CSVS Q&A: Dan Butterly, Associate Commissioner, Mountain West Conference
Story Highlights
In anticipation of the second-annual College Sports Video Summit, to be held June 8-9 in Atlanta, SVG has assembled a distinguished group of college sports-video experts to serve as the advisory board to help shape the event and ensure its relevance to the industry. Leading up to the two-day summit, SVG will check in with all the members of the board to discuss their involvement, what they hope the Summit will accomplish, and how CSVS can help the industry move forward. This week, SVG talks to Dan Butterly, associate commissioner of the Mountain West Conference, who attended the inaugural event last year and will be back to discuss changes in college sports broadcasting, from HD to 3D.
Why are you involved with the College Sports Video Summit?
Every conference and institution wants to become more visible and broadcast more events than its competitors, either via traditional broadcast television or through the latest mobile technologies. Although, collectively, our missions are the same — to educate student-athletes while providing them a tremendous opportunity to participate in collegiate athletics — we are all competitive, or we would not be in this industry.
The SVG College Sports Video Summit gathers the best from the broadcasting, licensing, marketing, public-relations, and media-relations industries, bringing them together to speak, educate, interact, and socialize with anyone that wants to participate and learn. I am involved with the CSVS because it is the only annual event that allows me to increase my education of the college-sports-video and broadcast scene, compare what we are doing with other conferences and institutions, and determine how we can continue to be progressive in the area of sports video and broadcasting while working within the framework of our television partnerships.
Give us a feel for the state of the college sports industry when it comes to video: where are we?
Technology continues to outpace the college sports industry, and I believe we are always in a mode of playing catch-up. For instance, just a few years ago, we were broadcasting in SD and were excited just to get more events broadcast annually. Now we are dealing with HD technology, and not only are we focused on getting more events broadcast, these games now must be broadcast in HD. We will soon be dealing with 3D technology. The transition from SD to HD to 3D will be historically short in duration, and the CSVS can look toward this transition and educate everyone in attendance on “what’s next” and how we can get there.
What do you hope the event will accomplish?
Having attended the 2009 Summit, I cannot wait to attend the 2010 Summit and learn even more about the industry and “what’s next.” I then hope to take that knowledge and work with our broadcast partners to determine if there are cost-effective technologies to improve the broadcast quality of the significant number of televised events we have on an annual basis.
With budgets constantly tightening, how can colleges (and conferences) use video to become more cost-effective?
Broadcast technology continues to get less expensive to acquire, allowing many institutions the means to broadcast or stream events for a lower cost per event than ever before. The key is finding the right equipment for the types of events you plan to broadcast that will work in the athletic facilities on campus. I believe the trade show associated with the College Sports Video Summit can help every institution and conference shop for and review the significant amount of cameras, switchers, audio, and other technologies available.
Also, kudos to Sports Video Group. With travel budgets getting tighter across the country, institutions should also consider that SVG is willing to pay for one night’s hotel room if you register for the CSVS by April 1: https://web.memberclicks.com/mc/quickForm/viewForm.do?orgId=svg&formId=72255.
What are you most looking forward to at CSVS?
Meeting with as many colleagues and broadcast partners as time will allow, given the tremendous amount of continuing education on the latest in collegiate sports video and broadcasting that I plan to gather at the summit.
