NBC OT Coverage - WTF?

Hopefully it'll be webcast.

Gents,

Let's face it; the Marathon Trials don't have the history to demand national TV, at this point. Having the start on national TV, plus the 30-minute national highlight show (probably on Sunday afternoon) and webcasting the entire race is more than any other past Marathon Trials. Hopefully the 2008 Marathon Trials will act as a foundation that future Trials can build from.

FYI - in 2004, Track & Field, Diving, Swimming and Gymnastics had their Trials on NBC, nationally. USA Network (owned by NBC) broadcasted a few others, as well as OLN and CSTV. The 2004 Marathon trials got ZERO TV.

BTW - if the Trials in NYC and Boston are not a home run; blame yourself, everyone on letsrun and every running fan for not supporting the events. We need higher numbers (i.e. spectators, TV ratings) to demand more.

How exactly is one supposed to support the event to make it a success? Showing up and watching in the streets is going to make it a success how? Tough to watch in on TV and boost rating when it's not on TV.

Sorry Brooklyn Dude, you are wrong about the Olympic Trials broadcasting plan being "more than any other past Marathon Trials". I've got 1988 on tape, the whole race, live from New Jersey. I'm pretty sure the 1996 trials were on tv too (Kempainen).

I'm in the category that says with all the networks out there why can't they give 2.5 hours to show the race? NBC owns the rights. They also own (and show sports on) USA, Bravo, CNBC, and MSNBC. I guarantee you turn the tv on that Saturday morning when the Trials happen and you'll see infomercials on CNBC, Bravo and USA, and a feature show re-run on MSNBC.

If the race was some other time, say a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, I could really see the major networks not covering it due to college/pro Football/Basketball. I'd rather watch a marathon but I'm not the typical mainstream sports fan. But Saturday morning 7:30 is completely different.

The other thing...Forget other sports that may or may not have their trials on tv. Running is a fringe sport at the highest levels but a populist sport for the masses. This is real similar to golf and tennis and they get the finals of majors (speaking more tennis here-and the British Open in golf) on network tv weekend mornings. IMO it shouldn't be a tough sell for running to work the same way.

It'll also be on a game day right in the thick of college football season.

7:30am start. Hours before Corso dresses up like a Scarlet Knight.

Which is why it won't be on in prime time!!

Were the 1988 and 1996 Marathon Olympic Trials broadcasted nationally? Or locally? Big difference. I wonder what the ratings were...

Bottom line is the trial coverage isn't ideal but it's better than 2000 and 2004. And yes, if we support the event, it should grow in 2012. If I worked at NBC and one of my employees said lets air the entire Marathon Trials, I would ask for past TV ratings...running's recent TV history is not strong.

I totally agree that the Marathon Trials should get better TV coverage, but we have to rebuild the sport. Back in the 80's, we got more air time, but there wasn't all the sport programming to compete with. We all hate them but Infomercials are cash cows for networks; while Marathon Trials, based on recent history, are a risk. We can't compare the marathon to golf or tennis; maybe the NYC Marathon's TV ratings can stand up to those events, but that's probably the only running event that can.

The 1996 Trials were on national tv. Not sure of the station but it was same day coverage if not live. I think it was taped coverage the same day. Way more than a 30 minute program. Someone fill me in with the details.

The men's marathon trials were broadcast in their entirety on network TV in 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996. So this is only "the best coverage" for the very young or those with very short memories.

My bad...but that clearly shows were the sport currently stands.

Comapring running clubs and NYRRC is like comparing 1) homeless who have a shopping cart with 2)homeless who have only a backpack. There's no money in marathons. Don't expect T.V. or any significant interest from serious sprts fans. Run for you own health and enjoyment. That's suffcient. Kobe deserves the $millions since he'll be the greatest player in NBA history by the time he retires. There's no marathoners who rate that kind of money. There's no skill involved. I read Lance Armstrong was the biggest attraction in New York last week. If a disgraced doper who was force into retirement from cycling is all fans wanted to see in New York, then it's confirmed: marathons SUCK as a sport.

Comapring running clubs and NYRRC is like comparing 1) homeless who have a shopping cart with 2)homeless who have only a backpack. There's no money in marathons. Don't expect T.V. or any significant interest from serious sprts fans. Run for you own health and enjoyment. That's suffcient. Kobe deserves the $millions since he'll be the greatest player in NBA history by the time he retires. There's no marathoners who rate that kind of money. There's no skill involved. I read Lance Armstrong was the biggest attraction in New York last week. If a disgraced doper who was force into retirement from cycling is all fans wanted to see in New York, then it's confirmed: marathons SUCK as a sport.

With all of the channels that NBC has (MSNBC, BRAVO,CNBC) I don't understand why full coverage can't be slid over to one of those stations. Instead we get steaming web coverage that will only work on window. How come the web coverage of the ironman championships is so much better than the coverage of the NYC and Olympic Trials Marathon?

I'm going there to watch. I can't believe they wouldn't pick it up on ESPN. They are always showing poker and other non sports during these events. Just goes to show what a small viewing audience we really are.

Let's try an place this in perspective.

Most people on this site are very passionate about this sport.

Some basic things to consider:

Most people don't give a damn about road running. Even with 38,000 runners entered in the NY Marathon (or the so called 70,000 + the NYRR said applied) that equates to less then %1 percent of the NY Metropolitan area population!

TV Coverage of a marathon is very expensive- camera locations all over the place highly dependent on good weather for tv transmission.

Most marathons are very boring to watch except if the athlete is going for a record or the time when someone breaks away from the pack

Some posters on this site compare this to other Olympic Sports. Remember that the Marathon is just one of 18+ events in Athletics (track & field). What about the men's and women's 5k, or 10k? Many more people run 5k's in this country then the Marathon. Should we not have cities bid for the rights to host just the men's OT 5k? Why not. How about the Shot Put Trials?

I think in this highly competitive TV Market, USATF, the USOC, the NYRR and Boston AA are doing everything possible to give as much exposure to an event that most of the general public doesn't care about. NY and Boston are pro's in the marketing of our athletes as well as the administration of events. The trials are in good hands.

Having exposure on the NBC morning show is worth it's weight

in gold. The power of Network TV is tremendous.

Because there's no Olympic "5k", it's a 5000.

So why is Poker so popular on tv anyway?

Sometimes I will just turn to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNU and they will all have poker on tv?

Do any of you guys watch it?

Maybe I am missing out.

5k, 5000?

What's the difference?