Note to ESPN: Red Sox and Yankees are NOT the only teams in baseball!

[infrared41]

The problem is simple. It's ESPN's incestuous relationship with itself. ESPN has gotten so big that they basically program what interests their "inner circle." ESPN's live broadcast division covers the aforementioned "big market/national fan base teams. Sportscenter covers the games ESPN televises. ESPN radio basically talks about whatever was on Sportscenter or ESPN News. Each division of the network covers what's on the other divisions. ESPN news covers the "scandal and trades" beat and feeds the rest of the machine. So, if a big story breaks on ESPN news it makes Sportscenter which in turn means that the respective specialty show of the sport involved goes into greater detail, i.e. Baseball Tonight or NFL Live etc. ESPN Radio gets in on the act and uses the TV guys or "experts" for coverage and interviews.

The "ESPN experts" all appear on other areas of the network and basically just go back and forth. Something happens in the NFL? No problem we'll go to Clayton or Mortensen who just happent to work for us...and so on. Lesser sports news outlets are foolish not to follow along so they run with the same stuff. What were left with is ESPN essentially creating most of the sports programming universe. In short it's one big vicious circle. ESPN has the broadcast rights, most all of the "experts", a radio network, and 5 cable channels. They're so big that it's hard for them to see past themselves. Basically they set the docket and we can either follow along or look elsewhere. The thing is, there isn't a lot of "elsewhere" out there.

To make a long story short, ESPN spends most of their time covering ESPN. That's my take anyway.

Me? I have MLB Extra Innings so I watch whoever the Hell I want to watch.

[Telemundo219]

The problem is simple. It's ESPN's incestuous relationship with itself. ESPN has gotten so big that they basically program what interests their "inner circle." ESPN's live broadcast division covers the aforementioned "big market/nationl fan base teams. Sportscenter covers the games ESPN televises. ESPN radio basically talks about whatever was on Sportscenter or ESPN News. Each division of the network covers what's on the other divisions. ESPN news covers the "scandal and trades" beat and feeds the rest of the machine. So, if a big story breaks on ESPN news it makes Sportscenter which in turn means that the respective specialty show of the sport involved goes into greater detail, i.e. Baseball Tonight or NFL Live etc. ESPN Radio gets in on the act and uses the TV guys or "experts" for coverage and interviews.

The "ESPN experts" all appear on other areas of the network and basically just go back and forth. Something happens in the NFL? No problem we'll go to Clayton or Mortensen who just happent to work for us...and so on. Lesser sports news outlets are foolish not to follow along so they run with the same stuff. What were left with is ESPN essentially creating most of the sports programming universe. In short it's one big vicious circle. ESPN has the broadcast rights, most all of the "experts", a radio network, and 5 cable channels. They're so big that it's hard for them to see past themselves. Basically they set the docket and we can either follow along or look elsewhere. The thing is, there isn't a lot of "elsewhere" out there.

That's my take anyway.

Me? I have MLB Extra Innings so I watch whoever the Hell I want to watch.

Don't forget the ever-annoying ESPN Insider. What's so special about the info they know. It's mostly rumors and stuff you can read and some other free site (how they tell you can have a free trial but still asks for your credit-card info!? SCAM!)

[NJTank]

The problem is simple. It's ESPN's incestuous relationship with itself. ESPN has gotten so big that they basically program what interests their "inner circle." ESPN's live broadcast division covers the aforementioned "big market/nationl fan base teams. Sportscenter covers the games ESPN televises. ESPN radio basically talks about whatever was on Sportscenter or ESPN News. Each division of the network covers what's on the other divisions. ESPN news covers the "scandal and trades" beat and feeds the rest of the machine. So, if a big story breaks on ESPN news it makes Sportscenter which in turn means that the respective specialty show of the sport involved goes into greater detail, i.e. Baseball Tonight or NFL Live etc. ESPN Radio gets in on the act and uses the TV guys or "experts" for coverage and interviews.

The "ESPN experts" all appear on other areas of the network and basically just go back and forth. Something happens in the NFL? No problem we'll go to Clayton or Mortensen who just happent to work for us...and so on. Lesser sports news outlets are foolish not to follow along so they run with the same stuff. What were left with is ESPN essentially creating most of the sports programming universe. In short it's one big vicious circle. ESPN has the broadcast rights, most all of the "experts", a radio network, and 5 cable channels. They're so big that it's hard for them to see past themselves. Basically they set the docket and we can either follow along or look elsewhere. The thing is, there isn't a lot of "elsewhere" out there.

