NBC OT Coverage - WTF?

No shit....the start? Give me a break..who is the genius who thought this up? I still think had they run the trials with the regular marathon and said ok.....top 3 across the line make the team...all 37,000 (only americans of course) entrants have a shot at the Olympic team..the networks would have been all over this.

i'm curious as to what sort of package you (or anyone else thinks) usatf should have gotten. i can't think of another sport which has any coverage on a major, over the air network of their olympic trials. maybe gymnastics? possibly swimming? who, other than really diehard fans, would be watching this marathon anyway? it starts at 7:30 eastern. usatf (and, more importantly, nbc) would probably make more off the webcast to those diehards than they would having it on NBC.

chuck d wrote:

i can't think of another sport which has any coverage on a major, over the air network of their olympic trials.

Here's one: track.

If the sport was done in prime time...like nearly every other sport on TV...it would be on live. This I suppose is why it had to be in NYC...for media exposure. In the mind of America there are two marathons...New York and Boston. I'm sure the media coverage for this will be greater in New York than Boston.

Alan

"another" means "in addition to." as in: what sport, in addition to track, has any coverage?

Well a 7:30 start says one thing. Clearly, this event in NYC, is not about the athlete. I can say this having been in Birmingham, the race was all about the athltete. As a matter of fact during our meetings press was not allowed in or anyone else for that matter. When, some one from the press or a different race organization questioned why they couldn't come into the meeting they were told this is about the athletes. We do not want them bothered.

2008 qualifiers will have to be up by 4 or 4:30 am to start preparing for that race.

I just hope thay NYRRC, took a page from Birminghams play book and makes this all about the qualifiers and not about themselves.

Other than that I wish all the qualifiers and NYRRC the best of luck.

1) Ad rates would be cheaper at 7:35 a.m. on any network than in prime time. And you wouldn't be replacing expensive programming with the race - just cartoons and "Saved By the Bell - The Next Class." Reason would suggest that, if USATF and the NY Marathon came to NBC with a proposal that showed them the ad revenue from the heavy hitters (ING, Nike, etc.), NBC would at least listen.

2) There are numerous networks - ESPN, ESPN2, Versus, USA, etc. - that could do this race justice. But because NBC has the rights to the Olympics and Olympic Trials, this is what we're stuck with.

3) Marathon participation is at an all-time high, as is running in general. 11 million people said they ran at least 100 days in 2005. The running shoe category is now a $2 billion industry. There is money and a base of willing would-be watchers to support this.

4) In England, at a time when they had four channels. track meets and marathons were routinely shown in their entirety. How hard could it be when we have hundreds of channels?

4) The biggest argument for putting the race in New York was to increase media exposure. That's great. But all of the publications that would normally cover this were already going to be there, whether it was in Akron or the Big Apple, and the rest of them are just going to run the AP story anyway, like they did this past week. To grow the sport, to reap the rewards of it, you need to reach an audience that wouldn't normally see you. That takes television. Not a subscription to a streaming video.

5) If NBC wants to build its Olympic ratings, they would be wise to expose people to those stories throughout the year leading up to them, whether that's marathoning, gymnastics or modern pentathlon. If you're going to show it then, show it now.

Look, I'm not an insider. I don't know what kind of deal they could've gotten. I just thought it would be more impressive than this.

OED wrote:

chuck d wrote:

i can't think of another sport which has any coverage on a major, over the air network of their olympic trials.

Here's one: track.

Also: gymnastics, swimming, ice skating

chuck d- watch sports on tv much?

It's in November in New York, assuming it's not a heat wave, and even if it is, why not have the race in the evening? At what time of day will the Beijing Marathon begin?

My best guess is that the early starts conforms with Central Park realities. It's going to be task enough making sure self-righteous cyclists and iPod joggers don't get in the way of the race. The numbers multiply exponentially as the day progresses. Plus, they're going to have that silly International Friendship Run and somehow funnel 15,000 fancy dress foreign runners who all of a sudden forget how to understand the English language. I wouldn't be surprised if the race moved to 7am before it moves to 8am.

Be serious. Watch a marathon for 3 hours. You can\'t expect people to suffer thru that. That\'s why marathons are for small audience community TV only

Be serious. Watch a marathon for 3 hours. You can\'t expect people to suffer thru that. That\'s why marathons are for small audience community TV only

The biggest reason for putting the race in Nov. was to get more "track" guys. American Elites won't have to choose between the marathon and 5k/10k. They can easily do both. The coincides w/ the 5k and 10k qualifing standards.

Penguins running marathons care more about Lance and Dean than Abdi and Sell.

In England the government has a lot to say w/ the TV not business advertisers. The sport may be more popular there.

The biggest argument for the race in NY is the NYRR is flush with cash and can throw it around.

This race isn't about the runner, neither is having a marathon in Bejing in August / September.

Network TV morning shows are still big time - Today Show, Good Morning America - Katie Curic / Charlie Gibson / Al Roker / Matt Lauer = stepping stone. They aren't hanging with the cast of "save by the bell"

How does Olympic rights = trial rights? Are they showing USA basketball workouts too?

I know that clearly you are not an insider.

Dumbass...NBC owns USA.

Huh, NYRRC flush with $$$. Then why only $250k for prize money. LeBron signed for ??? $$$ Lance makes ??? $$$ on endorsemants. Marathons pay slave wages.

What's the difference b/w a marathon and NASCAR?

NBC showed the whole NYC marathon in the NY area on Sunday and then did the 30 min replay. The same with the Chicago area two weeks prior.

Huh, NYRRC flush with $$$. Then why only $250k for prize money. LeBron signed for ??? $$$ Lance makes ??? $$$ on endorsemants. Marathons pay slave wages.

What???? wrote:

No shit....the start? Give me a break..who is the genius who thought this up? I still think had they run the trials with the regular marathon and said ok.....top 3 across the line make the team...all 37,000 (only americans of course) entrants have a shot at the Olympic team..the networks would have been all over this.

This sounds a lot more exciting to me. There may be a good reason they can't do it this way but probably not.

By the way, does anyone know if the selectors ever explained how they chose NYC, the course, the month and the time of day? Maybe it's reasonable to hold it well in advance of the Olympics but wouldn't their reasoning also hold for the women? Very difficult to understand their reasoning.

Citibank wrote:

Huh, NYRRC flush with $$$. Then why only $250k for prize money. LeBron signed for ??? $$$ Lance makes ??? $$$ on endorsemants. Marathons pay slave wages.

Yes, relative to every other running club in the US.

Did you see the field they assembled last Sunday? NYC has the biggest purse in the US, you can bet they pay the most in apperance fees. You've never been to NY to check out the HQ's and the Penguins forking $$$ over and corporate sponsors lining up.

Way to bring in other sports. Clearly running isn't on the level of the NBA or NFL.