Reno Pix Are Up!

It's been on ESPN before, problem is is that it is terribly boring.

ESPN covers golf, tennis, billiards, and soccer -- so it seems they've made
a franchise out of covering boring sports.

How much worse could air racing 20 feet off the ground at over 500 mph be?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:C_25d.104332$MQ5.83177@attbi_s52...
It's been on ESPN before, problem is is that it is terribly boring.

ESPN covers golf, tennis, billiards, and soccer -- so it seems they've
made
a franchise out of covering boring sports.

How much worse could air racing 20 feet off the ground at over 500 mph be?

Seriously. I mean, if the coverage of the air races is boring, it's not the
fault of the races. With proper camera work and commentary, it should be
just as exciting as, if not more so, any other high-speed racing (e.g.
Formula 1, NASCAR, etc.)

I suspect the lack of a series has more to do with it than lack of
excitement. Of course, there's also the issue of sticking with the coverage
long enough to generate a following large enough to justify the air time.

In any case, it's up to the Reno organizers to deal with these issues. I
don't see why ESPN would have any incentive to invest in Reno, since they
have plenty of other sports vying for their attention. Reno needs to sell
the idea to ESPN and get the necessary commitment needed to leave it on the
air long enough for a following to develop. And that probably can't happen
until there's enough races each year for people to not forget about the
races after a year's gone by. As far as the general public goes, one race a
year is an exhibition, not a sport.

There's no reason air racing can't be a viable, televised sport like NASCAR.
But the air race organizers need to structure the sport to be like that;
they can't expect the viewing public and networks to change to fit them.

Pete

Newps writes:

Jay Honeck wrote:
The race organizers had a big setback in September, 2001. Hopefully, they
can find a way to get on the "Xtreme" bandwagon without alientating those
of

us who keep the bill of our hat facing forward and don't use "Dude" as a
comma.
Well put.
You would think that ESPN2 would at least cover the event. It's a
mystery
to me.

It's been on ESPN before, problem is is that it is terribly boring.

Poker and billiards aren't? They got those on all the time.

-jav

"Jay Honeck" writes:

It's been on ESPN before, problem is is that it is terribly boring.

ESPN covers golf

Check

tennis

Check

billiards,

Check

and soccer -- so it seems they've made

HEY!

-jav

and soccer -- so it seems they've made

HEY!

Whoops! Sorry...

Soccer can be, um, invigorating!

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

There's no reason air racing can't be a viable, televised sport like
NASCAR.
But the air race organizers need to structure the sport to be like that;
they can't expect the viewing public and networks to change to fit them.

I'm hoping that the new Red Bull Races are the start of just such a series.

Man, it was exciting to watch! And it's PERFECT for TV.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Javier Henderson wrote:
Newps writes:


Jay Honeck wrote:

The race organizers had a big setback in September, 2001. Hopefully, they
can find a way to get on the "Xtreme" bandwagon without alientating those

of


us who keep the bill of our hat facing forward and don't use "Dude" as a
comma.

Well put.
You would think that ESPN2 would at least cover the event. It's a
mystery
to me.

It's been on ESPN before, problem is is that it is terribly boring.


Poker and billiards aren't? They got those on all the time.

It's all about putting buts in seats. If every pilot in the country
watched the air race on TV it would still be less tha n 10% of the
audience of the poker game.

"Newps" wrote in message
...
It's all about putting buts in seats. If every pilot in the country
watched the air race on TV it would still be less tha n 10% of the
audience of the poker game.

A properly managed sport would not have to rely on the pilot population for
viewership.

You don't really think all those folks watching NASCAR watch it because they
own a car themselves, do you?

(And no, I'm not saying that what air racing needs is more crashes...don't
even "go there")

You don't really think all those folks watching NASCAR watch it because
they
own a car themselves, do you?

Precisely.

I think the lack of coverage almost has to be a conscious choice on the part
of the Reno organizers. Maybe, because of the isolated location, they fear
that people wouldn't actually pay to attend if they could watch it on TV?

I know pro-football had that (as it turned out, unfounded) fear for many
years.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Speakin' o'which, Gail-from-Chicago says that the Bears kicked some hiney last
week at Lambeau, didn't they?

{;-)


Jim



"Jay Honeck"
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-
-I know pro-football had that (as it turned out, unfounded) fear for many
-years.


Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com