Here’s a thought for ESPN. Just another off the wall muse by Wade relative to upgrading the sport and increasing the viewing pleasure of the fans we don’t have, but could have. And, dare I say, something that isn’t on our leaderships radar; increasing our power rating within the entertainment community.
Question, how many people that watch The Masters golf tournament actually see any of the strokes that Rory Mcllroy or Scottie Scheffler take? In real time that is? Answer, close to none, most all of them are tape delayed. Maybe by minutes, others could be shown a day later.
What happens is this. In the control booth, CBS gathers footage of as many shots as they can, from whomever they can, then they decide which ones will have the greatest appeal to the viewers? That’s what gets aired. “Wow, Tiger Woods just sunk an incredible approach shot on 17!” As soon as Jim Nantz is told what’s coming up, and he has had time to tee-up expectations, the network airs the footage. That’s how a sport that is actually rather mundane, becomes incredibly exciting for the viewers.
Any doubters here?
Just remember that during the course of the four-day event, there are roughly twenty-three-thousand strokes taken. But the viewers only see less than 5% of them. That’s Marketing 101 at its finest.
And kudo’s to CBS and The Masters Committee for knowing what the spectators want to experience and then going about providing it.
Enter the NCAA Wrestling Championships. With 8 mats down, and cameras covering a majority of the action on each one, what do we do? Our leadership, or their designees, select the bouts they feel will be the most exciting in advance of the action. And, that’s what’s aired. They’re the ones we see, regardless if the bout is a barnburner, or a dud.
Now, do they move around when they see an incredible bout taking place. Yes, they do. But all too often what was, doesn’t continue to be and we’re left looking at something the commentators tell us was exceptional. The key word here is was.
Could that be like someone having a great meal at a restaurant and touting the establishment to friends but then, when they go, the expectations are so high that no matter what is served, it’s a letdown.
Unfortunately, on many of the mats, there is some incredible action. Just not what the viewers at home are seeing.
Shouldn’t we try to fix that? It’s really not that hard.
Just take a page out of golf’s playbook and broadcast almost everything by tape delay? Of course, you can’t do that for the finals with only one mat in use, but for the other 310 bouts, why not?
All you have to do is put someone who knows wrestling in the broadcast booth. They’re job is to point out what should air given what has just transpired, then inform the play-by-play analysts what going to happen so they can, as I said before, tee-up the spectators.
Wrestling does produce some amazing action, but sadly, most of it is never seen outside of the arena. And that’s our fault. It’s the Rules Committee’s fault for not realizing what could be, so they can continue to do what they’ve always done; of little substance.
Tape delay broadcasts, it’s not new, it’s just foreign to wrestling.
