I have been thinking a great deal lately about the structure of popularity or marketing, or what some networks consider to be fact, or in some cases righteousness. I recall a time when sports coverage was simply what the biggest story was in the sport (or sports world) at that time. Those were good times and I remember them fondly.
There was a time when television and media coverage of sports was not an unabashed highly efficient hype monster. Perhaps I am an early developing curmudgeon or the main character in some modern day Ayn Rand novel drowning in my own need to be an individual fighting against some evil oppressive monstrosity (that may or may not live in Bristol, CT)
With all of that said I do not have anymore qualification to comment on this than that of a television producer who does a lot of live sports. I am also qualified as a connoisseur of television production, sports and especially coverage of sports on television.
As some of you may know I spend a fair amount of time in sports arenas, stadiums, parks, fields, field houses and so on. I often see people who dress up in effort to show that they support their teams. These people wear jerseys; shorts; sweaters; pants; jackets; knit caps; giant foam products; all manners of clothing and paraphernalia that these people shell out a cumulative $200 BILLION in the united states alone in a single year. That according to the New York Times news service. Now that number was not intended for any other reason to show how absolutely rabid American sports fans are. Networks like ESPN, Fox Sports, and all of your local "RSN" or Regional Sports Networks" make a killing peddling 24 hour a day sports coverage, information and so on.
So now we are acutely aware of the major business that sports has become in this country. At risk of sounding like some Forbes reporter prattling on with a story on the business impact of sports on the American economy, I assure you I am not that guy at all. I am however in the guy who has been in this business for more than 10 years and have seen how the power of sports marketing has had on the quality and in some cases integrity of the coverage of sports. I know its kind of laughable to associate a word like integrity with the coverage of something with as little poignancy on the global stage as sports... Or is it?
Ok I don't think I need to remind all of you of the global impact of the last world cup. The tournament that makes the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, BCS Series and just for spice the Stanley Cup Playoffs wish they had that kind of popularity. Every country in the world watched as soccer players played for a small humble trophy. They played so their country could possibly be crowned champions of the world... of soccer. Now take the United States of America for example. Our country is the single largest consumer of sports/events/merchandise in the world. Americans typically hate soccer. The reasons for the lack of popularity in the United States is for another debate. What I want to talk about here is the lack of interest, and more importantly why. I believe sincerely that the single biggest reason for the hierarchy of sports popularity in the U.S. is the hierarchy of sports coverage. The principal in this subject is the Entertainment Sports Programming Network... i.e the worldwide leader or ESPN.When ESPN first started out they were a great underdog story waiting to be developed into a great success story. Guess what it happened and they became the single biggest voice in all of sports in the United States and arguably the world as market share goes. Many of you know the loudest voice is the one you hear most. ESPN has now had the power of the Disney corporation behind them for some time. That money pays for market research and and endless train of production budgets and good old wholesome family association. People love ESPN. People eat at ESPN restaurants. People wear ESPN clothing. There is a magazine, a website, and in some cases ESPN has even added to the lexicon of American popular culture. With all of that power comes (I can't resist so I am sorry in advance) great responsibility. ESPN has lost its self along the line somewhere as a sports network and has adopted a Frankenstein format of broadcasting.
If the TV network execs at Disney/ESPN decided to be Rachel Ray for a day it would go something like this...
"Ok today we are making the Worldwide leader of sports." "Ok first we will change from that old fun sports center format where Keith Olberman and Dan Patrick will be smart asses and do hilights." "So we will adopt the cable news format and add everyone's favorite spice to a national newscast.... PUNDITS!" "Everyone loves pundits!" "Now we will add more flavors of a fewer things like Football, Baseball, Basketball, Golf and Nascar!" "We here at ESPN have decided to rid the popular world of less tasty things like Hockey and Soccer"
Ok thanks Rachel! Its true ESPN has become the sum of pure market research and the association with major sports leagues and collegiate sporting governing bodies. They spend so much time and money combing over ratings, market research to find out what their viewers want to see. Where the fault is or more appropriately when the fault happened is murky. I do however had some idea of the model upon which the fault was based.
Michael Jordan and David Stern.
