I know there have been other threads about this posted today, but I'm still in shock that neither ESPN nor NBC chose to air the Federer/Kuerten match today. I flipped to the coverage that I recorded on TiVo and couldn't believe that all they showed was a 30 second synopsis of the match. What were they thinking? Despite what these two networks think, the tennis watching world is not only interested in American stars. Any tennis fan worthy of the title would have preferred to see Federer/Kuerten over another Williams or Capriati match. I was afraid once Agassi and Roddick were out that coverage of the men's draw would drop off. Very disappointing. I honestly feel like it's time to boycott ESPN and ignore their so-called tennis coverage so that their ratings will plummet, advertisers will pull out and they'll drop the coverage altogether. Then maybe a network who cares about tennis (USA?) will get a shot again. Hopefully The Tennis Channel will get their act together and get into enough American homes to make them a force to reckon with. A dark day for tennis in the U.S. indeed.
A Dark Day for Tennis in the U.S.
- Thread starter bigbanger
- Start date
Brian Purdie
Semi-Pro
It's going to get worse tomorrow as the sisters play AGAIN!
Princegod
Rookie
I think the only solution is to start boycotting ESPN's sponsors. ESPN will not listen to any logical reasoning, or emails, letters, and even Tennis magazine has written an article on this issue, yet ESPN remains silent. The only way to make ESPN change, is it is to hurt them financially.
Whether or not there are enough tennis fans to make an impact, is unknown. The "viewers" not the "fans" are the problem. The "fans" want variety; the "viewers" could care less. The unfortunate thing is the "viewers" outnumber the "fans" probably by a large margin.
I still think though that we should make a running list of all the commercials on ESPN network and not buy their products. Maybe just a small number of us could change things. Write letters or emails to the sponsors telling them why you are boycotting. Even if we could get just one or two companies to pull their ads, that could be enough to change ESPN's tune. I just saw a Motel 6 and Gillette ad on ESPN, so let’s boycott them. Use Holiday Inn or Hampton Inn or buy Schick or Norelco.
If you want the coverage to change, I say lets boycott. It’s probably our most powerful tool.
Whether or not there are enough tennis fans to make an impact, is unknown. The "viewers" not the "fans" are the problem. The "fans" want variety; the "viewers" could care less. The unfortunate thing is the "viewers" outnumber the "fans" probably by a large margin.
I still think though that we should make a running list of all the commercials on ESPN network and not buy their products. Maybe just a small number of us could change things. Write letters or emails to the sponsors telling them why you are boycotting. Even if we could get just one or two companies to pull their ads, that could be enough to change ESPN's tune. I just saw a Motel 6 and Gillette ad on ESPN, so let’s boycott them. Use Holiday Inn or Hampton Inn or buy Schick or Norelco.
If you want the coverage to change, I say lets boycott. It’s probably our most powerful tool.
Boycotts don't work. Give up on ESPN changing as long as its programming brings them advertising money. Learn to love the American women on the WTA tour, or win the lottery and go to tournaments. Just be glad the American men are terrible, or there would be absolutely no hope. I do guarantee that you'll see some great men's matches next week & e happy theyre not showing 7 hours of bowling instead of tennis.
Joe Oldschool
New User
Exactly how do you think you are going to boycott their sponsors? Their sponsors are the same as the sponsors of every other channel on television.
The "ESPN shows what most viewers want regardless of the hard-core fan" argument is also total bogus. Face it people, the only ones watching tennis at all are the hard core fans. Have you ever been out to a bar, or any public place for that matter, and seen tennis on tv? Have you ever bumped into a non-tennis player who could give a rat's a-- about tennis?
No.
As I have said a million times, ESPN does not show the players that give them the best ratings, because no one is even taking ratings of these broadcasts. That is the simple truth. Ratings are only taken in 4 separate months of the year anyway. If you doubt me, look up "Neilsen Ratings" and see for yourself.
Why do they show the matches the way they do? Because, it is an executive decision based on product placement. The executives have chosen the "product" (i.e. American players and the apparel brands that sponsor American players) that they are going to push. Then, they push those players relentlessly. It's that simple, and it's never going to change.
Is it bad for the long term prospects of the sport? Yes, but they don't really give a damn about the sport. Nor do they really give a damn about the advertising revenue brought in by tennis, because it doesn't bring in much if any. Tennis is a time-filler sport and nothing more. Their revenue is made in the big three sports.
Because tennis fans care so much about their sport, they have a hard time understanding that no one else (especially network executives) care about it at all.
The "ESPN shows what most viewers want regardless of the hard-core fan" argument is also total bogus. Face it people, the only ones watching tennis at all are the hard core fans. Have you ever been out to a bar, or any public place for that matter, and seen tennis on tv? Have you ever bumped into a non-tennis player who could give a rat's a-- about tennis?
No.
As I have said a million times, ESPN does not show the players that give them the best ratings, because no one is even taking ratings of these broadcasts. That is the simple truth. Ratings are only taken in 4 separate months of the year anyway. If you doubt me, look up "Neilsen Ratings" and see for yourself.
Why do they show the matches the way they do? Because, it is an executive decision based on product placement. The executives have chosen the "product" (i.e. American players and the apparel brands that sponsor American players) that they are going to push. Then, they push those players relentlessly. It's that simple, and it's never going to change.
Is it bad for the long term prospects of the sport? Yes, but they don't really give a damn about the sport. Nor do they really give a damn about the advertising revenue brought in by tennis, because it doesn't bring in much if any. Tennis is a time-filler sport and nothing more. Their revenue is made in the big three sports.
Because tennis fans care so much about their sport, they have a hard time understanding that no one else (especially network executives) care about it at all.
The most ironic part of this is that on ESPN's daily hightlight show, "Today at the French Open", Susie Kolbar repeatedly referred to the Federer/Kuerten match as "the marquee match of the day". If that was the case, how come they only showed the final few games rather than the entire match? Bizarre.
StewieGriffin
New User
Go to ESPN.com's message boards and voice your opinions there... on their tennis message boards
People need to tell them directly that they SUCK!!!! Companies do use message boards to do market research (Smart ones at least).
There's just endless, mindless babble about how great the Williams sisters are, and how great ESPN coverage is... It's sickening...
GO THERE... NOW!!!! And don't use 'Great coverage' or anything you don't agree with in the title of your messages.
http://boards.espn.go.com/cgi/espn/request.dll?LIST&room=other_tennis
People need to tell them directly that they SUCK!!!! Companies do use message boards to do market research (Smart ones at least).
There's just endless, mindless babble about how great the Williams sisters are, and how great ESPN coverage is... It's sickening...
GO THERE... NOW!!!! And don't use 'Great coverage' or anything you don't agree with in the title of your messages.
http://boards.espn.go.com/cgi/espn/request.dll?LIST&room=other_tennis
