NBC Blows: Please Give ESPN the Olympics in 2014
ESPN, Olympics August 20th. 2008, 11:50am
Jamaica’s Usain Bolt is the fastest man on the planet. He won the 100m race in record-time last week. This morning, the long-legged cyborg shattered Michael Johnson’s world record and captured the 200m in a blistering 19.30. (Only Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis have pulled off the double.) The race was at 10:20 am, and despite checking USA, MSNBC and NBC, we couldn’t find it anywhere. Why? Because the greedy suits at NBC wanted to ’save’ the race for tonight. What a fucking joke. This is an absolute abomination. (Watch the race here, thanks to a reader.) Ten minutes after the race, ESPN, Fox, SI, CBS Sports and Yahoo all blared the headline. So now everyone in America has to wait 11 hours and 50 minutes to watch it? Our Canadian readers were able to watch it online!
ESPN wants the Olympics in 2014? If John Skipper will stand be these words six years from now - actually, it’s pointless to look that far into the future; you know the world is ending in 2011, right? - we hope that the WWL gets its wish:
“We serve sports fans. It’s hard in our culture to fathom tape-delaying in the same way they have. I’m not suggesting it wasn’t the smart thing for them to do, but it’s not our culture. We did Euro 2008 in the afternoon. We’ve done the World Cup in the middle of the morning. We have different audiences.€
Thing is, how would ESPN be able to adequately cover the Olympics and flood the zone with news and nuggets on the NFL and college football?
UPDATE: Argentina just survived Greece, 80-78, and will play the USA in hoops Thursday. Get ready for Manu (24 points), Delfino (23 points) and Scola.
ESPN Eyes Rights to Games in 2014 and 2016 (NY Times)
66 Responses to “NBC Blows: Please Give ESPN the Olympics in 2014”
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August 20th, 2008 at 11:53 am
delfino is a bum.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:53 am
There’s only one solution…..debut of ESPN 8: The Ocho!!
August 20th, 2008 at 11:53 am
But that would mean creating an Olympics broadcasts for sports fans, not housewives… interesting idea.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:54 am
The world is coming to an end…? Fuck.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I’m sure housewives, the elderly, and bloggers really enjoyed it, too.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:58 am
The amount we complain about ESPN’s over-coverage of everything I think they could find some time to devote to actual sporting events on some of their multitude of channels.
/Good morning from AC everyone
August 20th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Who is home at 10:20 a.m. on a Tuesday to watch the race anyway?
(Besides TBL, of course.)
August 20th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
What’s up with the Argentina game? Score?
August 20th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Sure, so they can do a twelve month prelude to the Phelps Returns saga??? Oh my, please delete this post.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
NBC’s coverage has been horrible. They only show Americans and sports Americans have a shot at winning a medal. The Phelps over kill–at this point I think NBC has Phelps as both Obama and McCain’s VEEP… while he beats the entire USA basketball team, curing AIDS, etc. Ugh. Piss poor job by NBC.
But that said, is it me or has ESPN ignored the Olympics other than USA basketball?
August 20th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
“Thing is, how would ESPN be able to adequately cover the Olympics and flood the zone with news and nuggets on the NFL and college football?”
2012 is four years away. There will be multiple platforms to view those games. Besides, ESPN is going to be partners with the NFL Network by then so I don’t think anyone will suffer from lack of NFL coverage.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
A 12 prelude to Phelps would be better than 4 months of “Why is Michigan 1-7?”
August 20th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I’m guessing if ESPN picked up the games they’d lobby for a July time-frame instead of August (which is a better time ratings-wise for a broadcast network).
August 20th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
“They only show Americans and sports Americans have a shot at winning a medal.” Otter
I agree for the most part. I would argue with they only show Americans. The announcers, and this goes across most of the sports, have been ridiculously fawning over any Chinese athlete. It is obvious they are forced to talk about them to the exclusion of athletes from other countries. I wonder if we’ll here any good stories once the NBC team lands back in the US and they don’t have to worry about the Chinese monitoring them.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
My biggest problem has been, if I’m watching a tape delay, why do I have to wait until 12:30am to see the finals of something. Show it to me at 10pm local, and delay it for the west coast so they also see it at 10pm local.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Of course, say what you want about Costas, but you just know Berman would request to be the main guy in the booth.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
here. hear. letters. words. die. me.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Well, we are in America, so like, NBC is going to show the American competitors.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Not true. The gymnastics announcers have been very critical of the underage athletes as well as some of the favorable scores the Chinese gymnasts received.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Easily solvable.. only have the Olympics in North or South America!
