Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

[bkrich83]

Re: Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

Well NO ****! ESPN is one of a kind! There is no common detonator! Jesus, is it that hard to see?

What other 24/7 sports network is dedicated to MULTIPLE sports? What are you comparing ESPN to? CBS/ABC/NBC? Not a 24 hour sports network and don't have national nightly highlight shows.

MLB/NBA/NFL Networks are only focused on their sport. There is nothing to compare it to when you say "they get the most coverage only on ESPN". There's no reason for MLB Network to be Yankee-heavy when they have all day every day to cover baseball! They aren't working with lmited time and resources like ESPN.

I'm sorry it's an 'out of the box' point of view for you and you're only retort is to say "You're a Yankee fan" when it's completely irrelevant to the situation.

Which is to Heath's point. ESPN only covers 4 teams... Which is why so many people are fed up with it.

No one out here gives a crap about the Yankees or Red Sox..Yet ESPN force feeds it to us. You say no one give a crap about the Padres or Diamondbacks, and that maybe true on the East Coast but it's not true here.

I know it's hard to imagine but the baseball world does not revolve around Yankee stadium.

And doesn't ESPN have a nightly show dedicated only to baseball much like MLB network?

[ehh]

Re: Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

Which is to Heath's point. ESPN only covers 4 teams... Which is why so many people are fed up with it.

And those are the people who do not understand what ESPN has to work with.

If you could run Baseball Tonight, with 22 minutes of on-air time and 3 minutes of live highlights - and you're job security and salary depended on your ratings and advertising revenue, what would a sample layout of a typical show be?

[Chip Douglass]

Re: Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

they get the most coverage only on ESPN. Which goes to the lowest commmon denominator.

I am sure you being a Yankee fan has nothing to do with it.

And it's not like ESPN has alot to lose by diversifying their coverage. They're still the king in terms of day-to-day MLB coverage (I don't even have MLB Network), so I'm sure that offering more balanced coverage won't equal instant ratings death. The fans who are going to tune into ESPN are going to want to see baseball coverage, not just 3-4 teams.

[ehh]

Re: Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

The fans who are going to tune into ESPN are going to want to see baseball coverage, not just 3-4 teams.

That's just naive and wrong. You don't think ESPN puts a ****load of money into market research to determine what their audience wants?

[bkrich83]

Re: Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

And those are the people who do not understand what ESPN has to work with.

If you could run Baseball Tonight, with 22 minutes of on-air time and 3 minutes of live highlights - and you're job security and salary depended on your ratings and advertising revenue, what would a sample layout of a typical show be?

Probably more diverse coverage. I in no way shape or form believe covering the entire league would decrease rating or advertising revenue..

[ehh]

Re: Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

I in no way shape or form believe covering the entire league would decrease rating or advertising revenue..

So like Olson, you just assume that's correct with no real evidence or data and bash ESPN for their decisions when it's their job and livelihood to research, interpret datra and program what's the best for their business? Just on your hunch you think you know what's better for ESPN than they do? Lovely.

[bkrich83]

Re: Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

So like Olson, you just assume that's correct with no real evidence or data and bash ESPN for their decisions when it's their job and livelihood to research, interpret datra and program what's the best for their business? Just on your hunch you think you know what's better for ESPN than they do? Lovely.

So you've seen their research data and you've interpreted it yourself? What evidence exactly do you have?

For baseball coverage which is the topic, MLB network. Their East Coast timezone-centric coverage is exactly what has steered me away from watching that network.

[Chip Douglass]

Re: Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

I'm sorry it's an 'out of the box' point of view for you and you're only retort is to say "You're a Yankee fan" when it's completely irrelevant to the situation.

The same could be said for your "Well, it's good for business" retort.

ESPN is still the king in sports coverage, as most people don't even have MLB/NFL/NBA Network (I don't). I doubt many causal fans are going to be turned off by more balanced coverage when ESPN is probably their only source for sports highlights.

No doubt there are more Notre Dame/Duke/Cowboys/Yankees/Lakers fans in their respective sports than any other team, but it's a pretty lame excuse when people will still tune into their broadcast regardless.

[ehh]

Re: Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

So you've seen their research data and you've interpreted it yourself? What evidence exactly do you have?

Uh, the actual programming they put on TV? I think it's a pretty safe assumption that the biggest sports network on the planet knows what they're doing.

[bkrich83]

Re: Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

Uh, the actual programming they put on TV? I think it's a pretty safe assumption that the biggest sports network on the planet knows what they're doing.

So no you haven't then? And it still doesn't dispute what Bell said. He was on point...

[ehh]

Re: Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

ESPN is still the king in sports coverage, as most people don't even have MLB/NFL/NBA Network (I don't). I doubt many causal fans are going to be turned off by more balanced coverage when ESPN is probably their only source for sports highlights.

Which is in line with the point that I'm trying to make which is that if ESPN could go back to more balanced highlights with two minute highlights on each game they would. That's not a possibility anymore. Bell does have a great point about ESPN not even mentioning the Padres during the Mets' home opener ads cause that is bush league but his complaint about Peavy's lack of highlights is meh. Even the Yanks and Sox don't get THAT live highlight footage anymore.

[SPTO]

Re: Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

For baseball coverage which is the topic, MLB network. Their East Coast timezone-centric coverage is exactly what has steered me away from watching that network.

Yep West Coast teams are always gonna struggle that way but at least MLB Network is more diversified from what i've heard.

ESPN is just 3-4 teams and token highlights for a few others.

[ehh]

Re: Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

So no you haven't then?

The fact that you actually need to see some type of empirical evidence in this situation shows how narrow-minded you are about this. I'm not sure what you do for a living or what field you're in but market research, data analysis, etc are pretty standard business fundamentals. To think that a company as huge and successful as ESPN doesn't employ these tactics to damn near perfection is pretty sad on your part.

So what is your theory on why ESPN shows so many Yankee/Red Sox highlights? Why do you think BTN is currently set up the way it is?

[bkrich83]

Re: Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

So what is your theory on why ESPN shows so many Yankee/Red Sox highlights? Why do you think BTN is currently set up the way it is?

I believe them to be a very east coast centric network. Most of their "journalists" are east coast sports writers or based in that region. I am not sure they even know that the other time zones exist. When the Angels were beating the Yankees in 2001 you had "analysts" on that network trying to figure out who Garrett Anderson was, and were shocked he was hitting against New York as well as he was.

Again, given the nature of ESPN, I do not believe in any way shape or form more balanced coverage will lessen ratings or advertising revenue. They are like EA Sports with Madden people are going to buy it no matter what. Actually covering the league instead of 3 teams would not be a bad thing.

Bottom line, their coverage is terrible, and has been for some time.

[rsox]

Re: Heath Bell: ESPN Bias

I don't see how balanced coverage of MLB could in any way hurt the same network that spends six months over analyzing every single NFL team's needs in the NFL Draft. If you can spend that much time and effort covering 32 teams in one league 365 days a year you could spend even half that time covering 30 teams in another league at least during the regular season.