The Sports Media Thread

[Digby]

As expected, many of the SBN furloughs are becoming buyouts today. Whenever sports comes back, I'll be damned if I could tell you who will be writing anything interesting about them.

[Sport]

46 writers were laid off by The Athletic yesterday. That's not a good sign. 

[BBTV]

Read something today that if there's MLB this year, and if they play at home stadiums, the announcers won't travel with the team and will call road games from studios in their home location.  I wonder if they'll be calling it based on the same feed the viewers see, or if they'll have their own CC feed that shows more of what's going on.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

3 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

Read something today that if there's MLB this year, and if they play at home stadiums, the announcers won't travel with the team and will call road games from studios in their home location.  I wonder if they'll be calling it based on the same feed the viewers see, or if they'll have their own CC feed that shows more of what's going on.

 

Wrestling announcers call the matches based on what they see in monitors so their announcing matches what the home audience sees.

 

Is it different for real sports? I'm assuming so, based on guys like Tony Romo identifying blown coverage and stuff that the home viewer can't really see until there are replays.

[BBTV]

45 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

Wrestling announcers call the matches based on what they see in monitors so their announcing matches what the home audience sees.

 

Is it different for real sports? I'm assuming so, based on guys like Tony Romo identifying blown coverage and stuff that the home viewer can't really see until there are replays.

 

I get why wrestling announcers would do it - the viewers are shown certain shots for a specific reason so it wouldn't make sense for the viewer to see a shot of someone on the outside who's getting ready to cheat while the announcers are focusing on something totally different.  I do find it funny that they're ringside, but watching TV (other than when there's replays.)

 

I assumed that sports broadcasters did it mostly based on the action on the field, with the help of spotters and other aids either putting things on a prompter or communicating via earpiece.  There's stuff they could see that a viewer wouldn't, like the positioning of the fielders.  I know they're always handed papers with certain info on them.  They'd need the actual viewer feed available, and often refer to it, but I'm not sure if it's their primary input.

 

 

 

 

[Digby]

It's been pretty common in soccer for a while now, to have announcers call the game based on a feed in a remote studio. Particularly outside of the big matches and tournaments. Of course, some folks do find it makes for less insightful commentary without announcers being able to see the entire field outside the monitor, for reasons stated above. I'm not sure I'm wise enough to catch the difference, though.

[The_Admiral]

Do NFL announcers get the all-22 feed during games?

[monkeypower]

Part MLB thread, part Media thread.

 

Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, the owners of the Sixers and Devils, are interested in buying the Mets and SNY.

 

Quote

While both men declined to comment, The Post has also learned that the recent ramping up might have been piqued by reports the Wilpons are finally willing to part with their television network, SNY, giving Harris and Blitzer a chance to merge their other franchises onto one “superregional” sports network.

 

I don't know enough about the area nor the broadcasting in the area, but from an outsiders perspective, a NY-NJ-Philly regional sports network seems interesting.

[The_Admiral]

It would just be like Fox Sports Southwest where they have to distribute multiple feeds to the headends. The 76ers would still be blacked out in New York and the Mets in Philly/South Jersey. It would be good for the Devils to get out from under the Knicks, Rangers, and Islanders on MSG and give SNY winter programming, if RSNs will even matter anymore following the impending economic collapse. I just hope there will be sports! I just hope there will be food!

[Kramerica Industries]

On 6/7/2020 at 1:16 PM, the admiral said:

Do NFL announcers get the all-22 feed during games?

 

There are usually several replays per game that use the All-22 angle, so I have to imagine the answer is yes. And this has been the case at least as far back as when John Madden was at Fox...maybe even CBS but I've watched only a handful of games, if any, from that far back.

[Sec19Row53]

On 6/7/2020 at 12:16 PM, the admiral said:

Do NFL announcers get the all-22 feed during games?

I don't know. I'm going to speculate that they don't, as there isn't necessarily enough room in a broadcast booth for additional monitors.

In my experience in the radio booth at Camp Randall, ain't no way in hell to fit additional monitors there. At the far end of the booth is the one monitor that is available. The rest of it is personal laptops, notes, spotting charts and the like. The small area behind me over my left shoulder is where the radio control board is.

