ESPN gameplan for directv

[Cocknfire55]

Not sure if this is the right forum. Anyways, I just moved out here to phoenix, Arizona, several months ago. For all those outside of the south Carolina viewing area, is it worth it to purchase ESPN game plan on DirecTV to see gamecock football games, or do the games generally appear nationwide on ESPN? I'm sure the games like uab and wofford won't be tried nationwide, but id like to see as many as possible

[cockymac]

It would be worth it, if you live in Arizona. It's not worth it for us in SC, since they black out the in-state games. On the plus side, you would get to see a bunch of other games that you might be interested in too.

[uscgamecocks88]

SEC games will most likely be on national TV. If its on PPV or regional tv here it will be on gameplan in arizona. If I remember correctly from last year, most of the games were televised nationally. ECU and Citadel were the two games that were on regioinal TV/PPV I think.

We have more games on a nat. tv now than we used to.

[Cocknfire55]

Originally Posted by uscgamecocks88

SEC games will most likely be on national TV. If its on PPV or regional tv here it will be on gameplan in arizona. If I remember correctly from last year, most of the games were televised nationally. ECU and Citadel were the two games that were on regioinal TV/PPV I think.

We have more games on a nat. tv now than we used to.

yeah that's what is great about being in the sec. CBS games are the best because I know they will be broadcast nationwide for sure. ESPN regional coverage can be unpredictable though, or maybe I'm not understanding how it works.

[shiversindiana@emb]

I left my USC 35 years ago to move to Indiana. Football, Basketball, Baseball games on tv--never. Today on my DISH I only have to buy individual games, like Wofford, Furman, the like. Thanks to our teams' success and the SEC many of our games are on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and CBS for free.... I don't buy the entire ESPN gameplan because one day packages are all that is needed. last year I only had to pay for 1 game. I hope this helps Go Cocks!!!

[GamecockMastermind]

Originally Posted by shiversindiana@emb

I left my USC 35 years ago to move to Indiana. Football, Basketball, Baseball games on tv--never. Today on my DISH I only have to buy individual games, like Wofford, Furman, the like. Thanks to our teams' success and the SEC many of our games are on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and CBS for free.... I don't buy the entire ESPN gameplan because one day packages are all that is needed. last year I only had to pay for 1 game. I hope this helps Go Cocks!!!

I know the feeling man.. stuck in Indiana as well..... I use ESPN3.com... Last season I didn't miss one game

[b381l]

Originally Posted by Cocknfire55

Not sure if this is the right forum. Anyways, I just moved out here to phoenix, Arizona, several months ago. For all those outside of the south Carolina viewing area, is it worth it to purchase ESPN game plan on DirecTV to see gamecock football games, or do the games generally appear nationwide on ESPN? I'm sure the games like uab and wofford won't be tried nationwide, but id like to see as many as possible

I live in VA and have had it for 5 years. It's worth every penny because you get non national games like Citadel.....so I watch them on ESPN Game Plan 3-4 times each year.
One word of caution, the games are not broadcast in HD.....but still worth it.

[gamecock1119]

I think it'd be worth it if where you live doesn't carry SEC Network, which I wouldn't expect AZ to. But in any event, if your internet offers ESPN3, that's your cheapest route, but gameplan is a better sense of security than online streaming. Last year there were 4 regional TV/PPV games. Depending on the price it could be cheaper to just buy gameplan by the day, rather than for the whole season

[SC Sandlapper]

Out of state fan here too, and I did the math and figured I come out way ahead with the a la carte approach, either buying the rare game we're not on for free, or even better watching ESPN3 if you get that.

Of course it depends on whether you care enough about non-USC games to pay for the package. If you're a total college fb junkee, you may want to, but personally I would only pay to see the gamecocks.

[Gamecock1983]

I had Gameplan back when I lived in Southern California. For me, it was a very good annual investment. Of course, it gave me the opportunity to see the Gamecocks weekly. I also enjoyed the fact that with the full package, I could watch other matchups from the region that I actually cared about. For instance, on a given Saturday...I could watch the Gamecocks, Vandy and Mississippi State play. On the west coast, the normal schedule...I would have been watching Washington State or UNLV in addition to the weekly SoCal game. It was great being able to see the teams I was accustomed to watching weekly in addition to our games.

[Go Cocks 29]

As not only a gamecock fan but also a fan of college football (my favorite time of year), it was an awesome investment when i lived in NC. I did it every year and got to watch football all day and loved it.

