SPORTS BARS SCARED OF THE BIG TEN NETWORK?

by The Sports Diva, TSD Magazine

This weekend I had planned to venture out of my apartment for the kickoff of the Ohio State football season. I could go to campus to Eddie George's or stay downtown closer to home. I'm a Time Warner Cable subscriber and at the beginning of the week those were my options. Then it happened:

Time Warner Cable and the Big Ten Network announced today that they have reached an agreement-in-principle on terms of carriage for the Big Ten Network and its high-definition and video-on-demand programming on Time Warner Cable's line-ups throughout the Big Ten territory, including Ohio and Wisconsin. The pending agreement will ensure that Time Warner Cable's customers across these Big Ten states will have access to this Saturday's Big Ten college football season openers and all future Big Ten Network programming on an expanded basic level of service." (Time Warner Cable)

I screamed. Might have scared my neighbors but I didn't care. I had a new option. I could stay home. I could go out and "ho" it up on Friday and wake up at 11:59 am on Saturday just in time for the game. Great news for me and other fans. But are sports bars actually worried about this?

"Football season is big here, it will have an impact," he said. "It's hard to tell how much. But when something like this happens, it just means more people will stay home and watch, they won't come here." (The Capital Times)

That's from a sports bar in Madison, Wisconsin after The Big Ten Network made an agreement with Charter. Now I can't speak for Wisconsin but TRUST that here in Columbus, Ohio there will still be a fair share of bar hoppers on Saturdays. I worked at a sports bar here before the Big Ten Network and they could have easily stayed home to watch those games. But they didn't. Why? Being around more Buckeye fans? Bigger selection of alcohol? Not having to clean up after yourself when you throw chips everywhere and break the tables? Oh and the fights were hilarious. Probably one of my favorite parts.

So to the bar owners in Columbus, Ohio, there is definitely nothing to worry about. Besides that traffic you will get after the game will make your registers happy.