We don’t know which team, but two Mid-American Conference (MAC) basketball teams, one men’s, one women’s team, will soon be celebrating a tournament championship. 

After the last game, Falcon Media Sports Network will be celebrating its own accomplishment as BG Falcon Media and its sports content crew will complete their fifth straight year of covering the entirety of both MAC basketball tournaments. 

Since 2022, Falcon Media Sports Network found themselves staying the entire weekend at Rocket Arena in Cleveland. 

“It is the coolest experience that I’ve had here as a student. There is nothing like it, being able to go to a professional arena for four days straight and be able to call basketball games, be able to cover basketball games of teams that I get to cover all season long, but do it in a venue like that, in a setting like that,” Production Director Tyler Kavalecz said. “It really teaches you, we all work hard here year-round, but that’s a grind, that tournament. You’re going from 8 in the morning to 10 at night.” 

Kavalecz will be seeing the bright lights of the MAC tournament for the fourth time, but the idea to cover the entirety of both the men’s and women’s tournaments came from former Sports Content Director Brandon Loe. 

Loe said he hoped to start the operation during the 2020 season, his sophomore year, before the global pandemic shut down the entire tournament, along with the majority of the country. By the time Loe set foot in Rocket Arena to call the tournament, his successor, Steve Iwanek, had started at BGSU, and the duo was put into a position to call the entire tournament by themselves.  

“We had just fastened down, went out there and did 14 games in four days,” he said. “And it became something that every year when it came around after that point, it’s like, we’ve got so much opportunity to go and learn and get better at what we do.” 

During Loe and Iwanek’s time at BGSU, the organization also went through a rebranding process. Formerly known as Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO), the newly named Falcon Media Sports Network looked to broaden the overall content, showing they were more than just a radio organization. 

When making the switch, Loe said he wanted to give the new organization a name that described all the types of content the group distributed, including their highly detailed work from the MAC tournament. 

“When you take the tournament, and you take 14 games, you have an aspect to do everything, every single game. Ten people could be working on a game. There could be two photographers, two broadcasters, two videographers, two writers, writing different stories. But collaboratively at the end, you have all those people coming together,” Loe said, “I think that that is something special about sports, but that’s also something special about Falcon Media Sports Network because it’s a network that includes everyone.” 

Loe said the network’s goal was to include everyone and allow people to branch out and try different ideas. 

Both Loe and Iwanek said they wanted to set the standard high for themselves and the rest of the organization, seeing the coverage of the MAC tournament as a pillar of what Falcon Media Sports Network covers. 

“I think it’s a pillar because we can say no one else in the MAC does this. Buffalo doesn’t do this. Northern Illinois doesn’t do this. None of the Michigan schools does what we do to the extent that we do. It’s something that we can brand and market to kids who are considering media and say, if you want to become a broadcaster one day, here’s something that no other school that might be pitching to you can say that we can offer. And it’s that,” Iwanek said. 

Falcon Media Manager Karl Smith saw the coverage of the MAC tournament not only as a tribute to BGRSO, but as an opportunity to showcase the growth of the organization, growth he said hopes to reach farther than the campus and town of Bowling Green. 

“Falcon Media Sports Network honors the legacy of its predecessor, Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization, with this annual endeavor and continues to set the bar high for future students,” Smith said, “No one covers their school’s athletics the way we cover BGSU, and the next step is to become the leader in Mid-American Conference and Central Collegiate Hockey Association coverage.” 

The MAC has also recognized this uptake from Falcon Media Sports Network, seeing it as not only a positive for the students at Bowling Green, but also for the conference. 

“Anytime that you have a student organization that can come in and that cares and that wants to promote and that wants to be at our events, that’s huge, especially for a conference like ours to get that buy-in from some passionate students is great,” MAC Associate Commissioner Jeremey Guy said, “It’s a breath of fresh air. I wish a lot of schools had that support and kind of a student-led organization that would go out and do that.” 

While covering the MAC tournament, Falcon Media Sports Network members get real-world experience that will help them see the highs and lows of covering sports. This year will be Sports Content Director Lucas Kleimeyer’s third MAC tournament. 

“It’s everything in a sense that, in this field, you need reps and you need real-world experience. It’s one thing to learn journalism skills, AP style, interviewing skills, and editing in a classroom,” he said. “Those are all important, you need to learn all that stuff, but if you don’t apply it to the real world or stuff that’s happening in real life, whether it’s sports or news, you’re not really learning because this field is about doing and being proactive and going out and talking to people. 

It’s work, but Kleimeyer said it’s worth it. 

“I think it’s one of the most rewarding things too, because, after it’s done, you look back at it, and you think of how proud you are with it,” he said. “Getting up four days in a row early in the morning and driving to Rocket Arena and working the entire day, it’s one of the most rewarding experiences ever.” 

Kavalecz, Kleimeyer, and current member Artie Abrego are the only current members of the organization who have gone to the tournament for multiple years. Abrego, along with Kavalecz, will be going to the MAC tournament for his fourth time in March. 

“It’s definitely the hardest the first day because a lot of times, you’re still trying to recognize some people. But by the last day, you know all those players and you kind of know how they play and what they are and what they do,” Abrego said. “What I’ve learned most is just what it’s like to be in a constant work environment doing journalism.” 

As seniors, 2026 marks the last time Kavalecz, Kleimeyer, and Abrego will cover the tournament for Falcon Media Sports Network, but it’s something they won’t soon forget. 

“It is a luxury to be able to cover a tournament like that the way that we get to cover it, and it’s something that I cherish being able to do that because once I’m done here, there is no guarantee I’ll be able to cover something like that again,” Kavalecz said. “I’m definitely going to miss that.” 

It’s not all bright lights and action, but Kavalecz said there’s something special about those long days. 

“There is something about it, getting up at eight in the morning, going to an NBA arena, being there until basically everyone else in the arena is gone, walking into that parking garage with like three cars in there and driving home in the empty streets of Cleveland,” he said. 

One thing both former and current members have in common—they want to see even better from the organization down the road.

“I want Falcon Media Sports Network to be mentioned up there with the best programs in the country. I want people to look at Bowling Green and say specifically, ‘I’m coming here to do that, or they have this; I’m going here to do that.’ I think that’s what makes it special to me, is I think we’re on the right track to do that and taking those opportunities is how Bowling Green rises the ranks in terms of being a sports broadcasting school and getting noticed,” Loe said. 

The amount of dedication, perseverance, and hard work put in by the founding fathers of Falcon Media Sports Network’s MAC tournament coverage built a blueprint for the future of the organization while covering the MAC tournament. Rather than resting on laurels, Kavalecz expects the next generation to keep the momentum going. 

“I hope that they’re looking back at what we’ve done the past few years and scoffing at that and looking at it like we didn’t do much in terms of covering the tournament,” he said. “I hope that this thing continues to grow, that people continue to care about this, that this continues to be the big deal that it is, and that people put as much passion and work ethic into it that we have done.” 

“What we lay the foundation for is just the steppingstone of what this organization can become, that we can lay a solid foundation for the people and leaders that come after us to take it to another level and really just go crazy with it with the creativity,” he added. “So, I’m hoping in five years’ time from now, I’m watching content from Falcon Media Sports Network, and it’s blowing me away.” 

The MAC men’s and women’s basketball tournaments take place Mar. 11–Mar. 14 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland. Falcon Media Sports Network will provide a wide variety of content and coverage from the tournament on their social media platforms, bgfalconmedia.com, and, of course, live broadcasts of every game on Falcon Radio and WBGU 88.1 FM, both streaming live on the BG Falcon Media website.