ESPN PLEASE READ THIS - how to broadcast a track and field meet

Shouldn’t we be happy to have any TV coverage at all.

-don’t forget we don’t need to see some nitwit tell us about an ice vest during the middle of the steeplechase.

-don’t do a personal in depth thing on last year’s champ during the race ..do that just prior to the start.

Get some halfway competent announcers, not the same old big name (lol) retreads who have made a hash of broadcasting track and field for the last three decades.

BlackSwanGroup262 wrote:

Shouldn’t we be happy to have any TV coverage at all.

I mean I guess but they also cover spikeball and cornhole so their standards aren't what they used to be.

You're calling out one of your own distance weenies, Larra Overton?!?

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/Athlete.aspx?AID=1486342

In Recovery wrote:

-don’t forget we don’t need to see some nitwit tell us about an ice vest during the middle of the steeplechase.

-don’t do a personal in depth thing on last year’s champ during the race ..do that just prior to the start.

Good point. Would you rather watch a full race, or a few laps of a race, an interview, another lap, then a lady wearing an ice vest, then the end of the race? Obviously the full race!

Especially the steepelchase, its only 9 minutes and it's very exciting and anything can happen at any time.

In years past there have been very important parts of races that happened during breaks. So we miss that, then to see it they need to cut out of the race to go back and show a video so we miss even more of the race.

Espn ruins every sport they telecast with their idiotic "technological" advances.

The announcing was consistently awful throughout the meet.

I get that Larry Rawson has been doing it for a while and he manages some things okay, but for the level of drama and incredible performances in the races tonight, Rawson's announcing was really lackluster. Other than the 110 hurdles he consistently did not emphasize the exciting finishes or impressive times, and of course he made a few glaring mistakes (e.g, thinking Texas Tech dropped the baton in the 4x1 instead of LSU). And of course the analysis of the distance races was really subpar––in the 800, for example, I can't believe he never once mentioned Dixon's huge tactical mistake in letting Hoppel pass on the inside on the last turn.

You'd think he'd have a better situational awareness by now. Just once I'd like to see some American announcers who could really elevate the broadcast of a thrilling meet instead of failing to live up to the excitement on the track.

As far as the production stuff, I was also frustrated by the many close-up shots of the athletes near the end of races, whether on the backstretch or homestretch. I don't want to just see the leader, who else is close to him??? Amateurish.

Sorry, it's Dwight Stones I guess. Can't really tell these mediocre booth guys apart.

Yes this. The bell shot was the most annoying

smart observer wrote:

Quick notes:

1. Don't zoom on on the winner of the race immediately after the race - we want to see everyone else finish. You always interview the winner later, so let us watch all the finishers.

2. On the bell lap, we don't need to see the camera with the hand physically ringing the bell. We'd actually prefer an outside view so we can view the time as they cross the start/finish to do splits.

3. Stop doing the view where you zoom in on the feet as they are running and then pan zoom out slowly. That is not good production value, that is horrible production value. We want to see the runners, not their feet.

Others, feel free to contribute.

Stop handing the winner anything, they do not want it.

Stop interviewing anyone, not interesting chatter at all. Yep, glad he/she won, ya think?

The first event is always the steeplechase, the last the 10, 000m. Those into those events can come early/stay late.

Dump, old folks. little kids. wheel chair races, nobody who doesn't know those people care.

For starters.

Imagine watching the NCAA basketball championship game and cutting to commercial midway through first half. Then come back from commercial and show an announcer off court talking about game preparations. I dont know why it is acceptable in track either. They need to keep a small screen going while an event is live.

smart observer wrote:

Quick notes:

1. Don't zoom on on the winner of the race immediately after the race - we want to see everyone else finish. You always interview the winner later, so let us watch all the finishers.

2. On the bell lap, we don't need to see the camera with the hand physically ringing the bell. We'd actually prefer an outside view so we can view the time as they cross the start/finish to do splits.

3. Stop doing the view where you zoom in on the feet as they are running and then pan zoom out slowly. That is not good production value, that is horrible production value. We want to see the runners, not their feet.

Others, feel free to contribute.

This is excellent advice for anyone broadcasting a meet/race. Unfortunately, ESPN is like the old athletic director who knows football, basketball, and baseball and thusly, thinks he knows sports. When actually, he knows nothing but he's too arrogant to take advice.

Tell Jillian Anderson that the meet is in another city. That lad and her front side mechanics are beyond irritating. She has no clue. Just be quiet for a few seconds. You do it have to keep babbling on with your word salad pseudotechnical jargon. She really has no clue and repeats herself and uses so many terms at inappropriate times. OBrien has improved a lot. Don’t see the need to include her in the women’s telecast.

ESPN don't read this board, fool.

This thread essentially is people complaining about the coverage, but not offering any actual improvements. You don't want any cut aways during races, that's fine. Then how do you suggest making the first 8 laps of a 5k entertaining? The last mile is where that race gets interesting to watch.

You don't want ESPN to do short focuses on the defending champions either? Considering most fans don't know who won what in most events, it certainly seems understandable to talk about them.

ESPN has awful commentary, that's no surprise. But it terms of production, it could be substantially worse. I find their camera shots to be similar to NBC.

Lastly, while many people on here think the coverage needs to be tailored to the most diehard fans desire, ESPN has to make it appealing to the novice fans too. Just enjoy that the coverage is on TV and not put behind FloTrack's paywall, which also comes with lousy production.

A couple of non track fans I know typically watch the NCAA (and SEC ) championships. I've never heard them complain about the announcing. I have heard them comment on points which they only could have known from the side pieces ESPN (and other networks) show before, during and after events much to the frustration of the uber fans such as this board attracts (excepting Rojo and Wejo).

ESPN and the other networks which show the sport know we will watch. They want others to watch.

Actually, most complaints here are about the camera angle. But since you mentioned it...

You can interview the defending champion in split screen format. Have the race continue to be shown, but in the top corner you can have the interview being shown.

The % of novice fans watching this meet is pretty damn low. On a friday and saturday night, the only people watching the NCAA championships are big fans of the sport. Especially last night when the NBA finals had a game too.

ESPN tailors their coverage to the 10% of novice fans while screwing over the 90% of diehard fans that are tuned in. Those fans want to see the entire 5k. There is a video feed that will show entire field events, yet there is no way to watch the entire distance races. They should be more concerned with the 90% than the 10% - it's simple math and simple economics.

For all the whining about ESPNs production of the NCAA championships, I’ll take Dwight Stones, Jill Montgomery, Dan O’Brien, and Larra Overton AND their production team any day over FlotRack.

Do you want FlotRack to produce the NCAA track & field championships the way they produced the garbage known as the NCAA cross country championships? The only thing that saved FlotRack was a great race.

Do you really want Gordon Mack, Ryan Fenton & Joanna Gertchel as your meet on air talents? Do you want to pay whatever their yearly subscription rate is for “prime “ content just to watch the NCAAs and a boatload of garbage regular season meets that are unwatchable?

Nope.