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Run with it and take up 75% of their coverage are different things.
Also, again, it's a self full-filling prophecy most of the time. If you only present the NFL as important and all other sports as shit, then of course the NFL and football are going to seem to be best. I have no issue with NFL coverage... during the NFL season but do we need live look-ins of Jets camp in early August? Get fucked.Comment
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I have officially switched over to watching NBCSports in the morning. The 'Lights is a great show.Comment
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the so called smart fan is still the small market and no one cares if they leave.
I like sports, i'm more than a casual fan...but I dont give a fuck about a guys batting average against a certain left handed pitcher during night games as opposed to day games etc..you cant put that on tv like some public access channel jr college night class lecture LOL . By and large no one cares. And its cool to have a hobby and all but no one cares what you really know about the inner/under workings of a sport/team..you turn on your tv and watch guys sweat and win. Thats what sports is for unless you actually are employeed by a team......really not sure where i'm going with this.....Comment
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I don't think anybody can reasonably disagree with that. However, there is no question ESPN pounds the NFL coverage to death. Despite how popular the NFL is, there is no way a preseason game should be the lead story on the same day that Rory McIlroy crushes a major & Team USA wins a gold medal in hoops. You can't convince me that more people care. This isn't Week 1 regular season we are talking about.
You can't convince me that sports fans at large come home from work, plop down on the couch, and need to know immediately what happened at Jets camp today.
OMG JETS RAN WILD CAT AT PRACTICE TODAY
That was actually a MAJOR STORY on ESPN the other day. Sal Pal "We are not allowed to report the personnel that was on the field, but the Jets did, in fact, run wild cat today!" Nobody gives a fuck, and if you do, you have mental issues. It's niche news, stuff that I can see being reported on NFL Network or in NY papers or being mentioned in passing. Even NFL Network doesn't bang these drums as hard, and well, it's the NFL Network and it's their product and nobody would even complain if they did. It's absurd.
And honestly, while the NFL is the most popular sports league, I think the idea that it is so much more popular than anything else is sort of blown out of proportion. Yes, the SB does a gigantic number, but that has little to do with the sport (completely different topic). Yes, the payoff do enormous numbers. Yes, regular season games do bigger numbers than any other sport. But this idea that every sports argument these days ends with "Pfffft, it's the N-F-L! How dare you compare (anything) to the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE!" is to me a product of the constant pounding into our brains that the NFL somehow matters more than anything else. It's not that large of a gap. Here's the dirty little secret ESPN doesn't want told - people do care about other things! Even things other than Tiger Woods & Lebron! It's true. But ESPN paid billions for he Monday Night Football package, so you can bet your ass they are going to push the NFL like nothing else matters.
The fact is, ESPN fears NFL Network. The ESPN fascination with the NFL has less to do with this supposed NFL domination of the sports market as people may think. It's also fear of the niche networks stealing market share. ESPN tried the same thing (on a smaller scale) when MLB Network rolled out. But MLB Network coverage kicked their ass, they did studies, determined that they lost baseball fans to the new guys, Baseball Tonight ratings dipped, and they decided to throw in the towel and drastically cut back their own baseball coverage rather than fight back. They are determined to not let this happen with the NFL, so, what you have, is essentially two NFL Networks.Comment
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Let me be clear, that i'm not saying the NFL isn't a big deal. It is. But ESPN clearly is agenda driven.
Exhibit A - ESPN loses NHL contract, fires entire NHL staff except for Melrose & Barnaby (Barnaby ended up getting canned anyway for stalking Michelle Beadle), and essentially stops covering the sport.
Exhibit B - ESPN is negotiating with UFC, starts to cover UFC like never before. UFC signs with FOX, and all of a sudden UFC isn't important anymore and they stop giving it coverage beyond the "bottom line" scroll.
I mean, it's so transparent.Comment
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(Barnaby ended up getting canned anyway for stalking Michelle Beadle),
huh?Comment
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Exhibit C - ESPN inks 10 year contract with SEC before 2011 season. Three months later, the night before the final BCS rankings are unveiled, rankings which will determine the pair of teams that will play in a made-for-TV championship game on ESPN, the network buries #2 Oklahoma State's game, downgrading it from national to regional coverage, while also allowing Nick Saban 20 minutes of air time on its marque CFB morning program so that he can stump for #3 Alabama.
There are countless other examples, but yeah, ESPN covers ESPN now. It doesn't cover sports. It's corporate synergy, aimed at the lowest common denominator who they bank on being too stupid to notice or too apathetic to care.
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I would think the "smart fan" would have more loyalty to the network than the casual fan. If all you are doing is trying to bring in casual fans to watch Sportscenter, then your network is going to consist entirely of Sportscenter. The casual fan isn't going to be watcing a 30 for 30 show or a College Gameday. I think if the "smart fan" leaves ESPN, then all they will show is Sportscenter...which might be just as well.Comment
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