That's my take anyway.

Me? I have MLB Extra Innings so I watch whoever the Hell I want to watch.

Don't forget the ever-annoying ESPN Insider. What's so special about the info they know. It's mostly rumors and stuff you can read and some other free site (how they tell you can have a free trial but still asks for your credit-card info!? SCAM!)

Well you also get ESPN the Toilet Paper um I mean ESPN the Magazine for being an Insider.

[OnWis97]

.

Case in point...

On Apr 14, 2005, Most baseball fan wanted to see the DBacks-Nationals game because it was the 1st game @ DC in 35+ years but the media whore that is ESPN decide to broadcast the whole damn series of the Yanks & the Sox and as a Dodgers fans, I would feel the same way if ESPN was doing that to the Dodgers-Giants rivalry.

I just hope that next season TBS would do a better job with their MLB Contract and show teams that deserved to be on TV.

I would guess that it is not true that most fans wanted DBacks-Nats. They put it on because most (or more, anyway) want Yanks/Sox.

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

The problem is simple. It's ESPN's incestuous relationship with itself. ESPN has gotten so big that they basically program what interests their "inner circle." ESPN's live broadcast division covers the aforementioned "big market/national fan base teams. Sportscenter covers the games ESPN televises. ESPN radio basically talks about whatever was on Sportscenter or ESPN News. Each division of the network covers what's on the other divisions. ESPN news covers the "scandal and trades" beat and feeds the rest of the machine. So, if a big story breaks on ESPN news it makes Sportscenter which in turn means that the respective specialty show of the sport involved goes into greater detail, i.e. Baseball Tonight or NFL Live etc. ESPN Radio gets in on the act and uses the TV guys or "experts" for coverage and interviews.

The "ESPN experts" all appear on other areas of the network and basically just go back and forth. Something happens in the NFL? No problem we'll go to Clayton or Mortensen who just happent to work for us...and so on. Lesser sports news outlets are foolish not to follow along so they run with the same stuff. What were left with is ESPN essentially creating most of the sports programming universe. In short it's one big vicious circle. ESPN has the broadcast rights, most all of the "experts", a radio network, and 5 cable channels. They're so big that it's hard for them to see past themselves. Basically they set the docket and we can either follow along or look elsewhere. The thing is, there isn't a lot of "elsewhere" out there.

To make a long story short, ESPN spends most of their time covering ESPN. That's my take anyway.

Me? I have MLB Extra Innings so I watch whoever the Hell I want to watch.

in other words an almost complete monopolization of sports broadcasting. I would say Fox sports is a legit competitor but they are owned by Newscorp which is a grotesque monopoly unto itself.

[Roger Clemente]

Look, I understand when the Sox and Yanks play each other it's a big deal and worth putting on TV. However, when they're not playing each other then you get one or the other. Every game is Yankees or Red Sox or both! Then there's the occasional National League game which will undoubtedly be the New York Mets or Philadelphia Phillies. I mean let's get real, there are plenty more teams in baseball. I would like to watch the Chicago White Sox, the Oakland A's, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Atlanta Braves, the Cleveland Indians, etc. When was the last time you saw the Marlins, Brewers, Reds, Padres, Rangers, or Blue Jays on ESPN? This only leads to more bandwagon Sox and Yankees fans because they really can't watch anything else.

"Welcome to the internet!"

[infrared41]

in other words an almost complete monopolization of sports broadcasting. I would say Fox sports is a legit competitor but they are owned by Newscorp which is a grotesque monopoly unto itself.

Nah, I wouldn't call ESPN a monopoly at all. There's still CBS, NBC and Fox, the FOX regional networks, WGN, TNT and TBS. ESPN is simply a narcissistic network that's caught up in the vicious cycle of it's own hype. They're in love with themselves. ESPN covers what they cover because they like it not because we like it. Because of the sheer enormity of their operation, ESPN has become completely insulated from the real world of sports. In short, they can't see past their own parking lot. They have the games, the analysts, and the programs in house. There's no need to look out the window. As I said before ESPN spends most of it's time covering ESPN.

