. and is Sports Editor of The Summer Pennsylvanian. He can be reached at dpsports@thedp.com.
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