The Sports Media Thread

[The_Admiral]

Judd Sirott is solid. The new radio pxp in Pittsburgh is also a former Hawks pre/post guy. Nice little tree the Hawks have going here.

 

Castiglione never seemed to be as nationally renowned as other Boston guys or other major-market radio baseball guys, which I don't understand with his tenure and quality. Maybe the radio side of Red Sox Nation just doesn't go too far past New England, I don't know.

[infrared41]

10 hours ago, Sec19Row53 said:

Does Brady actually move that needle?

 

Not even a little.

[Cujo]

Tom Brady must be in hell having to call only Dallascowboys games. Which I'm absolutely fine with, as this is almost a reward to Greg Olson who is now calling better games instead of being trapped in Dallas calling the Cowboys vs Bishop-Sycamore, or whatever team you want to fill in the blank with.

[Dynasty]

10 hours ago, Sec19Row53 said:

Does Brady actually move that needle? Let me know the next time you hear someone say (unironically) that they tuned in to listen to him do a game.

 

I have no clue. I just assumed because he's the Greatest Quarterback Of All Time and a big name that people would go the extra mile to see him... or maybe that's what the league and FOX thought. Add in the Cowboys and it amplifies.

 

Do you have an answer to why he's getting those games so much so quickly?

[RyanMcD29]

I think everyone's overlooking the fact the Cowboys are Fox's AMERICA'S GAME OF THE WEEK IN AMERICA like 8 times out of 10 every season and that's why Brady's already calling his 3rd game of theirs in Week 3. See also: Big Noon Saturday and Ohio State or Michigan

[The_Admiral]

2 hours ago, Dynasty said:

Do you have an answer to why he's getting those games so much so quickly?

He's assigned to the #1 game for Fox each week, and the #1 game for Fox is generally going to include Dallas or another NFC East team, or maybe San Francisco, as it has done since the package was at CBS. Comb through the 506sports archives and you'd probably find John Madden doing the same thing.

 

Should he be #1 given his lack of broadcasting experience and a career-long reputation for being a vacuous walking haircut? That's another question, as is "should he be allowed to grow into the role to which he has been overassigned?" I would say no and no. There's no value-add to Brady being there, and if anything, he subtracts value. They should have committed to Greg Olsen and should get out from under this albatross of a broadcasting contract. I think they will as soon as the mayor of P.F. Chang's wants a snazzy president-of-football-operations hood ornament.

[BBTV]

How do you even calculate ROI on the Brady contract?  I don't think viewership numbers work.  Does he do other promotional things for them, or anything at all that generates revenue?

 

I rarely watch games I don't care about (which is most of them), but if I tried to and the announcer was terrible, I'd turn it off.  But if the announcer was even below average, I'd still watch it.  I can't imagine I'm that much different than most people in that respect.  An announcer can't get me to watch a game, but he can get me to turn it off (unless it's obviously a huge game.)

 

It doesn't take $350M to get someone that's below average.  They could put nearly anyone in that color spot on the B or C team and it'd be just fine.

 

I'd genuinely love to know how the ROI is determined.

 

[The_Admiral]

2 hours ago, BBTV said:

I rarely watch games I don't care about (which is most of them), but if I tried to and the announcer was terrible, I'd turn it off.  But if the announcer was even below average, I'd still watch it.  I can't imagine I'm that much different than most people in that respect.  An announcer can't get me to watch a game, but he can get me to turn it off (unless it's obviously a huge game.)

 

Dirty little secret of event-based viewing is that everyone in the B-Dubs either can't hear the commentary in the first place or aren't listening.

 

Remember those sports bars that would have the little speakers at your table so you could pick which one of five TVs you could get the sound from, one of them being a trivia game? I'd love to go back to one and turn it to #3 because I don't even know how I'm supposed to eat my ribs if I can't hear Tom Brady say "what they need to do here is make sure to block for the running back, which really helps teams get a first down."

 

EDIT: Maybe Brady is miscast at Fox. Maybe they need to invert the Nantz-Romo dynamic and have him play the straight man to an over-the-top play-by-play guy. Stick him with Ian Eagle screaming "BWAAAH A GARGANTUAN EARTH-SHAKING SACK OF EPIC PROPORTIONS" or however he's trying to put himself over these days and just have him go "oh man, switch to decaf! =D" 

[BBTV]

1 hour ago, The_Admiral said:

 

Dirty little secret of event-based viewing is that everyone in the B-Dubs either can't hear the commentary in the first place or aren't listening.

 

Remember those sports bars that would have the little speakers at your table so you could pick which one of five TVs you could get the sound from, one of them being a trivia game? I'd love to go back to one and turn it to #3 because I don't even know how I'm supposed to eat my ribs if I can't hear Tom Brady say "what they need to do here is make sure to block for the running back, which really helps teams get a first down."

 

EDIT: Maybe Brady is miscast at Fox. Maybe they need to invert the Nantz-Romo dynamic and have him play the straight man to an over-the-top play-by-play guy. Stick him with Ian Eagle screaming "BWAAAH A GARGANTUAN EARTH-SHAKING SACK OF EPIC PROPORTIONS" or however he's trying to put himself over these days and just have him go "oh man, switch to decaf! =D" 

 

So basically Brady and McAfee. If McAfee calls football like he does wrestling, I’d watch a Panthers vs Giants game, or even worse - a Panthers vs. Eagles game. 

[Digby]

Woj is retiring from ESPN to run basketball at St. Bonaventure. Didn't see that one coming. First of many additions-by-subtractions to ESPN's televised NBA product, let's hope.

[Digby]

The Athletic's leaks from the ESPN bosses suggest that Woj was totally burnt out. Which, fair! At least he's at a better point in his life and can walk away, that profile of Shams a few years ago was the saddest thing and he's totally on the road to incel world. 

 

I still think this "insider"/scoop journalism is rarely useful information, and it's sad to me that these guys get paid a mid-level exception in salary at the same time the prestige and investigative outlets have all been gutted completely.

 

Hey, that reminds me, subject change: I was at Foxboro Stadium the other day and one of their hospitality zones is now called the "Sports Illustrated Pavilion", in concert with a bunch of ads for SI's new ticketing platform all over the place. Just bizarre stuff.