The Art Of Negotiation?

It was announced last night on The Hockey Show, but it needs to be repeated here: UMFM will not be covering Bisons Sports events for this season. The door remains open for the future from what has been indicated, but there will be no live broadcasts or replays of events heard on UMFM airwaves this season. This may surprise a lot of people considering that UMFM was "the home for Bisons Sports" on your radio dial, but it would seem that a business partnership that had lasted for more than two decades couldn't be extended for another season or two after the two sides failed to reach an agreement for broadcasts this season and beyond.

It's hard not to be a little cynical about how the negotiations went based on some of the things reportedly said during the meetings between UMFM and Bisons Sports, but the end result is that Bisons Sports will air exclusive broadcasts on the Canada West TV subscription service only. If you are either unwilling or unable to subscribe to Canada West TV, your chances of watching and/or hearing Bisons Sports broadcasts for football and hockey drop to zero. There will be no other way to catch those games.

If you're asking how this could happen, you're not alone. It's hard to process this kind of information after UMFM has been part of U SPORTS National Championship events, legendary Canada West games, and historical moments of all kinds, but Bisons Sports made it clear during negotiations that they believe they can provide higher quality broadcasts than UMFM. As a broadcaster, it's hard to rationalize how a university athletics department can know more about broadcasting than a radio station, but that seems to be their stance on the matter.

Over July and August, meetings happened infrequently, but there were enough discussions for UMFM to make several concessions in order to have the framework for a broadcasting agreement by the end of August. With little time before the university sports seasons start, everyone involved with the UMFM side of things began to prepare for the football and hockey seasons with the UMFM general manager meeting with Bisons Sports one last time prior to the seasons starting for a production meeting about the broadcasts.

The only problem was that the production meeting involved zero production notes as Bisons Sports informed UMFM that they had shifted their stance on the agreement and had decided to produce the broadcasts on their own without UMFM's involvement. As a result of that decision, the opportunity for UMFM to carry games on its airwaves disappeared. That's how we arrived at where we stand today in having no games being aired on UMFM.

What's Next?

The most obvious change for me will be that I will no longer be a part of Bisons women's hockey broadcasts thanks to Bisons Sports' decision to continue to treat me as a criminal for criticizing the program via The Rundown on February 6, 2022. I will not apologize further for stating what was obvious to most observers last season, and my objective to offer informative and impartial information to readers about the nine Canada West programs will not be sacrificed for any reason. I try to stick to that principle of objectivity since nine teams' worth of players, parents, and fans could possibly read the recaps posted weekly.

And let me be clear: I'm not writing the recaps for page hits and UMFM doesn't subscribe to a radio ratings service, so there isn't a financial reward for me as any sort of motivation to be controversial. Instead, it's always been about, and always will be about, being informative and impartial. The colour of the jersey and the logo on the front doesn't matter to me. If you play well, I'll state that. Conversely, if you play poorly, that too will be said. You may not like that someone said or wrote something critical, but if your sport is played in front of fans who paid for tickets you're open to public criticism. If you don't like being criticized, listen to Ray Ferraro's famed advice: "play better".

The Fallout

In summary, due to their incredibly poor business ethics in failing to honour an agreement made in principle, Bisons Sports is dead to me. That means no more stories or facts shared about Bisons players nor will there be any features produced by me for use on the broadcasts since I'm no longer part of those broadcasts. You will not see another story about a current Bisons player or the team itself on this blog outside of The Rundown, and the effort given towards Manitoba on those recaps will be minimal at best. In fact, starting right now on this article, any reference to or about the Bisons on The Rundown will now be made by their new moniker, the "Fluffy Cows", as shown above, and nothing will change that moniker in the future.

Beyond that, The Hockey Show will devote a total of zero seconds of coverage for the Fluffy Cows until the end of time. That includes interviews with players and staff along with stories about the players and teams - none of it will be mentioned, discussed, or referenced. I'd advise you not to tune into the show expecting to hear about the local university men's and women's hockey teams. It simply will not happen.

For the record, alumni and former staff of the Fluffy Cows will certainly still be welcome, but anyone involved with either team - men's or women's hockey - from this date forward officially will never be given another breath on The Hockey Show. There will be no social media hits for the teams either. If the worst thing about being talked about is NOT being talked about, we're going to test that theory until the end of time.

For all other players and teams who want their stories told, nothing changes there. I'll be happy to promote your efforts, teams, schools, and anything else you want promoted. I'll still marvel over your highlights, skills, and talents, so expect to see the same coverage as before at the very least. That doesn't change.

The Last Word... Ever

If the Fluffy Cows feel that they can do better broadcasts than we can at UMFM, they're welcome to that opinion. I'm not here to tell them how to run their business and I wish them well in following this path, but having this writer's support is an all-or-nothing venture. If they feel that the free marketing we provided on UMFM and this blog was worth nothing, that's precisely the amount of free marketing I'll provide forever more: nothing.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!