New TV Formats for Track

OK, I'll start. What about new camera angles? What if the camera followed from over the shoulder of the pack of runners? This could give the audience a feel for being in the pack.

Introduce a team pursuit event...pretty cool in cycling and speed skating

It is pretty simple. All they need to do is delay the coverage by about an hour, and show all of the races back to back, so there isn't so much waiting around.

First and foremost, move the Long Jump camera to the proper spot, to the left or right of the pit. Watching people LJ head on is ridiculously unimpressive.

Cut down on all the time spent before the sprints, no one wants to watch 6 minutes of people getting into blocks for a 10 second race.

Nike needs to mix up the kits, right now people either wear their pro kit or the OTC kit, watching a race where there are 12 competitors, two in the OTC kit, eight in the Nike kit, and one Adidas and one Saucony guy is dumb. It would help if we could pick out our favorite guys by their uniform.

This is really simple.... Hire someone who can promote the sport. Cycling has Phil Leggeit and Paul Sherwin. These two make cycling in the US.

What they should do:

- Hire better announcers. Get someone who knows about distance.

- Stop interviewing people seconds after they finish a race. Wait for them to catch their breath and go back and interview them. I bet we get a lot better and more insightful interview then. (See flotrack at the USATF Outdoor Championships)

- Show the entire race. Not just the leaders. If there is a great race for the lead, stay with it, if it is a blowout, go back to something more interesting in the race.

- Stop with the side stories or the human interest stories. I don't care if they have a bro/sis with some mental disease. I want to see them kick butt on the track.

- Talk more about the training that they do before hand. If you want to fill space before a race, talk about what that athlete has done. Remind us about he athlete's race history. Help us know their performance history better.

With that said, I have to admit that this year's indoor coverage has been better. I can see that they are working hard on getting better and they are showing progress.

Lighting! Thats right lighting. Make the place dark. Then have a spot light on the field event taking place. And when a track race is being run, just light up the track. Make it more exciting to be there and a better tv show.

Also, look at the european summer series. They make a whole festival around it. Serve food and beer. Do grander announcements for the athletes. Let the athletes run a victory lap and slap little kids hands.

I agree Nike needs to change up the kits. Lagat should run in the same kit every race. Rupp should run in a different kit every race, one that is not the same as Lagats. I don't mind trying to keep the OTC guys matching, as they are trying to market their training group, and they are the closest thing to teammates at most pro meets.

Lots of good ideas here. They need to look at flotrack and how they do things.

The personal interests shouldn't always have a sappy angle, look at a guy like Ritz. He has ALWAYS been one of the best runners in the USA. Yes, he trains hard and over came some injuries, but name an athlete that doesn't or hasn't?

Talk about what they do, their goals, etc.. but who cares if they're running because their cousin has a droppy eye- just race!

An east vs west coast feud/meet! Worked for 90s rappers.

easy things like lap counters on the screen the whole time would go a long way. also adding "spiffy" graphics, on par wit the first down line, home run vector lines, even golf has some neat graphics; if a race is going to be even remotely close to a WR, put a "ghost runner" line on the track that shows that pace, if not, find something to relate the current race to, a meet record, a school record, even a personal record for some rando in the race.

not directly related to programming, but would help immensely, false start rule has to change. Best thing to do would be switch to an electronic starting system like speed skating has done; the cadence should be completely standardized and predictable. Stop testing people's ability to react, just test their ability to run. With that problem solved you can save tons of time, ensure the big names will actually be in the race, etc. If not that, and false starts are still going to be an issue, the turnaround has to be faster. Again, speed skating has some false starts and everyone gets back on the line in about 10 seconds. The starters need to stop letting people jog 80m down the track, walk back, go through their routine again, etc.

the things already mentioned have to happen too: better announcers, no more post-race interviews, better camera angles, etc.

use picture in picture for interviews.

Nothing wrong with interviewing the runners and letting the audience know about them. However, you can have the 3000m/5000m going on with an inset for a pre-recorded interview. While I like track, watching the 5000m can be tedious. Yes, I have seen it on EuroTV and it is still pretty tedious.

KY Jelly wrote:

It is pretty simple. All they need to do is delay the coverage by about an hour, and show all of the races back to back, so there isn't so much waiting around.

That's the first thing I thought of.

Although they still show waiting around on taped delayed events.

For outdoor races, the cart on the track with a camera is pretty cool. I remember Flotrack doing that for a couple races last year. Of course, that would be more difficult to pull off for a more organized race.

Yea, and cut out the back stories. Nobody watches a football or basketball to hear about some player's tough childhood. Get a field events person and distance runner who actually know about the events.

And for the big event of the night, do it Wanamaker Mile style with music, lights off, big announcement, etc.

Highlight the crowd noise somehow.

The announcers need to show less restraint when doing the races. I know these guys have to be professional, but they need to convey the emotion of each race better. Somebody could set a world record, and they make the event so anti-climatic that it sounds like they are describing a loaf of bread.

lets help doug wrote:

Seeing that quote of the day from Doug Logan - I thought It would be interesting to discuss new ways to make track more tv friendly for a general audience. What are your thoughts?

Have coverage of the races.

luv2run wrote:

use picture in picture for interviews.

Nothing wrong with interviewing the runners and letting the audience know about them. However, you can have the 3000m/5000m going on with an inset for a pre-recorded interview. While I like track, watching the 5000m can be tedious. Yes, I have seen it on EuroTV and it is still pretty tedious.

yes.. only the TRUE tack geek likes to watch the 5 & 10. save that for a webfeed or something so the hardcore fan can get it, but do something to pull in the av tv watcher.

Everything you said, seriously. I yell at the announcers to shut up and call the race. I get mad when they don't show the whole field racing and finishing.

They should just watch some of the old tapes of that British announcer- like the one from the Virgin World XC victory.

Put something on the screen that calculates how fast the runners are going. US Track and field could also use someone really cocky like T.O. and Chad Ochocinco. It works for usain bolt! - besides him being really fast.

I think could be a model. It is a sport that has a long competition with several athletes competing at the same time. They use cameras at different sites and have competent announcers in different places that do a nice job of describing the action and what is going on.

I can imagine watching a 5000 with a quick cutaway to the shot with Cantwell about to throw and if its big stick around or a quick cut back to the race for an update and back for the measurement. Also, it would be cool to see some of the events with the golf shot tracker technology.

Track and field meets are and can be very exciting with several events going on at the same time. You would never guess that with the way tv covers it now.

First the announers need to get into it. They should be more like horse race announer,to a lesser extent, know the athletes in the race and keep talking!!!! Listen to the announcer in the recent Australian meets they are bloody good. If its an impressive time tell the people. Listen to Cram commentating the world 3000m record he knows how fast the race is and compares it to other races.

Make a big deal about the athletes like in the wanamaker mile, turn off the lights use a spotlight and get them to run to the line while some good music is playing and a announer that knows his shit tells the crowd about them.

Also I've always thought a good way to show a field events is have a pictures in the main picture showing the whole event and the commentator should be covering it all at once. When your there live, it great being able to watch one event and keep an eye on another, why not on the t.v

Lastly USATF should be reading this messageboard