The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference announced the implementation of a pay-per-view model for conference tournaments and championships Oct. 16. This means that people will now have to pay to access broadcasts of these athletic events.
This announcement marks not only a major shift for the WIAC, but a divide in opinions from community, alumni, athletes and coaches.
“I personally don’t like this decision,” football head coach Jace Rindahl said. “I think it totally goes against what Division III athletics are and stands for.”
There are two primary ways and costs to access WIAC postseason broadcasts. The daily pass costs $10 on average to access a single sporting event. The tournament pass costs $25 on average and gives viewers access to the entire tournament for a given sport. However, costs may vary depending on the sport and it is important to note that regular season events remain free of charge to the public.
Pay-per-view isn’t a new concept by any means or even groundbreaking for DIII schools. Other DIII conferences have already implemented this model into their athletics and have been using paid subscriptions over the past few years.
This transition has been in the works for a while now and UW-W athletic director Ryan Callahan heard about the likely shift to pay-per-view a few months ago.
“This has been a topic of discussion for years now but I found out a couple months ago at one of our athletic director meetings,” Callahan said.
The idea behind making a move like this is that it will improve the championship experience for fans and athletes. WIAC Commissioner Danielle Harris offered insight to why the conference chose to head in this direction in a press release.
“The WIAC has the best fan support in NCAA Division III, with thousands streaming our contests every week,” WIAC Commissioner Danielle Harris said. “By adding a nominal fee during postseason competition, we can continue to offer first-class championship experiences that our student-athletes and our fans expect and deserve.”
With that, all of the revenue from this move is going to the conference office.
Another concern is what else could possibly be behind a paywall in the future.
“Time will tell,” tennis head coach Byron Balkin said. “Hopefully this doesn’t decrease viewership in Whitewater.”
While there are some people who are upset and confused with this move, there are those who understand why the WIAC made this decision.
“There are many people that are saying this is unfortunate because they take so much pride in watching DIII athletics and now say they aren’t going to watch it,” Callahan said. “But others sympathize with the decision and think this is a way to generate revenue.”
Feedback from the community and athletic programs is critical for the future of the pay-per-view system.
Callahan addressed the frustration from fans and community members, letting them know that “I hear you and please let me hear the feedback.”
Recruiting is a pivotal part of collegiate athletics. At the DIII level a key aspect of recruiting is that games are easily accessible. Schools need to be able to showcase what they are about and raise awareness for their programs. While it is not certain one way or another on how much recruiting will be affected by the pay-per-view implementation, Rindahl doesn’t anticipate much of an impact.
“I don’t think recruiting will be affected that much,” Rindahl said. “However, I think not being able to promote the university as having free access to games will naturally hurt a little bit. From a marketing and promotion standpoint, it could be affected.”
The first chance the public will have to see the WIAC pay-per-view system in play is with the upcoming soccer postseasons. The WIAC tournament for men’s soccer begins Nov. 4 while the women’s tournament begins Nov. 5.
