Can gliding become a TV sport?

Imagine the fun and camera's covering a landout...

Like the one story in Soaring magazine where the buuba's on the four wheelers and the babes in tank tops come out with beer to help...

Or Farmer Bill goes off on a rant about his destroyed peanut plants and the thousands of dollars he wants in recompense, swearing at flyboys havin their fun and not caring about the 'merican farmer...

Glider pilots getting into fights back at the field about sharing thermals, circling the wrong way, near misses, etc...


...you know, all the stuff that never happens until a camera crew turns up.

If that aint reality TV nothing is.

On Wednesday, February 27, 2013 8:59:32 AM UTC-7, Squeaky wrote:
Imagine the fun and camera's covering a landout...
Like the one story in Soaring magazine where the buuba's on the four
wheelers and the babes in tank tops come out with beer to help...

Or Farmer Bill goes off on a rant about his destroyed peanut plants and
the thousands of dollars he wants in recompense, swearing at flyboys
havin their fun and not caring about the 'merican farmer...

Glider pilots getting into fights back at the field about sharing

thermals, circling the wrong way, near misses, etc...

..you know, all the stuff that never happens until a camera crew turns

up.
If that aint reality TV nothing is.

Squeaky

Funny post. But the proposed event is nothing like what we now know as a competition. It's a short 1 - 2 hour AST with emergency landing fields already picked out. Someone might land in a farm field but it's unlikely and the farmers would have been warned of the possibility and arrangements made.

On Wednesday, February 27, 2013 2:20:09 AM UTC-5, Scott Alexander wrote:
If racing sailboats or racing bicycles can be a televised sport, then there's no good reason why Soaring can't be too.

How many sailboat races have you watched in the last 5 years?
Some sports get TV support because they are an extension of a sport that the viewer participates, or did participate in, or are a fantasy extension of common activity.
Examples:
Golf- participitory
Tennis- participitory
Sailing- participitory
Cycling- same
Auto racing- fantasy extension
Gliding has the unfortunate position of not falling well into either of these catagories. Also note that the first four are all activities that can be undertaken quite casually and with limited commitment so folks can identify quite easily. Gliding doesn't fall into that catagory.
Skeptical
UH

On Wednesday, February 27, 2013 9:30:56 AM UTC-7, wrote:
On Wednesday, February 27, 2013 2:20:09 AM UTC-5, Scott Alexander wrote:

If racing sailboats or racing bicycles can be a televised sport, then there's no good reason why Soaring can't be too.



How many sailboat races have you watched in the last 5 years?

Some sports get TV support because they are an extension of a sport that the viewer participates, or did participate in, or are a fantasy extension of common activity.

Examples:

Golf- participitory

Tennis- participitory

Sailing- participitory

Cycling- same

Auto racing- fantasy extension

Gliding has the unfortunate position of not falling well into either of these catagories. Also note that the first four are all activities that can be undertaken quite casually and with limited commitment so folks can identify quite easily. Gliding doesn't fall into that catagory.

Skeptical

UH

Good points but I think they will be overcome.

Glider racing will never be completely "real-time" and clever video editing can increase the pace and excitement. Biased though I am, I think glider racing is enormously more exciting than boat racing.

The masses of TV viewers will never adopt gliding but they don't adopt many other sports either although do enjoy watching them. At any one time our infrastructure can only accept a few thousand newcomers. If TV coverage of glider races could provide those few, we'd be in great shape.

Glider racing will never be completely "real-time" and clever video editing can increase the pace and excitement. Biased though I am, I think glider racing is enormously more exciting than boat racing.

Bill - Have you watched any of the re-boot of the America's Cup Sailing races. It is pretty spectacular now with immense amounts of data being off-loaded the boats and superimpose don them by the race officuals. It shows what Sailplane GP might become. However, we'll see how the viewership numbers go and if sailing sees any "bump" from the activities this coming summer.

