Doug Logan: television broadcast changes coming?

[Ryan]

I know Andrew and I have been going over this time and again for years. I sure hope Logan is as serious about making some sweeping changes to how T&F is covered on television in this country as this makes it seem he is. Dramatic changes to T&F television broadcasts are needed to make the sport seem more compelling. The current format is sufficient to put even the most ardent fan to sleep, as the key moments of nearly every event are missed and trivial moments are replayed and analyzed to death.

Given this message, I'm going to take it at face value and hold great hope for dramatic changes. Maybe I'm setting myself up for disappointment but the hope of television coverage I can actually look forward to seeing is worth it.

We are locked into a television "look and feel" that is   archaic and flat, leaving many of our broadcasts looking like a piece of   evidentiary documentation rather than a live drama. There is way too   much superfluous talking during our broadcasts. We have incidences where   we miss the "moment" completely, or it is masticated by an editor in   the production of an event that is tape-delayed. The emotional reaction   of the live crowd is rarely conveyed to the viewer.

I ask for a bit of patience in fixing these problems, but they will   be fixed.

Shin Splints Blog: The Moment

[Andrew A.]

Eh, "show me don't tell me."

[Ryan]

Well, the problem won't get resolved without getting acknowledged. Admittedly, it's possible to acknowledge something privately and resolve it but the point I'm taking from this is that it has been acknowledged. Someone with the power to do something has admitted there's a problem. Of course, now comes the hard work of fixing the problem but, after years of not seeing any sign of a first step being taken, I'm just happy to see that first step.

[Andrew A.]

Sure, and one would think that televised T&F/running coverage could improve significantly given how well so many other sports are covered on television.  However, it is still television in the USA I have no real faith in the format and all that goes with it.  On Saturday night, I watched the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon live on Japanese television via KeyHoleTV.  I was able to enjoy watching the race with the audio muted (I do not speak Japanese so the commentary is simply noise to me) because of the clean video production of the race.  Picture-in-picture to show the leader as well as the chase pack that was 200-300m behind; clear graphics showing the (recent?) marathon bests of the runners on the screen with their bib numbers, showing the top 10 marathon performances of a particular runner on the screen, indicating splits at each km mark and at each 5km mark, comparing those splits with the previous five 1 km or all the previous 5km splits, comparing splits with CR pace, indicating wind speed and direction relative to the runners shown, etc.  By comparison, televised road race broadcasts in the USA are incredibly tedious and archaic, even overlooking the typical windbag announcing.

[Ryan]

That is a great analysis of television coverage. The Japanese coverage you describe sounds like a great target for American coverage to shoot for and, based on what we see in other sports as well as the fact that the Japanese are already doing it, doesn't seem like it would be too difficult for the Americans to do. If we could get half of that, it would be a dramatic improvement.

Again, I realize I might be getting my hopes up a bit too high but I am going to hold out hope that Logan follows through with this, looks at European and Asian race/meet coverage, and gives us something that is at least watchable.

[Andrew A.]

http://optimaltraining.typepad.com/blog/2010/03/capturing-the-moment.html

[Ed]

One of the issues that is missed with broadcasts and the written articles (in all sports) is the mental struggle that people go through - the brain bsttle.  Even if participants are "miked up" (so you can hear their mumblings) there is a lot of internal drama that makes races the most personal of highs and lows and that element just cannot be conveyed.
 
The feeling of completing my first marathon (and in a decent time) was so internal the outside observer wouldn't get anything out of that moment.  But for me there was pure elation!
 
Also, a runner pasing another runner is not as dramatic as a race car driver passing another.  There is a higher element of danger with the race cars that makes the occurance "more" exciting.  This is unfortumnate but to really expand interest in running races people really need that personal experience.