August 20th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
CRM, Atlantic City? You watched 21 didn’t you. Don’t let Fishburne catch you bro.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Almost half of China’s 45 gold medals have come in events that require some sort of scoring from judges.
I would love to see Bolt run the 400 as well. He definitely looks like he has enough speed and endurance to go another 200 with ease.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
at least on espn it would be live, there is nothing more frustrating than having NBC tape delay the west coast feed then watching espn or fox cut in and talk about how great phelps swim was.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I watched the American ping-pong player lose to a Nigerian in a prelim match last night.
/cries realizing how pathetic this is
August 20th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I think it’s crazy that none of the tennis action was on. Williams sister doubles? C’mon who doesn’t want to see that. Did catch some Federer’s doubles though.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
CRM, missed ya brah!
August 20th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Has anyone looked at the medal count? America is shown because they are competitive in every event.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
“Not true. The gymnastics announcers have been very critical of the underage athletes as well as some of the favorable scores the Chinese gymnasts received.” NSR
Maybe so. Haven’t really watched gymnastics. I should have said of the sports I’ve paid attention to.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Not quite.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I dont wanna get all Boilermaker, but bitching about Americans being shown on your American cable feed is pretty ridiculous.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
USA- Argentina should be a good game
August 20th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
West coast tape delays are killing any thoughts of me tuning in
August 20th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Would it kill NBC to show it live at 10:20 this morning and then show it AGAIN in prime time?
ESPN covering the games would probably be the exact same crap (jingoism, poorly timed commercials, the same events over and over).
August 20th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
The Olympics should get rid of silver and bronze medals. They just glorify losing. First and second losers should get the same treatment as last place. Athletes that win silver or bronze should refuse them. They’re just gaudy reminders of being a loser.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
You guys have totally lost perpespective. The Olympics aren’t for the die hard sports fan. They’re for the casual viewer in America. Of course NBC is going to hold onto the Bolt race for primetime. I know I’m going to still watch it. The West Coast had all of Phelps races on tape delay and still did massive ratings numbers.
Everyone can bitch and complain about seeing something live but the games aren’t geared for you. NBC really doesn’t care when they’re pulling in massive rating numbers and selling all kinds of ad money.
I guarantee NBC isn’t losing a big percentage of viewers doing this. I was pissed when I couldn’t get the Phelps races live, but I still watched them on tape delay even after I knew the result. That’s all NBC wants.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
This would never happen, I know, but having the games on ESPN has the potential to be ideal. They could use all their channels and media levels to appeal to every viewer.
ABC/ESPN - same as NBC currently, housewives and casual fans, mainstream sports and fluff stories, etc.
ESPN2 - some more second tier sports that still have a big following (tennis, boxing, soccer, wrestling, etc.)
ESPN Classic - all the obscure stuff that the average US viewer doesn’t care about, but avid sport fans do (badminton, water polo, handball, etc)
ESPN360 - if this can be made available to everybody, this could get the “everything else” category. (archery, rythmic gymnastics, equestrian, sailing, etc.)
August 20th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Who cares if we get too many American athletes and events? This IS fucking America. I’d rather watch/root for my country’s athletes than some dude or manly-looking chick from Uzbekistan.
And, yes, the NBC broadcasters have been very critical of the gymnastics judges. The American girls have gotten hosed for the most part in the gymnastics.
I do not want ESPN editors/producers anywhere near the Olympics. NBC is fine with me.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I disagree with this. I was able to watch most of his races live because I’m on the East Coast and they came on around 11pm or so. I specifically stayed up to watch him swim because the timing worked out perfectly. If they were taped and I knew the result, I would not have watched them. There have got to be a lot of people like that.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
They could show the important events that people will go out of their way to see live (today’s 200m final), and then show the tape delay later. They aren’t going to lose any viewers doing this. They’ll only gain some. It’s idiotic.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Sorry, that argument lost it’s merit after 2001.
