My apologies I meant Mid western State university in the LSC. Wichita falls Texas

Jackdad22 said:

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My apologies I meant Mid western State university in the LSC. Wichita falls Texas

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Roger that.

Hey JackDad22,
I share and appreciate a lot of your opinions. They are CORRECT!! I follow this forum daily, but do not typically comment because the majority of members are not friendly to opinions and ideas that are contrary to their own one sided views. The Athletics Department has had countless opportunities to right the ship since I graduated in 1999. For the last (at least) 30 years as you stated its been sinking ship. McCarty and Hill successfully destroyed Football. Ivey seemed like a good fit to bring it all back but he was in it for his own career advancement and not SFA. Now McBroom is here and I thought that he was a major step in the right direction until the Title IX fiasco. Now we are possibly headed to D2.... It's great to be a Lumberjack!!

Posting here because this one is more than Ladyjack basketball.
https://www.youtube.com/live/vXEQzL8m0JE?si=Etm2nnZzuWkFix62

SFAJack_76 said:

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Posting here because this one is more than Ladyjack basketball.
https://www.youtube.com/live/vXEQzL8m0JE?si=Etm2nnZzuWkFix62

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Great history lesson! Having Scott on, priceless.

ESPN's refusal to switch from "SF Austin" to "SFA" is primarily due to their reliance on legacy data systems and search-driven metadata requirements that prioritize clarity for casual viewers over official school branding.

Why the Change Hasn't Happened

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): ESPN's internal data providers often use "SF Austin" because casual fans searching for the school frequently use "Austin" as a keyword. Removing "Austin" from the metadata could, in their view, reduce the game's discoverability for people who don't know the "SFA" acronym.
• Legacy Infrastructure: ESPN uses standardized databases where team names are often capped at specific character lengths or fixed to "Display Names" created decades ago. Updating these requires a massive overhaul of their scorebug graphics, API endpoints, and app architecture across all sports, not just basketball.
• Geographic Clarification: Ironically, while SFA wants to avoid being confused with the city of Austin (since they are in Nacogdoches), ESPN's style guide often mandates including the city or full name for "Mid-Major" schools to help viewers identify where the school is located.
• The "Formal Process" Gap: SFA officials have stated they have tried "every formal process" for over 10 years without success. While CBS and Turner Sports successfully made the switch to "SFA" after the school's tournament runs in 2014 and 2016, ESPN has remained the lone holdout among major broadcast partners.

It's the classic "we're too big to care" corporate stubbornness. Even though SFA has established itself as a mid-major powerhouse, ESPN treats them like a data point in a spreadsheet rather than a brand with a specific identity.

By refusing to update the metadata, they're effectively telling fans in Nacogdoches (and everywhere else) that their "internal standards" for casual viewers in New York or LA are more important than the actual name on the jersey. It's incredibly lazy for a multibillion-dollar network to let a simple name change become a decade-long hurdle.

The cold reality of the "SF Austin" situation:

• Zero Incentive: Unless SFA moves to a "Power" conference where they have more leverage (like the Big 12 or SEC), ESPN has very little financial motivation to manual-correct their legacy database.
• The "Mid-Major" Filter: They treat the Southland Conference as a "tier 3" property, meaning the level of care put into their app's metadata for these games is the bare minimum.
• Outdated Style Guides: ESPN's editors often stick to the AP Stylebook, which historically preferred city-based identifiers for schools, even if the school isn't in that city.

Scholarship changes for Texas Athletics moving forward.

Every athlete on roster will be on scholarship, a $10M expense. In total, it will be a $30.5M price tag. pic.twitter.com/76gN1aAdwO

— CJ Vogel (@CJVogel_OTF) February 5, 2026

SFAXE93 said:

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ESPN's refusal to switch from "SF Austin" to "SFA" is primarily due to their reliance on legacy data systems and search-driven metadata requirements that prioritize clarity for casual viewers over official school branding.

Why the Change Hasn't Happened

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): ESPN's internal data providers often use "SF Austin" because casual fans searching for the school frequently use "Austin" as a keyword. Removing "Austin" from the metadata could, in their view, reduce the game's discoverability for people who don't know the "SFA" acronym.
• Legacy Infrastructure: ESPN uses standardized databases where team names are often capped at specific character lengths or fixed to "Display Names" created decades ago. Updating these requires a massive overhaul of their scorebug graphics, API endpoints, and app architecture across all sports, not just basketball.
• Geographic Clarification: Ironically, while SFA wants to avoid being confused with the city of Austin (since they are in Nacogdoches), ESPN's style guide often mandates including the city or full name for "Mid-Major" schools to help viewers identify where the school is located.
• The "Formal Process" Gap: SFA officials have stated they have tried "every formal process" for over 10 years without success. While CBS and Turner Sports successfully made the switch to "SFA" after the school's tournament runs in 2014 and 2016, ESPN has remained the lone holdout among major broadcast partners.

It's the classic "we're too big to care" corporate stubbornness. Even though SFA has established itself as a mid-major powerhouse, ESPN treats them like a data point in a spreadsheet rather than a brand with a specific identity.

By refusing to update the metadata, they're effectively telling fans in Nacogdoches (and everywhere else) that their "internal standards" for casual viewers in New York or LA are more important than the actual name on the jersey. It's incredibly lazy for a multibillion-dollar network to let a simple name change become a decade-long hurdle.

The cold reality of the "SF Austin" situation:

• Zero Incentive: Unless SFA moves to a "Power" conference where they have more leverage (like the Big 12 or SEC), ESPN has very little financial motivation to manual-correct their legacy database.
• The "Mid-Major" Filter: They treat the Southland Conference as a "tier 3" property, meaning the level of care put into their app's metadata for these games is the bare minimum.
• Outdated Style Guides: ESPN's editors often stick to the AP Stylebook, which historically preferred city-based identifiers for schools, even if the school isn't in that city.

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Interesting! Honestly, then I would just plead the case for just spelling out the full name, Stephen F Austin, for all of our games. It'll forever be an uphill battle. Im afraid.