MOORHEAD — While major conferences in NCAA Division I athletics are grabbing headlines with television deals reportedly in the hundreds of millions and sometimes billions of dollars, the broadcast choices for Division II leagues are much quieter and for far less money.
Conferences have to decide whether a paywall for streamed events, and the potential revenue attached, outweighs the generally larger audiences when live streams are free.
That's the debate for the Division II Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, which includes Minnesota State University Moorhead. Administrators are weighing whether live-streamed NSIC games should remain free or move to a pay-per-view model.
“Up until this year, we haven’t really had a deep conversation like we did this year because we’ve finally reached a point where schools are broadcasting at a pretty high standard,” NSIC commissioner Erin Lind said. “It has at least allowed us to broach the subject of pay-per-view. Five years ago we wouldn’t have been there, but we’re there now. We’ve got all of us at a high standard.”
Earlier this year, a majority of league members voted to keep streams that involve solely NSIC competition free, but that sentiment wasn’t unanimous.
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“I’m a proponent of the pay-per-view model,” said Northern State athletic director Nate Davis. “I think it gives us an opportunity to show the value of our product with our programs and with our teams in the league.”
Prior to Northern State, Davis had experience in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association, which has a pay-per-view model. MIAA commissioner Mike Racy said the conference is projected to generate subscription revenue of more than $500,000 from streaming this school year to be distributed among 14 members.
Davis was named the AD at Northern State in March of 2022, but previously worked as the senior associate director of athletics at Pittsburg (Kan.) State — which is an MIAA member — from 2017-2022.
“Our numbers in the NSIC probably wouldn’t be quite like that," Davis said of the MIAA streaming subscription revenues. "As you’re starting out, you’re always going to have to grow that a little bit.”
Northwest Missouri State is one of the top brand names in the MIAA, especially with its recent national success in men's basketball with four Division II national championships since 2017.
All MIAA sports are now pay-per-view and Racy said that around $40,000 is the projected average revenue per school from streaming subscriptions for this school year, which is up about 15% from the previous academic year. Racy said that growth is notable even with fans becoming more comfortable to be back in arenas to watch sporting events in the wake of COVID-19.
“That tells me a lot because I think people are becoming more comfortable going back to sporting events and you think our numbers as far as who’s watching on pay-per-view and streaming would go down," Racy said.
Racy said the goal is to get the top schools in his conference to generate six figures in subscription revenue per school year from streaming in the near future. The MIAA pricing is $10 per game, $25 per month and $125 per year. Racy added the additional revenue has allowed schools to enhance their broadcast quality. The MIAA is projected to do more than 1,500 live broadcasts on The MIAA Network this school year.
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“I know there’s a big debate that we’re going to lose fans, I don’t buy it," Racy said. "People are willing to pay subscriptions for quality broadcasts and we see this at the high school level. ... To me it’s a no-brainer. This is a huge revenue stream that a lot of schools that aren’t doing this are leaving on the table.”
There are multiple Division II conferences charging for streaming of their live events, using a variety of pricing models. About 40% of the 23 conferences in Division II have some form of pay-per-view for live streams.
MSUM is in favor of keeping the NSIC streams free for now for multiple reasons, including the athletic department views it as a recruiting tool and allows a larger audience to sample live MSUM sporting events.
“It’s a good (free) sample, a good trial for fans to start there and then hopefully (attending) to games or supporting in other ways,” said Jon Wepking, the assistant athletic director for marketing and production at MSUM. “We want as many people to see our student-athletes as possible, live or otherwise.”
Some of the Dragons live game streams are also aired on Inforum.com and WDAY Sports+. Wepking said those broadcasts are already monetized through advertisements and sponsorships.
“We decided, at this time, pay-per-view is not right for MSUM, from our perspective,” Wepking said. “We are different because we monetize our broadcast very well with sponsorships, and they want more eyeballs."
MSUM athletic director Chad Markuson added: “I feel that we create a great stream and production and I think that helps us sell to our sponsors that their brand is affiliated with a top-notch broadcast.”
Kevin Buisman is the director of athletics at Minnesota State Mankato, which does have pay-per-view for some sports, including its Division I men’s and women’s ice hockey programs. The Mavericks also have had select pay-per-view for track meets that are not NSIC-based events.
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“Right now, I am supportive of NSIC remaining free-for-view,” Buisman said.
For Buisman, the pros for moving to a pay-per-view model would be becoming more consistent with peer D-II conferences that offer some level of PPV, potential revenue and potential enhancement of the league’s reputation if select sports are seen as worthy of pay-per-view investment.
Buisman views the cons as a drop in viewership when events are put behind a paywall and the free model is a good way for schools to connect with alumni, fans, recruits and other prospective students. He also thinks keeping streams free is a way to not add more cost to parents who want to watch their kids compete via streams. In addition, it allows student-athletes across different sports to watch their peers compete.
Buisman also added an additional investment to enhance the quality of streaming for events if they are put behind a paywall could offset the potential added revenue.
“I understand both sides of the argument,” Lind said. “If we want to do it, we can.”
While Davis recognizes the cons of a paywall, he thinks the long-term benefits are worth moving to a pay-per-view model.
“I think it brings value to our product and it helps to showcase our league and our talented student-athletes and coaches,” Davis said. “It’s a way to show the value, but also create value and revenue.”
Davis also realizes there would be some pushback if the league would move to a pay-per-view model.
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“When you change something and it’s different, there is an initial reaction,” Davis said.
Racy said for the MIAA the benefits of pay-per-view outweigh the additional work or additional criticism when things don't work correctly.
“It puts the conference office and our member schools in a direct customer-service role," Racy said. "We’ve had to refund some broadcasts. We’ve had to explain to a grandma or a grandpa how to get things set up. It’s like someone coming to your stadium and complaining who they are sitting next to or the cost of popcorn. You are in that world.”
Wepking said analytics from the school's streaming partner Hudl show there is generally a 55% reduction in viewership in a best-case scenario and nearly a 75% reduction in worst-case scenarios when live events are initially moved to pay-per-view.
Wepking is on the NSIC’s webcasting committee and said if the league did move to a pay-per-view model it would be a hybrid approach with only select sports behind a paywall, with the most likely candidates being football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball.
Davis also agrees with the hybrid model, adding that putting spring sports behind a paywall would be too difficult with the number of schedule changes due to the unpredictability of spring weather in the region.
“Within our society, I think we’re all a lot more accustomed to having to pay to stream content at home,” Davis said. “I think for us, it’s got to be a hybrid model.”
The NSIC is considering charging for league championships as a way to see how events perform behind a paywall. Wepking added pay-per-view for NSIC postseason events could happen as early as the 2023-2024 school year.
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The NSIC is currently a 16-team league, however, Upper Iowa is set to exit after this school year. In addition, all schools don't offer every sport the conference sponsors so that could also make it challenging to formulate a revenue split if at some point the NSIC decides to use pay-per-view. For example, two league members don't have football programs.
There are also partnerships in place with third-party media companies that would have to also be addressed if the league eventually starts using a paywall for events. For example, Midco Sports currently does the broadcasts for the NSIC men’s and women’s basketball tournaments from the second round through the championship games.
“There’s definitely some work that would need to be done with linear broadcasts and some negotiations that would need to happen,” Lind said. “We know that’s a critical piece because we certainly appreciate and value our partnership with Midco. It’s a hurdle that can be worked through, but definitely it is a hurdle.”
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