FED/Murray NOT under LIGHTS??

[Conquistador]

One Word to describe this: BAFFLING So the tournament organizers decide to hold the womens championship primetime so that everyone can see it--BUT DECIDE NOT TO place the Men's Final under the lights--Im not understanding this logic...Clearly from a television standpoint--A Murray/FED match at 9 o clock would compete with Monday Night Football--Another point mentioning is the fact that a lot of people get off of work at 5 o clock on a Monday night and hence will miss some of the match...Its just baffling to wonder how the Men's Championship may not be seen by all tennis fans because of work and certain activities...

 

[stormholloway]

Strage indeed. 5 o'clock is quite early. 7 would be more appropriate.

 

[dennis10is]

Purely speculation on my part but I don't think the USTA had a choice. CBS is running the show because they will have to re-arrange their schedules and I believe the fall show premiere are going on so they want to have regularly scheduled programming at 8pm EST. As posted else where, USTA lost mucho money due to rain delay.

the Sarah Connor Chronicle is premiering Monday!

 

[jamesblakefan#1]

Even when the finals on Sunday, as normal, I think it'd be cool to have the men's final under the lights. You could have a full doubleheader of football followed by the men's final at 8pm. Why not?

 

[Conquistador]

I dont understand a 5 pm match in which with lost revenue from the Rain cancellation saturday--this would be the perfect time to schedule the match at 9 pm where there would be direct competition with monday night football--ratings would be extremely high compared to 5 pm

 

[autumn_leaf]

remember miami this year? they pushed it back a week due to NCAA.

it's just for ratings and they believe tennis can't compete. also the fact that there's no americans in the finals. seen any of the night matches so far. all of them had an american in them. this is also prolly why the women's match gets the night match.

 

[idj49]

Men's championship has never been played under the lights. The women's match has been a night match for the past 6 years. What are you people complaining about exactly?

 

[Conquistador]

Men's championship has never been played under the lights. The women's match has been a night match for the past 6 years. What are you people complaining about exactly?

We're saying that since the Monday finish---a primetime match is the PERFECT PERFECT time for CBS to make amends for their lost revenues on Saturday

 

[AAAA]

I dont understand a 5 pm match in which with lost revenue from the Rain cancellation saturday--this would be the perfect time to schedule the match at 9 pm

eh no. The tennis final, due to rain delays, has missed it's prior allocated slot in the all important TV schedules. Now that the match has been re-arranged the USTA will schedule it for when the TV studios can fit it into their schedules.

 

[rommil]

Purely speculation on my part but I don't think the USTA had a choice. CBS is running the show because they will have to re-arrange their schedules and I believe the fall show premiere are going on so they want to have regularly scheduled programming at 8pm EST. As posted else where, USTA lost mucho money due to rain delay.

the Sarah Connor Chronicle is premiering Monday!

I think saving the world from robotic entities can wait. We got an exciting men's finals to watch.

 

[idj49]

We're saying that since the Monday finish---a primetime match is the PERFECT PERFECT time for CBS to make amends for their lost revenues on Saturday

It would ludicrous to put the final up against Monday Night Football.

 

[Conquistador]

I think anyGRAND SLAM FINAL WITH FEDERER gets more ratings than a 3rd rock from the sun episode

 

[JYD]

i still think it should be at 7 oclock. when does MNF start? 8:30? It's just hard for a lot of people to watch it for 5 et.

 

[Conquistador]

It would ludicrous to put the final up against Monday Night Football.

How so?? CBS competes with ABC/ESPN?? CBS can be in an opportunity where it takes football fans away to the final instead of watching the tennis final at 5 then people switch over and watch football at 9 pm..Its really a huge opportunity for CBS because it would be a win-win situation

 

[idj49]

I think anyGRAND SLAM FINAL WITH FEDERER gets more ratings than a 3rd rock from the sun episode

Obviously you don't live in the US. I guarantee if they air it prime time on a Monday it will easily get the least amount of ratings. I think the only show it might beat out is Gossip Girl.

 

[Conquistador]

Obviously you don't live in the US. I guarantee if they air it prime time on a Monday it will easily get the least amount of ratings. I think the only show it might beat out is Gossip Girl.

I didnt know Grand Slam Finals were broadcast weekly..

 

[skip1969]

a 9pm start is a little nuts, imo. it's a school night, who the hell wants to get out of flushing at the crack of dawn. and like has been mentioned, you'd have to be insane to put a tennis match (between two europeans) up against monday night football (no matter which teams are playing). very few people want to watch tennis in the states, much less at night, when there's something 'better' to watch.

 

[idj49]

How so?? CBS competes with ABC/ESPN?? CBS can be in an opportunity where it takes football fans away to the final instead of watching the tennis final at 5 then people switch over and watch football at 9 pm..Its really a huge opportunity for CBS because it would be a win-win situation

What are you talking about? The reason they air the men's final at 4pm on Sunday is because they are hoping to get some of the football fans not to switch the channel and STILL the ratings are a small fraction of football.

 

[idj49]

I didnt know Grand Slam Finals were broadcast weekly..

What does that mean?

 

[Conquistador]

What are you talking about? The reason they air the men's final at 4pm on Sunday is because they are hoping to get some of the football fans not to switch the channel and STILL the ratings are a small fraction of football.