/citizen of the world
August 20th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I am loving this headline.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
It’s the deliberate withholding of showing the event that pisses me off. They deliberately don’t allow you to watch it until the tape delay. You should at least have the option to watch it live, one way or another.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
“You guys have totally lost perpespective. The Olympics aren’t for the die hard sports fan. They’re for the casual viewer in America. Of course NBC is going to hold onto the Bolt race for primetime. I know I’m going to still watch it”
Then why not show the race during the day time and then replay it in primetime with all the hoopla, interviews, sentimental triumph stories and what not? It doesn’t seem like that would hurt ratings too bad if you’re playing to the casual viewer. You’ll still get them in Primetime and maybe the diehards enjoy the overall coverage a bit more and feel inclined to tune in more…
August 20th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
@ Sean Jean: exactly. it doesn’t take long to show a 200 meter track final. Just show the great event live, then cover/reshow the prelim races and the final in prime time.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I live in the UK, and the BBC has the rights to the broadcast, and the amount of live coverage is just amazing. With the time difference, the Olympics start here at around 1am and finish at 3pm, but they still have everything live starting at 1am. They have three TV channels of live coverage at any time. In the website you can watch for free whatever sport they are showing in those channels, plus 2 o 3 more they are covering live although they are not showing them in TV at that moment.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Jooboo would beat me on Jeopardy.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Thanks for the video link, TBL…
August 20th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Yeah, because Kornheiser making Monday night games unwatchable just isn’t enough.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
@lozo: great point. ESPN would have to go out-of-house to get broadcasters or it’d become ‘gas bags on parade’ 24/7
August 20th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
http://www.pumarunning.com/#EN/running/content/side/youVsBOLT
race the world record holder
August 20th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Scola > Boozer, Bosh, Howard
/international ball, it’s different than the NBA
//haven’t watched a game yet
August 20th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Maybe ESPN will show more of Spains lady field hockey team….by far the hottest team in the olympics. Yes, way better on the eyes than May-Treanot and Walsh. A close second to Polands’s women indoor volleyball team…Have a look right now on MSNBC.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
@St. Bear - I guarantee you’re in the minority of the poulation that thinks that way. On sports websites that thinking is common because everyone here is a sports fan. NBC isn’t aiming its Olympics at the guy who cares about a Cubs/Braves game in July. It’s aimed at housewives,kids, and casual tv watchers. The percentage of people that turn off the tv because they know the result is very very minimal during the Olympics.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Gimme a break, Denver. The only thing Poland is good for is [something overtly racist] and being [generic stereotype].
August 20th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Woman’s hockey field is by far the best sport in the Olympics. Almost every woman has a killer body, they’re fit without being too muscular.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Field hockey players are pretty manly.
/science
August 20th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Woman’s hockey field is by far the best sport in the Olympics.
gross.
August 20th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
ESPN’s infamous “Who’s More Now” would morph into “Who’s More Olympic”. Get the barf bags ready.
August 20th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
if bspn gets the olympics, i might have to block that channel from my directv receiver. you think they masturbate over the yankees and red sox and lakers… just imagine the over-the-top pimping for the olympics.
August 20th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
thank you.
August 20th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Anyone on the West coast is already aware of how horrible NBC’s coverage has been.
I’d take it on ESPN any day of the week
August 20th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
@NickP - Have you seen the women in their uni’s for Poland? Oy Kilbasa! The only issue is that they are all over 6′ tall.
August 20th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
My 2 cents: Every type of broadcast ESPN has ever gained that was formerly broadcast on another network has turned to crap. It always starts out good because of the coverage and monty ESPN can throw at the sport, but eventually ESPN bastardizes it to the point where blogs like TBL bitch.
I see no reason why the Olympics won’t be the same as MNF, Sunday Night Baseball, the HR Derby, etc.
August 20th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
How about ESPN stops ruining the results with their bottom line? I had to put a damn piece of tape over the bottom portion of my TV to watch anything on the WWL.
If the olympics were tape-delayed on ABC, what are the odds ESPN spoils the results on ESPN and the bottom line?
August 20th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
So what are you saying?
August 20th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Tape delay sucks but in terms of the product NBC has done a very good job IMO. And I have zero issue with NBC featuring mainly american atheletes because I like watching my fellow americans repping our great country.