Last week, I was excited to hear that the Big Sky Conference reached an agreement that will bring Big Sky football and basketball games to TV.

I think this is a big step for the Big Sky and will benefit the conference and the universities, but I’ve got a few other suggestions to help make the Big Sky a better conference.

Hold the Big Sky basketball championship at WSU

I’m not saying this because I’m a homer for WSU or because of anything like that. The reason I’m saying this is because it makes the most sense for the conference.

Last year the Big Sky championship was held at the University of Northern Colorado because they had the best record in Big Sky Conference play.  UNC’s gym, Butler-Hancock Gym, holds 5,000 people. Other gyms in the Big Sky have similar seating allotments.

The Dee Events Center holds around 12,000 people and in my mind makes a much better option for hosing post-season tournaments.

Another reason why the Big Sky should hold the tournament at WSU is simply because most facilities in the Big Sky Conference are comparable to many high school gyms.

The Dee Events Center is a great facility for basketball. Besides the obvious fact that it seats more people, it’s just a nice, clean, inviting arena.

Ogden is also centrally located. If teams and fans knew the tournament would be in a centrally located location every year, I would think more would be willing to travel. Fans would be able to plan trips months ahead of time.

Attendance could nearly triple in some cases, allowing more people to see the games, and the Big Sky would rake in cash from the increase of people at games.

For years in the Mountain West Conference, their post-season tournament was held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. No matter who had the best regular-season record, the championship was at UNLV because it made sense.

Also, for 30 years, the Big East Tournament has been held at Madison Square Garden in New York. They do this because New York and Las Vegas were the best facilities and made the most sense to host the tournament.

To me, it seems clear that WSU has the best facilities and makes the most sense to be the annual host for the tournament.

Improve upon Big Sky TV

For the most part, I think Big Sky TV is solid. It’s nice having all conference games broadcast online. But there are some ways in which they can improve upon the existing product.

One thing that would be nice to see on future Big Sky broadcasts would be a uniform score display during the games. Depending on where the game is held, during some game broadcasts, there is a complete display with both school names, scores and how much time is left.

But on other broadcasts, you’re lucky to see who’s playing. Let alone what the score is or how much time is left.

If the Big Sky would make a score display template that every broadcast could use, it would really be nice for viewers, and it would also make the broadcast look more professional and attractive to fans.

Another thing that is sometimes frustrating about Big Sky TV games is the fact that occasionally there is no sound, or the stream of the game doesn’t start on time.

I know that those problems might be out of the Big Sky’s hands, but it would be nice for Big Sky TV to be reliable. It hasn’t happened too often this year, but there have been some occasions where I go to tune into a WSU game and find that the broadcast is down, or slow, or late, or occasionally without any audio.

The Big Sky is a solid conference, and by getting a TV deal for next season, they’re making the right steps to help the conference grow. I hope they will continue to improve upon the conference and grow into a stronger, more competitive conference in the future.