No-most viewers are primetime due to their lifestyle mostly work...The modern workweek is 9-5 or 8-4...a huge majority of tennis fans will miss some of the match.

 

[idj49]

No-most viewers are primetime due to their lifestyle mostly work...The modern workweek is 9-5 or 8-4...a huge majority of tennis fans will miss some of the match.

You obviously don't know what you are talking about. What does Sunday have to do with the modern workweek?

 

[LanceStern]

There is no chance it could compete with football.

When it was on Sunday, it came a little before people, so the casual man or fan coudl watch it.

But if you put it directly against Monday Night Football or ANY monday night primetime season premiere, it's crazy. It's crazy and unfotunately LOSE-LOSE for CBS

 

[LanceStern]

You obviously don't know what you are talking about. What does Sunday have to do with the modern workweek?

He's saying they are going to lose money because on the average workweek, people don't get home and settled to watch tv until maybe 5 or 6 pm (Pacific time here).

So people won't really have the time or energy to get home and turn on tennis, work just stopped.

There was no reason to say he had no idea what he's talking about. Too many personal attacks during discussions

 

[idj49]

I wasn't making a personal attack. He obviously doesn't know what he's talking about by continuously suggesting that putting tennis on in prime time opposite Monday Night Football is somehow a good idea. There really is no alternative but to place it at the time they did.

 

[LanceStern]

It's ridiculous to put it against Monday Night Football in America. It would actually probably lose ratings...

 

[autumn_leaf]

with the ratings thing...can we trust the CBS knows what it's doing with it's millions of dollars in research in this department. most likely they know how much of an audience they can pull in with the men's final unless it's their first year ever airing it.

 

[Conquistador]

with the ratings thing...can we trust the CBS knows what it's doing with it's millions of dollars in research in this department. most likely they know how much of an audience they can pull in with the men's final unless it's their first year ever airing it.

Well this is the first time there is a monday final,yes

 

[Moose Malloy]

This has nothing to do with Monday Night Football, CBS runs the show & they do have other shows to air on monday nights, shows that get better ratings in re-runs than any tennis match ever will, even Sampras-Agassi's ratings would be a joke compared to How I Met Your Mother & Two & A Half Men

Right now CBS is doing tennis fans a favor by airing it at all, they know they aren't going to get any ratings at all on a Monday at any time.

Well this is the first time there is a monday final,yes

There was a Monday final in 1987, & it was on at 1 pm est(CBS aired it, stands were half full), be grateful for the 5 pm start.

 

[sureshs]

Bad light is bad for Federer. He lost the Wimbledon finals because of that.

 

[veritech]

it's been like this for years. women's is under the lights, while men's isn't. not that big of a deal.

 

[bluetrain4]

We're saying that since the Monday finish---a primetime match is the PERFECT PERFECT time for CBS to make amends for their lost revenues on Saturday

I would love to see the final in primetime, but I'm not sure CBS can "make amends for their lost revenues on Saturday" as you say.

Revenues come from

(1) ticket revenue - that should pretty much be the same. I would still imagine a full stadium even with the early start time, though maybe a few more tickets would be sold later.

(2) Tournament sponsors - that's been a done deal since the beginning of the tournament. They aren't going to pay more due to to the extra day, since portions of the other days got rained out.

(3) TV advertising. I can't be sure, but I wouldn't think that CBS is going to drastically renegotiate advertising in one day so that a late start time would be more profitable. In fact, many advertisers may not be wiling to pay more for the later time because the final would then be going head to head against Monday Night Football and other shows. Get real people, the American TV audience doesn't reflect the tennis-obsessed junkies that we are. If it were to go head to head with football, the vast majority of people would choose football.

 

[WBF]

I would be absolutely livid if they played at 9:00pm. Some of us work and like to get a decent amount of sleep. 7:00 might be nicer (play tennis then watch it live, vs. play tennis then watch it recorded), but 5 is much, much better than 9:00...

 

[RedWeb]

Bad light is bad for Federer. He lost the Wimbledon finals because of that.

Dude, they can turn the LIGHTS on anytime.

 

[Cup8489]

Bad light is bad for Federer. He lost the Wimbledon finals because of that.

wimbledon didnt have floodlights that could be turned on if necessary. it starts at five, and i think in new york it's twilight by 8:15, so theyll probably have at least some of it with lights on.

 

[oberyn]

(3) TV advertising. I can't be sure, but I wouldn't think that CBS is going to drastically renegotiate advertising in one day so that a late start time would be more profitable. In fact, many advertisers may not be wiling to pay more for the later time because the final would then be going head to head against Monday Night Football. Get real people, the American TV audience doesn't reflect the tennis-obsessed junkies that we are. If it were to go head to head with football, the vast majority of people would choose football.

Bingo.

This is a purely anecdotal observation, but I recall sitting in a sports bar in south Florida for the 2002 Men's Final. A friend of mine and I had to plead with management to turn one of the 20 + television sets (tuned to various NFL games) to the Agassi-Sampras final.

 

[bluetrain4]

Get real people, the American TV audience doesn't reflect the tennis-obsessed junkies that we are. If it were to go head to head with football, the vast majority of people would choose football.

I should have said that the vast majority of people would choose football or something else (like reruns of sitcoms as someone else pointed out).