Mizzou Athletics last Thursday launched the Mizzou Network, its new online platform for video features, previews of upcoming games, archives of historical content and general information. The new venture expands on the existing Mizzou All-Access package, a multimedia extension of the main athletics website.
“Our goal is to showcase unique content from Mizzou,” said Andrew Grinch, associate athletic director for strategic communications. “We’re hoping our fans will become accustomed to going straight to the Mizzou Network, as opposed to trying to find Mizzou Athletics content from other sources. We want fans to know that they can hear interviews and play-by-play broadcasts, and see video from our Olympic sports.”
Current All-Access subscribers will continue to receive uninterrupted service. Fans who are not already All-Access subscribers can set up accounts for a monthly fee of $9.95 or an annual rate of $79.95. Select events, including some university content and archived games, will be available for free, but most live events will require a paid subscription.
Grinch said he hopes to see subscriptions rise as a result of the athletic department’s increased commitment to providing more video content, including features and profiles in addition to event recaps and interviews with student-athletes and coaches.
MizzouNetwork.com’s launch comes at an opportune time for the athletic department, since fans from the Southeastern Conference are looking to find out more about the Tigers before Mizzou moves to the SEC in July 2012.
“This puts us in a category with athletic departments from the SEC and around the country that are very video-centric,” Grinch said. “This makes us a leader as far as interacting with fans and providing them with video content. SEC fans will be more impressed with our website now than they would’ve been a few months ago.”
Notable items currently on the site include a profile of former Tiger quarterback Chase Daniel, coverage of the Tigers’ NCAA Volleyball Tournament games, a recap of the Mizzou Invitational swim meet and behind-the-scenes footage from the Mizzou men’s basketball team’s trip to Joplin for the One State, One Spirit Classic against Missouri Southern State University.
Featured historical content includes the football team’s 1961 Orange Bowl victory and 2007 win over Kansas.
Grinch said fan feedback about the historical content has been positive since archived games were not previously available. He said that the video and audio will come from Mizzou’s in-house operations whenever possible instead of simply re-posting network or cable television broadcasts.
A tour of the College of Arts and Science highlights the university content section. Grinch said he hopes fans who visit the Mizzou Network for athletic content will learn more about the university’s academic and research endeavors as well.
“It goes back to the idea that athletics is the front porch for the university,” Grinch said. “Some of the content on there had already been produced by the various colleges. What we would like to see moving forward is more regular content, but that’s going to take some time. We aren’t positioned right now to send crews to record academic lectures or other events all over campus, so we’ll have to figure out logistics, but we’re open to faculty coming to us with information about their events.“
Grinch said faculty looking to supply the Mizzou Network with academic content should contact Stan Silvey, the network’s director of strategic communications.
— Ryan Schmitz