The NBA marketed Michael Jordan as a savior of an interminably weak professional sports league. David Stern prayed for and was granted a miracle. Throughout the time M.J.'s memorable career the NBA flourished, suddenly the NBA became healthy, thrived and has become the 3rd most popular sport in America by heads and shoulders above a frail NHL and NASCAR. Even though NASCAR is racing and cannot be taken seriously as a major league sport no matter what ESPN, FOX, NBC or the state of North Carolina tell me.
I believe that the "MJ model" is the root of this issue. David Stern had a stroke of genius, or luck or more likely both. Michael Jordan was charismatic , athletic, marketable and perfect for the proliferation and subsequent globalization of basketball. That kind of single icon, or sports demagoguery so to speak has had a profound effect on the way sports are marketed and delivered to the fans. If you look at the way the NBA is marketed now it seems like they are waiting for lightning to strike a second time. It goes as far back as Hardaway and has continued through Grant Hill, Kobe Bryant, and now LeBron James. Since MJ hung up his NIKEs for the last time the NBA has gone from searching for that certain something, to the second coming. The NBA is an amazing marketing organization. They have an incredible amount of influence on the content that is delivered by the television networks that follow it. The NFL has probably the most amazing grip on the content delivered in any medium. The NBA probably has the most finesse. The NBA has conjured up brilliant talking points over the years that range from frozen envelopes in the draft lottery to preferential treatment of star players by the officials. With all of that said I have been nauseated by this year's coverage of the NBA playoffs. I know that people are easily irritated by the obsessive coverage of any one story line. At the same time those same people are tuning in to see what happens.
ESPN and every other sports broadcasting organization has latched on to that marketing technique as a fundamental block of their system of delivery. When the worldwide leader adopted the cable news format as their principal method of delivering sports news and information I began to fade in my loyalty to sportscenter. For a long time I was an avid sportscenter viewer and a staunch proponent of the nightly highlight show format. In the last year or so I have seen a metamorphosis. Sportscenter has gone from a witty delivery of condensed play by play from the perspective of a smarmy sharp witted desk jockey. Sportscenter has now become a highly polished hair helmet clad news anchor having taken himself and his topics far too seriously. I now see Brian Kenny interviewing a number of pundits and former jocks and coaches to see their opinion on whether or not Barry Bonds really took steroids, or what impact Roger Clemens will have on the price of gold in the middle east. Between the grand finale of Pardon the Interruption and the throw to the baseball tonight set - we are lucky enough to see a 5 minute highlight package on the minor league start Roger Clemens had last night. This was during the Stanley Cup Finals. They did 2 minutes with Steve Levy and Barry Melrose in the 1 hour 6 o'clock sportscenter. During that very same sportscenter they spent 12 minutes on the yankees. So with ESPN adopting a propaganda oriented news format its no wonder the NHL is floundering and suddenly we are watching Jay Harris break down this weeks NASCAR event in Darlington. No offense to NASCAR fans but seriously, 2 years ago ESPN would devote exactly 45 seconds a show to NASCAR highlights on sportscenter and now it gets more play than the NHL.
I find myself feeling indignant towards the networks because of the decision making of a few executive producers and network executives and professional sports league marketing weasels. I get annoyed when I can turn to cnn or the ultimate in propaganda Fox News, then mute the television and click back and forth between ESPN and any one of the Cable news networks and see the same action and format. Anchor, video clip (usually controversial) anchor, pundit, pundit, anchor commercial. Over and over again until the top of the hour when it all gets reset. The only thing that I can tolerate about ESPN is they usually have some kind of sporting event that airs between episodes of sportscenter.
Listen I understand that sports is a big business. I understand the temptation to take yourself seriously enough to begin to control the flow of information to suit the end result you prefer and your associates prefer. But please for the love of what used to be good about sports, stop taking yourselves so seriously. Please!
I used to enjoy watching your networks 24 hours a day. Now it has become intolerable. I beseech you and throw myself on your tender mercies. Please return the state of sports coverage to where it was. When sports reporters understood that they were reporting on a subject and allowing the audience to decide for themselves what they thought about something. Please return the sense of humor to sportscenter, when it was a renegade sophomoric silly little highlight show. Pull the stick out of your butts and return the sports network and lose the news format.
I am sitting down to watch sportscenter now to see if they changed anything. Justin Verlander of the Tigers threw a no hitter tonight, maybe that will get 45 seconds or so behind the Yankees story about how Alex Rodriguez' divorce is going.
