Fox Sports and ESPN have decided to run some major sports second-tier, which doesn’t reflect well on the networks and the events they cover.
Let’s start with Fox Sports, Embarrassingly, it doesn’t have announcers at every college football game in the fall, and reportedly didn’t initially plan to send many of its broadcast teams to the World Cup (eventually it did, thanks in part to a sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways ), no announcers at MLB games aired on FS1, and now, in the latest absence, no announcers on the sidelines this week for the No. 5 Pac-12 men between UCLA and ASU Basketball fight.
As for ESPN, It treats the Australian Open as if it were not a Grand Slam. Chris Fowler, John McEnroe Its other top broadcasters are in Bristol, not Melbourne.
What did ESPN say to its tennis viewers? What does it say to its partners? It’s saying that having the best coverage isn’t very important.
Bounce: Substack John Cansano Talk to Arizona Senior Associate Athletic Director Doug Tamaro.
“When I see they don’t get the email, I get frustrated,” Tammaro said. “You’re just moping.”
Decline to comment: Both Fox Sports and ESPN declined to comment when asked how much they saved. With pandemic health protocols no longer a legitimate excuse, it’s just a monetary decision. This is a way to cut corners.
beware: If you tell your audience it doesn’t matter what they’re watching, they’ll eventually believe you. If you tell your rights partners they’re not that important to you, they’re going to go elsewhere at some point. You also put your announcer at a disadvantage.
Networks decide that lower quality broadcasts are worth it to them to save money. Maybe, but it’s hard for me to see how any TV decision maker who cares about production values and being the best they can be would support not putting their staff in the best position to succeed, especially in top-tier college basketball and tennis.
quick click
MLB Network will announce the Hall of Fame names Tuesday at 6 p.m. They have secondary plans before and after revealing who (if anyone) will be in Cooperstown. … NBC Sports said the January 15 Tottenham-Arsenal live broadcast at the Peacock had 808,000 viewers. These numbers are provided by Adobe Analytics provided by NBC. That seems like a significant number. These football figures may indicate that dedicated viewers are turning to streaming for very popular shows. … bill waltonThe alternate cast on the NBA League Pass app is a good idea, since Walton has the type of personality that could work on those broadcasts. On regular calls, Walton might get in the way a bit if you really like the actual game you’re watching. But when you choose to watch Walton, Jason Benetti And friends, it makes sense, because you are choosing to enter the outlet machine.Alternatives like this and Manningcast are not This The future of broadcasting.These alternative broadcasts will A sort of Part of some presentations, but probably never before replacing traditional two- or three-player teams. … Terrible oops: Fox Sports Rob Gronkowskion the big table Saturday, so close and so far away from the Eagles’ offensive coordinator Sean StetsonThe name is correct. Gronkowski said, “Eagle offensive coordinator Shane Spikeman.” this is clip. Meanwhile, after the Chiefs win, NBC’s maria taylor Either a slip of the tongue, or really dislike Kansas City. this is clip.
LIV and let live
In golfing terms, LIV Golf’s TV deal with The CW starts with bunkers, but there’s a good lie that with the right wedges it’s possible to land on the greens.
The first thing about LIV isn’t great: it’s not Fox Sports. With NBC, CBS and ESPN/ABC not considered a true competitor to LIV, Fox Sports might have been a suitable fit, but Fox rejected the free revenue share that The CW eventually agreed to with LIV.
In addition to Fox Sports’ superior reach, this will make LIV more mainstream and have a better chance of acceptance and growth.
With first-round matches available exclusively on The CW app, LIV will feel pretty niche — even with some of the world’s top players involved. While the goal of the Saudi-backed tour may be able to succeed through “sports washing”, there currently appear to be no real plans to start a viable business. The CW deal is a start, but the network isn’t really as distributed as YouTube, and I don’t think it will provide enough cover for potential LIV sponsors to really want to get too involved, as opposed to platforms like Fox. Although LIV officials acted as if all was well, in reality it was not.
I figured this out from Golf Weekly Eamon Lynch well said:
“Warning for a chance to impress his boss, LIV’s Chief Media Officer, Will SteigerSummons a version of the event, even george santos Narrative restraint is required.
“‘After competitive bidding windows across multiple US networks and streaming platforms, 2022 sports stories just entered pole position for 2023 headlines,’ [Staeger] wrote in a social media post.
“Staeger’s comments raise two questions for those of us who tend to be cynical: does autocorrect turn ‘begging’ into a ‘bid’, and how does a competitive process between multiple parties lead to giving away products for free for worst-case options? “
FAN’s old guard is out
All media is constantly evolving, and WFAN (the top US sports radio station) is no exception. Sweeney Murthy, after 30 years at the station, joins a long list of FAN cores who either no longer work at the station or are less effective.Murthy, who announced his departure on Friday, joins mike french, steve summers, Joe Benigno, Eddie Coleman, John Minko and former program director Mark Chernov As a pre-staple at 660 AM/101.9 FM.
Murthy played 22 years with the Yankees but stopped traveling in recent years. FAN is also less dependent on fixed locations, especially in the afternoon when Craig Carton Not a fan of them, this follows the philosophy of the morning producers of “Boomer & Gio” Dukeswho doesn’t like most interviews.
Murthy has remained full-time, even as his role has changed from traveling with the team to just doing postgame performances. Fan offered to let him continue to work part-time after the game, but he refused.
The sports media business has changed, and for some outlets (thankfully, not The Post), COVID has accelerated the idea that you don’t have to be there to properly cover a team.
Institutional knowledge is lost and may not be fully understood by those who do not know well or do not want to know. For three decades, Murthy has been an outstanding performer on New York radio. Without him, FAN loses its institutional knowledge. Fortunately its owner can still read newspapers.
