Quote:
Originally Posted by sterlingice
Back to the ratings issue, this is the problem with running what amounts to local northeastern sports news as national in scope the rest of the year on ESPN, Fox, etc. They promo the hell out of New York, Boston, etc for cheap, short term gains. If you have practically every ESPN and FOX game at one of about 5 major markets all year, that's all people are going to see and that's all nationally people will "care" about it come playoff time. Why show, say a Jeff Francis-Brandon Webb regular season game when their respective teams are in the playoff chase when you can show some Yankees/Red Sox tilt between their 5th starters just because it's the "greatest rivalry" (sic) out there?
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I think that whole angle is a little overstated, but to the extent that it exists, you make it sound like ESPN is covering Boston/NY as some kind of charity case. The northeast is the population center of the United States, and it's transplants are all over the place. (It's amazing how many other 20-somethings from the northeast ended up here in Idaho). You're asking tv networks to leave money on the table by showing smaller market teams for some kind of future investment? If they Yankees and Red Sox were leaving the league or something, I'd see your point, but big markets have always driven sports TV business.
The New York market is more than just a big city - it includes almost 20 million people. That's 10 times Denver.
That being said, two major markets facing off in a championship series is sometimes too much of a good thing. Yankees/Mets in 2000 was horribly rated outside greater NYC (though again, if you can get a big piece of 20 million caring about the series - who cares about Pittsburgh or Detroit?). Red Sox/Rockies is probably the best matchup on the table right now, in terms of national interest.