Mountain West’s Craig Thompson talks digital media

As the modern sports media landscape has evolved in recent years, the Mountain West Conference has searched to find its place in the market. The conference signed a seven-year television deal in 2013 that has brought record profits to many of the MW member universities, Utah State included.

At the MW media days in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Commissioner Craig Thompson spoke about how the developing media is affecting the Mountain West.

“Do you go to the 60-somethings, do you go to the 30-somethings, do you go to the 20-somethings? We all consume our content in different manners, so you’re trying to cast as broad of a net as you can without alienating anybody.”

On Friday, Twitter announced a partnership with Campus Insiders to broadcast more than 300 collegiate sporting events in the coming year, including seven MW football games.

“We’re trying to find a perfect balance, a sweet spot, between linear and digital,” Thompson said. “I don’t know what that means, I don’t know what 2020 is going to look like.”

The current television contract allows MW games to be broadcast on CBS Sports Network and the ESPN family of networks, as well as locally on ROOT Sports.

As well as broadcasting live games on Twitter, the conference is seeking to extend its brand through Facebook and other digital platforms, Thompson said.

“We’ve got to look at what 2020 might mean for us and maybe there’s a stronger digital play in addition to the linear.”

Utah State won’t be included in any of the live games on Twitter, but the deal will include a number of video packages, including interviews, big plays and highlight reels, that will feature all of the MW universities.