[buzzcut]

The problem is simple. It's ESPN's incestuous relationship with itself. ESPN has gotten so big that they basically program what interests their "inner circle." ESPN's live broadcast division covers the aforementioned "big market/national fan base teams. Sportscenter covers the games ESPN televises. ESPN radio basically talks about whatever was on Sportscenter or ESPN News. Each division of the network covers what's on the other divisions. ESPN news covers the "scandal and trades" beat and feeds the rest of the machine. So, if a big story breaks on ESPN news it makes Sportscenter which in turn means that the respective specialty show of the sport involved goes into greater detail, i.e. Baseball Tonight or NFL Live etc. ESPN Radio gets in on the act and uses the TV guys or "experts" for coverage and interviews.

To make a long story short, ESPN spends most of their time covering ESPN. That's my take anyway.

To add to this, tonight's "Sports"Center had the Ultimate Fighting Championship as it's lead story. Not LeBron's non-call against him. Not Nick Saban committing an NCAA violation(a minor one at that, but still one). Not a former Tour de France winner admitting he used performance-enhancing drugs when he won his tour(Hint, it ain't Lance, Floyd, or Jan).. Not even a discussion on Roger Clememts on his Monday start in AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. THE FREAKIN ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP!!! It's not even entertainment to me, but ESPN feels that they have to do a lead story on it, why? ESPN just so happens to have signed a contract with UFC to promote it. So to ESPN, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!

Sorry to hijack this thread but I needed to get it off my chest.

[TFoA]

The problem is simple. It's ESPN's incestuous relationship with itself. ESPN has gotten so big that they basically program what interests their "inner circle." ESPN's live broadcast division covers the aforementioned "big market/national fan base teams. Sportscenter covers the games ESPN televises. ESPN radio basically talks about whatever was on Sportscenter or ESPN News. Each division of the network covers what's on the other divisions. ESPN news covers the "scandal and trades" beat and feeds the rest of the machine. So, if a big story breaks on ESPN news it makes Sportscenter which in turn means that the respective specialty show of the sport involved goes into greater detail, i.e. Baseball Tonight or NFL Live etc. ESPN Radio gets in on the act and uses the TV guys or "experts" for coverage and interviews.

To make a long story short, ESPN spends most of their time covering ESPN. That's my take anyway.

To add to this, tonight's "Sports"Center had the Ultimate Fighting Championship as it's lead story. Not LeBron's non-call against him. Not Nick Saban committing an NCAA violation(a minor one at that, but still one). Not a former Tour de France winner admitting he used performance-enhancing drugs when he won his tour(Hint, it ain't Lance, Floyd, or Jan).. Not even a discussion on Roger Clememts. THE FREAKIN ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP!!! It's not even entertainment to me, but ESPN feels that they have to do a lead story on it, why? ESPN just so happens to have signed a contract with UFC to promote it. So to ESPN, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!

Sorry to hijack this thread but I needed to get it off my chest.

Hm. That explains why there's been a lot of it on ESPN this week, yet while it was blowing up it went highly ignored.

[ninersdd]

FOX= The problem with FOX is that their game of the week is alway regional which I wont mind if they had Doubleheader once in a while just like what NBC used to do.

Case in point...

On Jul 24,2004, I wanted to see the Red Sox vs. the Yankees but the city of LA was forced to see the Giants-Cardinals game only because the Giants is a California team and the worst part is the Giants annoucers was doing the game and for those who had MVP 2003-2005 know what i'm talking about.

ESPN= Honestly, What did you expect.

Case in point...

On Apr 14, 2005, Most baseball fan wanted to see the DBacks-Nationals game because it was the 1st game @ DC in 35+ years but the media whore that is ESPN decide to broadcast the whole damn series of the Yanks & the Sox and as a Dodgers fans, I would feel the same way if ESPN was doing that to the Dodgers-Giants rivalry.

I just hope that next season TBS would do a better job with their MLB Contract and show teams that deserved to be on TV.

Ah that was another classic brawl between them, I flat out loved that Giants game;they won that game for Barry's birthday in extra innings

[rams80]

The problem is simple. It's ESPN's incestuous relationship with itself. ESPN has gotten so big that they basically program what interests their "inner circle." ESPN's live broadcast division covers the aforementioned "big market/national fan base teams. Sportscenter covers the games ESPN televises. ESPN radio basically talks about whatever was on Sportscenter or ESPN News. Each division of the network covers what's on the other divisions. ESPN news covers the "scandal and trades" beat and feeds the rest of the machine. So, if a big story breaks on ESPN news it makes Sportscenter which in turn means that the respective specialty show of the sport involved goes into greater detail, i.e. Baseball Tonight or NFL Live etc. ESPN Radio gets in on the act and uses the TV guys or "experts" for coverage and interviews.

