| By: John Rice, Contributing Writer | Published: October 7, 2009 |
A series of three, one-hour sports-related panel discussions, Expert Opinion With Graham Spanier, returns to the Big Ten Network this month. The shows, tackling such subjects as “Careers in Sports Journalism,” “Impact of New Media,” and “Life After NCAA,” will air on consecutive Wednesdays beginning Oct. 7.
“When we created the Big Ten Network, we set it up that each university had five hours a month of non-sports programming,” says Spanier, president of Penn State. “Originally, we thought the show should be on a wide variety of topics. [But] as I thought about it, people watching the Big Ten Network are typically interested in sports. They’re not watching to find out about nanotechnology or genetics.”
A previous series of three programs aired on the Big Ten Network in July covering topics including “The Selling of College Sports” and “The College Student as Athlete.”
“What we’ve created is a talk show that is sports-related but deals with the larger issues,” Spanier says. “We don’t talk about what happened at last Saturday’s game. We talk about the big issues that we might be thinking about and discussing at the presidential level.”
In each program, he hosts three panelists who bring their own perspective to the topic at hand. Each topic is enhanced with “man-on-the-street” interviews that introduce questions and topics for the panelists to discuss.
For the sports-journalism hour, the panel comprises USA Today sports reporter Marlen Garcia; Malcolm Moran, director of Penn State’s John Curley Center for Sports Journalism; and Brad Wolverton, senior editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
The shows are shot at the Big Ten Network studios in Chicago, with a set and graphics package designed exclusively for the series. Spanier credits Penn State Associate VP for University Relations/Director of Marketing Cindy Hall with coordinating the look and feel of the programs. “The production value, the quality is very high,” he says.
Spanier, who has a background in broadcasting, says response to the initial series has been very positive.
The second program in the series, scheduled to air Oct. 14, addresses the new media. Spanier says the panel members — Marie Hardin, of Penn State’s John Curly Center for Sports Journalism; Kathleen Hessert, president and founder of Charlotte, NC-based Sports Media Challenge; and Jason Kint, VP/GM, CBS Sports.com — all agree that “the impact of new media is great. It’s going to be a growing force in the future, particularly with young people, but also, increasingly, others are engaged with it.”
He cautions that there is a downside because of a lack of control, “quality control, accuracy, even intrusion into people’s privacy. But, on the other hand, it’s a very positive phenomenon because it’s making so many things much more accessible.”
That broader access includes exposure to “secondary” sports that aren’t usually given national exposure.
“We’re still in a situation where the revenues for intercollegiate athletics come principally from two sports: football and men’s basketball,” Spanier says. At Penn State, 29 other sports require financial support. “We look at the traditional revenue streams and some new revenue streams” to support the school’s athletic programs, he says.
While many schools are facing serious financial constraints and cutbacks in their athletic programs, Spanier notes that Penn State is doing well based on the university’s share of NCAA revenue, football television revenues, ticket sales, and alumni and fan contributions. “Those are still the principle revenue sources.”
Still, he acknowledges, “we’re all engaged in cost containment with expenses like travel and trying to get a little more control over salaries.”
But “we don’t plan to cut back on any sports,” he stresses. “That’s about the last thing we would look at.”
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