Baseball Anyone?

By Joseph Weyers

Cubs and White Sox fans across campus may be in high spirits with their winning teams, but some NIU fans still are looking for a way to watch them.

The residence halls don’t offer the Fox Sports Net (FSN) channel, which leaves many baseball fans without a station to tune in to.

“There’s a lot of Chicago sports on there, like half of all the Cubs games,” said Josh House, a senior elementary education major. “So it’s like you miss every other game.”

For some residents, not having FSN causes a lot of inconvenience.

“I got some buddies at University Plaza; I go watch there because they have Comcast,” said Jason Wilbanks, a sophomore communication major.

Senior English major Rocky Kirby said he looks up scores online, but it’s not as much as fun as actually watching the game.

“They should definitely get FSN,” Kirby said. “I feel like I’m paying for cable and not getting every single station I want.”

The all-sports cable network, owned by the Fox Corporation, will air 19 more White Sox games this season, along with 14 Cubs games.

David Dunlap, coordinator of marketing and public relations for Student Housing and Dining Services, explained the cost of adding the measure would be exceptional.

“Adding Fox Sports Net would cost approximately $60,000,” Dunlap said. “We then need to ask ourselves, where will the money come from?”

This is not the first time students have wanted to add a new channel to their service. Students spoke up in September 2001 to add TNN, which is now Spike TV, for a considerably cheaper price than FSN’s. TNN’s popular World Wrestling Entertainment programming prompted the change.

Because TNN was added in the middle of the fiscal year, RHA footed the bill for the additional channel and included it in the next year’s cable package.

The networks acknowledge the fees to add certain channels can be high for the university.

“We usually try to work something out with the campus cable provider,” said an FSN spokesman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Both Illinois State and Western Illinois universities carry FSN with their cable.

However, FSN is not completely absent from NIU. Through a special agreement with NIU’s cable provider, the Northern Lights Grill at Grant South carries the channel. Patrons there will be able to see the Cubs visit the St. Louis Cardinals at 7 p.m. today on FSN.