To make a long story short, ESPN spends most of their time covering ESPN. That's my take anyway.

To add to this, tonight's "Sports"Center had the Ultimate Fighting Championship as it's lead story. Not LeBron's non-call against him. Not Nick Saban committing an NCAA violation(a minor one at that, but still one). Not a former Tour de France winner admitting he used performance-enhancing drugs when he won his tour(Hint, it ain't Lance, Floyd, or Jan).. Not even a discussion on Roger Clememts. THE FREAKIN ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP!!! It's not even entertainment to me, but ESPN feels that they have to do a lead story on it, why? ESPN just so happens to have signed a contract with UFC to promote it. So to ESPN, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!

Sorry to hijack this thread but I needed to get it off my chest.

Hm. That explains why there's been a lot of it on ESPN this week, yet while it was blowing up it went highly ignored.

Are they still pimping the AFL now?

[McCall]

The problem is simple. It's ESPN's incestuous relationship with itself. ESPN has gotten so big that they basically program what interests their "inner circle." ESPN's live broadcast division covers the aforementioned "big market/national fan base teams. Sportscenter covers the games ESPN televises. ESPN radio basically talks about whatever was on Sportscenter or ESPN News. Each division of the network covers what's on the other divisions. ESPN news covers the "scandal and trades" beat and feeds the rest of the machine. So, if a big story breaks on ESPN news it makes Sportscenter which in turn means that the respective specialty show of the sport involved goes into greater detail, i.e. Baseball Tonight or NFL Live etc. ESPN Radio gets in on the act and uses the TV guys or "experts" for coverage and interviews.

To make a long story short, ESPN spends most of their time covering ESPN. That's my take anyway.

To add to this, tonight's "Sports"Center had the Ultimate Fighting Championship as it's lead story. Not LeBron's non-call against him. Not Nick Saban committing an NCAA violation(a minor one at that, but still one). Not a former Tour de France winner admitting he used performance-enhancing drugs when he won his tour(Hint, it ain't Lance, Floyd, or Jan).. Not even a discussion on Roger Clememts on his Monday start in AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. THE FREAKIN ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP!!! It's not even entertainment to me, but ESPN feels that they have to do a lead story on it, why? ESPN just so happens to have signed a contract with UFC to promote it. So to ESPN, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!

Sorry to hijack this thread but I needed to get it off my chest.

Have A-Rod and Manny squaring in one of these and you have an ESPN wet dream come true.

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

in other words an almost complete monopolization of sports broadcasting. I would say Fox sports is a legit competitor but they are owned by Newscorp which is a grotesque monopoly unto itself.

Nah, I wouldn't call ESPN a monopoly at all. There's still CBS, NBC and Fox, the FOX regional networks, WGN, TNT and TBS. ESPN is simply a narcissistic network that's caught up in the vicious cycle of it's own hype. They're in love with themselves. ESPN covers what they cover because they like it not because we like it. Because of the sheer enormity of their operation, ESPN has become completely insulated from the real world of sports. In short, they can't see past their own parking lot. They have the games, the analysts, and the programs in house. There's no need to look out the window. As I said before ESPN spends most of it's time covering ESPN.

take hockey for example. The only network that i can get hockey on the national level is Versus. Pitting Versus against ESPN is like pitting Wal-Mart against the local ma and pa retail store. On the National level there needs to be an alternate sports programming network dedicated to sports that can compete with ESPN. I can't get hockey on TBS or TNT. What i'm trying to say, i want more than just games. I want coverage of hockey, shows dedicated to hockey. Its nice to get games but i want a show like NHL2nite to spend 30minutes recapping hockey. Come to think about it, i think the NHL needs an NHL network available like the NFL network is as does MLB and NBA. Right now VS and NBC is about the only place i can get hockey unless i get directv NHL Center Ice.