EY

On Wednesday, February 27, 2013 12:09:41 PM UTC-5, Bill D wrote:
At any one time our infrastructure can only accept a few thousand newcomers.

I wonder what the real 'uptake capacity' is? The two clubs that I know can optimistically accept 2-4 new students per year. The student experience breaks down if more than 2-3 students show up.

2-4 new students every year keep the club membership at a constant level, so there is not much incentive to increase the membership. The club gliders are fully booked at the present membership level and availability is already a problem if there is lift.

On 28/02/2013 04:09, Bill D wrote:

Good points but I think they will be overcome.
...
The masses of TV viewers will never adopt gliding but they don't
adopt many other sports either although do enjoy watching them. At
any one time our infrastructure can only accept a few thousand
newcomers. If TV coverage of glider races could provide those few,
we'd be in great shape.

Maybe - but it isn't a shape I want my sport to be in.

I like it as it is and it's as much mine as yours. I'm enjoying my
flying and I enjoy the friends I have in gliding. There is nothing more
I ask from the sport. For me the sport centres on my Club and my flying
field and my local region and they're in good shape. Young men with
wider ambitions can tear the sport off me when I'm dead but right now -
I'll fight them for it. I like it as it is.

I have no interest in watching gliding on TV - I'm a participant. How
would a million TV viewers increase my and my friends' enjoyment of
gliding? Worse, the level at which I participate would be killed by TV
popularity. The sport - like motor sports - would become dominated by
the demands of the professionals and the amateur end would be squashed
by the juggernaut.

Anybody who thinks gliding is comparable to cycling is deluded. The
closest comparison is motor sport and they're not faring any better at
the bottom than gliding. Worse, in fact. The next best comparison is
sailing and I've watched what professionalism has done there with very
little enthusiasm. It didn't improve my sailing pleasure one iota.

An earlier post said "...It's OK if you don't want to participate but
what's the point in discouraging others?" The point is that it's MY
sport as much as it's theirs and what they want would kill it from MY
point of view. So I WILL fight them for it. I will fight to stop it
becoming the plaything of bombast-stoked ******s.

GC

Meh. Visually more interesting sports have tried and failed. Besides you guys are ignoring the big issue, no one wants to watch geriatric 'athletes.' Sailing is doing better on tv, partly because of the marketing genius of Redbull, mostly because the new cats and wing sails are fast and crash in a manner that makes NASCAR blush. Happy to see folks try, be fun to watch fans turn up after seeing glider racing on tv and get introduced to the 2-33. There are successes I couldn't find viewer numbers but understand the Redbull Xalps(900 km rag soaring race) is very popular, at least in Europe. Here is a sample https://www.redbullcontentpool.com/content/xalps
Gliding just needs young, likeable, tv friendly pilots...

On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 06:41:44 -0800, gb wrote:

Meh. Visually more interesting sports have tried and failed. Besides
you guys are ignoring the big issue, no one wants to watch geriatric
'athletes.' Sailing is doing better on tv, partly because of the
marketing genius of Redbull, mostly because the new cats and wing sails
are fast and crash in a manner that makes NASCAR blush. Happy to see
folks try, be fun to watch fans turn up after seeing glider racing on tv
and get introduced to the 2-33. There are successes I couldn't find
viewer numbers but understand the Redbull Xalps(900 km rag soaring race)
is very popular, at least in Europe. Here is a sample
https://www.redbullcontentpool.com/content/xalps Gliding just needs
young, likeable, tv friendly pilots...

So, consider targetting your recruitment around universities...


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

On Tuesday, February 26, 2013 7:25:06 AM UTC-7, Jp Stewart wrote:
Just sharing the link of the webinar help this past Sunday on soaring as a TV sport.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKdI5...ature=youtu.be



JP

If you watch Mario Hytten's video, you'll see no "geriatric" athletes. All the racing pilots will be young and photogenic. He understands what advertizes want. As a "geezer glider guider" I'm OK with that.