[Cocknfire55]

Thanks for the input guys. I'll give points when I'm on here and on a computer and not my phone.

Originally Posted by Gamecock1983

I had Gameplan back when I lived in Southern California. For me, it was a very good annual investment. Of course, it gave me the opportunity to see the Gamecocks weekly. I also enjoyed the fact that with the full package, I could watch other matchups from the region that I actually cared about. For instance, on a given Saturday...I could watch the Gamecocks, Vandy and Mississippi State play. On the west coast, the normal schedule...I would have been watching Washington State or UNLV in addition to the weekly SoCal game. It was great being able to see the teams I was accustomed to watching weekly in addition to our games.

The quality of college football games out here on the west coast is no where near the level I was used to in south Carolina. The only game I remembered seeing that was a great game was so cal vs Stanford. I'd rather watch ANY SEC football game than the Arizona state garbage that they show here.

[U-Dub Gamecock]

There is a package on the Dish Network that I get in the fall/winter that gets all the Fox Regional Channels... That way I can see my Huskies play football/basketball... Its only like $7 per month extra... Totally worth it...

[eightohhthree]

Originally Posted by U-Dub Gamecock

There is a package on the Dish Network that I get in the fall/winter that gets all the Fox Regional Channels... That way I can see my Huskies play football/basketball... Its only like $7 per month extra... Totally worth it...

I ended up doing this for a game or two last year. The rest were nationally televised. Any time SEC teams face it's going to be on TV. You can probably get the majority of the games without having to fork out money for Gameplan.

[TKE226]

I've done this in the past. but found recently, that of the 12 games...about 8-9 are televised nationally, and those that arent are against the FCS team and so forth...

if you have a lot of time to chill and watch games,its great, but if you are only using it for SC, it may not be worth paying the entire season for 3 games...

[uscgamecocks88]

What I'm thinking about doing for this season for games on PPV (if there are any) is to get those cables where you can project stuff on laptop to the TV. So I can pull up ESPN 3, hook up the cable, and watch the game for free. The Citadel game was $30 last year....

Whats the name of those cables? They exist, right? You can tell I'm not a technology major....

[johnnyb]

Originally Posted by uscgamecocks88

What I'm thinking about doing for this season for games on PPV (if there are any) is to get those cables where you can project stuff on laptop to the TV. So I can pull up ESPN 3, hook up the cable, and watch the game for free. The Citadel game was $30 last year....

Whats the name of those cables? They exist, right? You can tell I'm not a technology major....

my laptop has a HDMI port.....audio and HD video across a single cable

[Cheeze]

I live in Southern California and I would say do not get the extra package. Yo will see all the major games on one of the ESPN's or CBS. And for the Wofford or Furman games I would say make sure you have access to ESPN 3 and you will be set for the season! I just connect my laptop and TV using a HDMI cable and I am good to go. I have not missed a game in 2 seasons!

[GamecockMastermind]

Originally Posted by Cheeze

I live in Southern California and I would say do not get the extra package. Yo will see all the major games on one of the ESPN's or CBS. And for the Wofford or Furman games I would say make sure you have access to ESPN 3 and you will be set for the season! I just connect my laptop and TV using a HDMI cable and I am good to go. I have not missed a game in 2 seasons!

^^ this guy is right!

[Spartan]

Living in North Carolina, I find that I can watch most games on TV.

The difference between watching USC being out of state now versus 5 years ago amazing. Because of the SEC's TV deal with ESPN et al, Carolina is on TV for every SEC game and most non-conference games. It used to be that I could only watch big SEC games and sometimes Clemson which would total 6-8 games.

All of the important ones are on CBS or on ESPN, ESPN 2, or ESPN U. Other "less important" games are on Fox Sports South or the SEC Network of stations (examples from last year include ECU, Kentucky, and MSU). The Citadel was PPV only. The SEC Network and Sports South were huge additions for us out of state viewers.

Living out west I can only assume that you wouldn't get Fox Sports South (though maybe other Fox Sports stations would show some games), and there may or may not be and SEC Network station... so at most you'd miss about 4 games per year. We are also a top 10 team, so I bet we will be on national TV one or two more times than last year.

I would weigh the cost of PPV for 3 or 4 games versus the cost of the Direct TV package and see what makes sense. For me, I'd be willing to miss a few or watch it on ESPN 3.