Bulldog Network coming to Ottumwa athletic events

Feb. 27—OTTUMWA — As if the upcoming Ottumwa High School competition gym won't be electric enough, the Ottumwa Community School District Board of Education agreed to something that will only enhance the experience.

Beginning next year, the Bulldog Network will begin.

The board's three-year agreement with KIIC/Thunder Country and Mahaska Communications Group as part of a process that will likely conclude with the purchase of a 28-by-8, 3 million-pixel video board placed in the gymnasium, offering video production, instant replay and some play-by-play of activities in the facility.

Though the board didn't take action on the video board portion of the project, if approved, it would be the largest high school video board in Iowa, chief information officer Landon Allen said.

Even then, school district officials believe the new partnership will be more beneficial than its current agreement.

"MCG and KIIC are going to help provide $60,000 up front for the cost to purchase these video and scoreboards, which we're certainly grateful for," Allen said. "Ottumwa Schools will pay the remaining portion, or about $110,000."

Ottumwa activities director Brandon Brooks said the main board will "kind of hang in the center, almost between the courts right in front of the partition that will divide both gyms."

"For the secondary board and the boards in the other gym, they'll be a little bit smaller," he said. "That's not as much of a need to have 28-foot boards in the whole place."

KIIC and MCG have already provided video production services at Oskaloosa and EBF, among other schools, but Ottumwa presents a bigger opportunity. Like in Oskaloosa, Ottumwa students can take a video production course and run the video boards throughout the year. Currently, nine students have signed up for that course, while in Oskaloosa, the class has grown to at least 40.

"That has worked very well in Oskaloosa," said Joe Milledge, owner of KIIC. "We assist the class with consulting on what equipment they need, sometimes we're purchasing equipment they need, and sometimes we're in the classroom so students are learning what they need.

"It's kind of been our model to assist schools and also not only create opportunities for students, but also revenue-share capabilities."

Ottumwa figures to see increased revenue from the ads that will be on the video board. Currently, on a board at Evans Middle School, the district sees about $15,000 in ad revenue coming back to the district. This board will likely double that.

Currently, most Ottumwa athletics are available solely on YouTube or Facebook. The Bulldog Network will be offered through www.bulldognetwork.tv, on a smartphone app, Roku devices and smart TVs, as well as Amazon Fire.

There will be no cost to the consumer.

"One of the things with a browser-based broadcast is that you don't get tied up in stipulations or regulations that come from Facebook," Milledge said. "In many of our other schools, we do band concerts, choir concerts that have copyrighted music, so you avoid that."

Brooks said the entities would give the district $20,000 in seed money to purchase equipment to get the video production going.

"Obviously to do that at a high level takes equipment and takes things you need to make that happen," he said.

Essentially, ad revenue will be split three ways, but Allen was pleased KIIC and MCG were providing about $80,000 in equipment costs up front.

"They certainly didn't have to do that," he said. "We're thankful that Joe and Frank have been good partners in this.

— Chad Drury can be reached at cdrury@ottumwacourier.com, and on Twitter @ChadDrury