[Mr.Barragan]

The problem is simple. It's ESPN's incestuous relationship with itself. ESPN has gotten so big that they basically program what interests their "inner circle." ESPN's live broadcast division covers the aforementioned "big market/national fan base teams. Sportscenter covers the games ESPN televises. ESPN radio basically talks about whatever was on Sportscenter or ESPN News. Each division of the network covers what's on the other divisions. ESPN news covers the "scandal and trades" beat and feeds the rest of the machine. So, if a big story breaks on ESPN news it makes Sportscenter which in turn means that the respective specialty show of the sport involved goes into greater detail, i.e. Baseball Tonight or NFL Live etc. ESPN Radio gets in on the act and uses the TV guys or "experts" for coverage and interviews.

To make a long story short, ESPN spends most of their time covering ESPN. That's my take anyway.

To add to this, tonight's "Sports"Center had the Ultimate Fighting Championship as it's lead story. Not LeBron's non-call against him. Not Nick Saban committing an NCAA violation(a minor one at that, but still one). Not a former Tour de France winner admitting he used performance-enhancing drugs when he won his tour(Hint, it ain't Lance, Floyd, or Jan).. Not even a discussion on Roger Clememts. THE FREAKIN ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP!!! It's not even entertainment to me, but ESPN feels that they have to do a lead story on it, why? ESPN just so happens to have signed a contract with UFC to promote it. So to ESPN, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!

Sorry to hijack this thread but I needed to get it off my chest.

Hm. That explains why there's been a lot of it on ESPN this week, yet while it was blowing up it went highly ignored.

Are they still pimping the AFL now?

Knowing ESPN Rams, It's going to be just like the WWE if you know what I mean.

[Breakwood]

Pshhhh You all keep talking about how only important team get their games on national television, but using that logic, the Toronto Blue Jays are the most important team in all of baseball.

Name me another team that has over 145 games nationally televised.

[McCall]

Pshhhh You all keep talking about how only important team get their games on national television, but using that logic, the Toronto Blue Jays are the most important team in all of baseball.

Name me another team that has over 145 games nationally televised.

Not on ESPN, which is the point of this discussion.

[See Red]

Pshhhh You all keep talking about how only important team get their games on national television, but using that logic, the Toronto Blue Jays are the most important team in all of baseball.

Name me another team that has over 145 games nationally televised.

I'm not sure of the exact numbers but I'm sure the Cubs and Braves are pretty damn close to that many.

[KevinMcD]

Pshhhh You all keep talking about how only important team get their games on national television, but using that logic, the Toronto Blue Jays are the most important team in all of baseball.

Name me another team that has over 145 games nationally televised.

I'm not sure of the exact numbers but I'm sure the Cubs and Braves are pretty damn close to that many.

I don't believe WGN is national, I don't get it, but get ESPN, VS, TBS, YES, SNY.

Also only ~60 Braves games are on the national TBS station.

[HedleyLamarr]

Pshhhh You all keep talking about how only important team get their games on national television, but using that logic, the Toronto Blue Jays are the most important team in all of baseball.

Name me another team that has over 145 games nationally televised.

I'm not sure of the exact numbers but I'm sure the Cubs and Braves are pretty damn close to that many.

The Braves have 70 games being broadcast by TBS this season (subtract 3 due to two rainouts and a third game being switched to ESPN for a Sunday Night game), 6 games being shown on Fox's Saturday coverage, and 2 (now 3) games being shown on ESPN.

So that's 70-73 true nationally-televised games, and another 6 shown regionally.

[footballfiji]

I think the majority of people are wasting their breaths in this thread. You are thinking about it too hard. You watch sports all the time and you have teams you passionately route for. ESPN isn't trying to appeal to you. You are a lost cause to them.

ESPN really cares about one type of viewer: The Irregular Sports Viewer. They want people who wouldn't normally watch sports to watch them. THAT'S why they usually have big market teams.

If you ask just a regular person to name three pro baseball teams. The majority will name both the RedSox and the Yankees. Why? The Name. The Brand. Not because they are the best two teams but because they are already a top of mind brand.

If you want to blame ESPN for making it that way, fine. You are again, wasting your breath. It's not ESPN's fault. If anything it's the fault of old newspapers and old radio networks. ESPN is just continuing what it started.

on a side note, WGN is considered a national network because it is carried by most American Cable companies. Even though it has a regular over the air signal (so does TBS, it's WTBS and on a clear night you can pick it up in East Alabam).