SPORTS
Sports network devoted to Ducks
I it# photo
terry Allen's broadcasts of Duck basketball games from Mac
Court are sent by satellite signal to radio affiliates in less than
a second.
By Jake Berg
f merakl Spoils Ftepoctec
Thi* offices of the Oregon
Sports Network arc in a small,
cramped t nrner of Mac Arthur
Court, hut the OSN operation is
anything hut minor
The OSN was horn almost
four years ago when the Uni
versity's athletic department
was faced with either selling its
broadc ast rights to .1 flagship
station as most sc hools do. or
going "in-house" and handling
all of its own hroadc asling and
promotional dec isions I’ic king
the latter, the athletic depart
ment put former Direc tor of
Hroadc anting and Marketing
|im Sc hails in charge of its new
baby. the OSN
Alter evaluating inn pros
.iiul die cons and what would
be the Irest wav to go. 1 think
we fell that il would be a good
dei ision lo go in house with
our railio network.” said
Si haus. now the OSN director
and an assistant athletic direi
tor.
With a flagship station in
charge of broadcasting Duck
sports, the athletii department
would have little control over
what direction the television
and radio programs would fol
low; thus, the beginning of the
OSS'
The OSN. run by the small
staff of Schaus and promotion
Dire* tor Eileen Sorensen, regu
lates everything when it comes
to the broadcasting and market
ing of the athletic programs,
and this was the main purpose
tx-hind its conception.
Not only does the athlete de
partment have more control
over broadcasting and market
ing now with the OSN. it has
complete control over it The
OSN decides where the broad
casts will be transmitted in the
West, who its broadcast affili
ates will lx-, and who will he
the announcers for Duck sports
Schaus gives another main
reason w hy the athletic depart
ment decided to take the broad
casting "in-house": more rev
enue.
Hv i real mg (he OSN. (he ath
letii department has eliminated
a middle-man it would have to
go through in order to deal
with <i flagship station, saving
expense and hassle
With total responsibility of
gaining advertisers and promo
tional marketing for all the
Duck sports, the OSN is an at
tractive package to statewide
and regional sponsors that the
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athletic department previously
hadn't been able to consistently
attract.
"Now we re able to put to
gether a one-stop shopping ap
proach to sports sponsorship
here at the UO by offering an
opportunity for radio, televi
sion and promotional tie-ins."
Schaus said. "We have that
control, and that's what adver
tisers like."
The control has enabled OSN
to expand from radio to the
OSN Television Network two
years ago, to cable television
last year, and to a larger radio
broadcast which now reaches
25 different affiliates in Ore
gon. California. Washington.
Idaho and Alaska.
In tins onti-stop shopping
package, advertisers are able to
place radio and television com
mercials. gel in-stadium expo
sure through scoreboard or
public address messages, hos
pitality bonuses such as tickets
to games, and are also able to
promote themselves through
coupons offered at the events.
"They (the advertisers) don’t
have to go to four or five differ
ent places to get a complete
sponsorship of the 11() athletic
department," Sehaus said
"We can do that
The OSN has contracted with
the University radio station
KU AX to serve as a network
studio and to help with produi -
tion work during the broadcast
of football and men's basketball
games A station employee
dubs in commercials according
to the broadcast format and a
hWAX engineer is present at
all home games
From the "Voice of the
Dm ks. " OSN sportsi aster Jerrv
Allen, the broadcast runs along
a phone line from the site of the
event to the hWAX offices and
is then sent over another phone
line to I .os Angeles I. A up
links the signal 21i.t»(»o miles to
a satellite which will then
down-link the broadcast to the
radio affiliates The entire pro
cess takes about a set ond
Having control id such a
large broadcast has its advan
tages. Sehaus said
"You tan decide where the
broadc ast is going to go, and it
helps alumni support. re< ruit
ing and a variety of other
things," he says.
As far Schaus knows, taking
an entire broadcast operation
in-house is a rarity among col
leges in this nation.
"I would bet there are less
than a dozen Division I schools
in the country that have in
house broadcast settings," says
Schaus But he notes that it has
become somewhat of a trend
among professional sports or
ganizations because they have
found it profitable to eliminate
the middle-man.
However, Schaus refuses to
accept credit for the creation of
the OSN. He instead praises
UO Athletic Director Bill Byrne
for the idea and desire to take
the broadcast responsibilities
into the Athletic Department.
"Bill Byrne deserves the
credit as the person who was
bold enough to take a little risk
and go in-house." he said. "It
was an excellent move on his
part because I would say that
we have probably tripled our
radio and TV net revenue be
cause of what we've done."
Friday, December 7, 1990