Free Mountain West streams leave UH fans up a creek

Three University of Hawaii football road games are expected to be live-streamed for viewing on the Mountain West Conference’s digital network this season.

Well, most places, anyway.

Again we are reminded of UH’s unique position in a conference where one size fits 11 of the 12 members. Bet you can guess who the odd one is.

As the Warriors prepare for their second season of MWC football membership, the ever-evolving media rights continue to accentuate the differences between the 11 all-sports members and the solo football-only add-on that is a school near you. The kind that makes the geographical separation seem every bit the 2,500 miles between UH and its closest brethren.

For example, it has been announced that the Sept. 21 UH conference opener at Nevada will be televised by Oceanic Time Warner and streamed on the conference’s ballyhooed, newly enhanced digital network.

But before you invite the gang to assemble to watch the Warriors vs. Nick Rolovich & Co., be aware things will be different here. Because UH doesn’t share in the conference TV money and depends on locally generated pay-per-view revenue to fill in the gap, plans call for the game to be blacked out here, officials said Thursday. The better to protect the pay-per-view package sales for which the game figures to be one of the most attractive offerings this season.

Likewise, barring a reversal, the Warriors’ Oct. 12 game at Nevada-Las Vegas and Nov. 23 trip to Wyoming are earmarked for the MWC digital network but destined to be available here only to PPV customers.

UH earns approximately $2.4 million per year from the sale of its TV rights to Oceanic, about 8 percent of its overall revenue most years. It has made upwards of $2.6 million when sales have hit various benchmarks.

As a trade off, UH has been contracted against sharing in revenue from the conference’s deals with CBS Sports, ESPN, NBC College Sports, Root or anybody else until the earnings for every other member of the conference top $2.3 million. That hasn’t happened yet and, under the current contracts, isn’t likely to occur anytime soon.

In addition, while MWC members qualify for a six-figure bonus for appearing on national TV, UH is excluded.

But, as a condition of membership, UH is the only member that pays travel subsidies of $150,000-$175,000 per team whether or not the visitors take advantage on the so-called "Hawaii Exemption" that permits opponents appearing here a 13th game to help balance out the costs of travel.

With that kind of an overhead, UH isn’t likely to be in a position to push for free access to its road games.

Of course, nor will you find UH representatives standing up in many conference meetings pounding fists or raising voices to demand a redrawing of the TV rights arrangements. Not when it could easily become the odd one out.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.