[BBTV]

Here's the Super Bowl LII Champion Philadelphia Eagles radio booth during Super Bowl LII, where they destroyed the New England Patriots to become the Super Bowl Champions.

 

It's super interesting... and pretty chaotic.  At one point, Merrill Reese is watching the game with his binoculars.  Both broadcasters seem totally dependent on the spotters around them pretty often.

 

 

 

[Sec19Row53]

14 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

Here's the Super Bowl LII Champion Philadelphia Eagles radio booth during Super Bowl LII, where they destroyed the New England Patriots to become the Super Bowl Champions.

 

It's super interesting... and pretty chaotic.  At one point, Merrill Reese is watching the game with his binoculars.  Both broadcasters seem totally dependent on the spotters around them pretty often.

 

How'd they do in that game? 

 

I like the spotting board. I made mine using NFL Block A just for fun.

[TBGKon]

On 6/6/2020 at 9:59 AM, BringBackTheVet said:

Read something today that if there's MLB this year, and if they play at home stadiums, the announcers won't travel with the team and will call road games from studios in their home location.  I wonder if they'll be calling it based on the same feed the viewers see, or if they'll have their own CC feed that shows more of what's going on.

I would think they may have their own feed.  A few years back the Lightning radio play by play announcer decided to call road games from the studio because his wife was having health issues.  It wasn't immediately announced he was doing this until later in the season, and you couldnt even tell.

[TrueYankee26]

1 hour ago, TBGKon said:

I would think they may have their own feed.  A few years back the Lightning radio play by play announcer decided to call road games from the studio because his wife was having health issues.  It wasn't immediately announced he was doing this until later in the season, and you couldnt even tell.

Mishkin right? Whenever he screams I imagine his crewmates have to get headphones otherwise they would go deaf

[The_Admiral]

Canadian NHL coverage has not been top of mind for me, so I just now caught that Chris Cuthbert has jumped from TSN to Sportsnet. That took me by surprise, because I've always thought of him as the voice of TSN hockey the way Bob Cole and Jee-imm Hughsonnn-uh are for the CBC. I'm guessing he'll be doing Hockey Night in Canada late games.

[monkeypower]

A big gain for the NHL on Sportsnet is a big loss for the CFL on TSN.

[Digby]

No idea what's happening but Barstool and Kirk Minihane are fighting. Never have I rooted for the meteor more than now.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/22/business/media/bill-simmons-the-ringer-black-employees.html

 

Quote

But earlier this month, an episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, one of The Ringer’s most popular shows, provoked a backlash from staff members.

The June 1 episode, titled “A Truly Sad Week in America,” was recorded as protests against racism and police violence were growing worldwide. Mr. Simmons talked about the movement with a frequent guest, the Ringer podcaster Ryen Russillo.

After Mr. Russillo, who is white, spoke of what he described as “looters” who were “breaking into sneaker shops,” he complimented Mr. Simmons on his hiring practices, praising his boss for “the jobs and the opportunities that you’ve given a diverse group.”

 

On the one hand, I can see Bill Simmons' intentionality around providing opportunities to Black and POC voices via the Ringer and Grantland: Shea Serrano, Wesley Morris, Rembert Brown, Danny Chau, Jason Concepcion and maybe others I can't think of right now. However, it's those few among a sea of white voices, and a particularly deep sea when it comes to interacting with Simmons himself (Russilo, House, Jacko, Chris Ryan).

 

I can see how Simmons would think he does a good job with diverse hiring. But all of that is undone -- nearly completely -- by having Russillo on his BLM podcast (I'm assuming content I haven't listened to) complaining about looters. He needed to have different voices there.

 

Also, more from former Grantland write Dave Schilling:

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Related to my above post, ESPN has cut out the NFL Washington team's name and logo in this story:https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/29347239/ranking-how-all-32-nfl-teams-draft-quarterbacks-tom-brady-patriots-brady-quinn-browns:

This isn't replicated on their NFL main page though, which still features the existing name and logo. Maybe change will filter through the site?