NBC announcers for at least 10 sports to be working out of New York

[ondeadline]

This according to a Chicago Tribune report:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-20-nbc-greensteinjul20,0,4492220.story

NBC claims the IOC mandated this, but the Tribune couldn't get a comment from the IOC:

"This is part of a mandate from the IOC to reduce strain on the host city by bringing fewer people," Brian Walker, NBC's senior director of corporate communications, said.

 

[PeteyPirate]

This according to a Chicago Tribune report:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-20-nbc-greensteinjul20,0,4492220.story

NBC claims the IOC mandated this, but the Tribune couldn't get a comment from the IOC:

"This is part of a mandate from the Chinese government to abritrarily set limits on the media," Brian Walker, NBC's senior director of corporate communications, said.

 

[Ace]

That's weak. I'd refuse to write a story off TV. Think any announcers will refuse to call the action off TV?

 

[spnited]

C'mon Ace, it's NBC ... home of plausibly live.

 

[Claws for Concern]

Not a surprise at all to me. I guess that means less equipment that won't be lost.

 

[poindexter]

C'mon Ace, it's NBC ... home of plausibly live.

Bingo. Plausibly live sports described from NY. Shown 10 hours after the fact. Makes perfect sense for the asshats at NBC sports.

 

[PeteyPirate]

Wow, they're going to do some basketball games by remote.

 

[slappy4428]

knowing the answer before I say this, but the IOC needed to say "NBC is our largest TV partner. They can send all the announcers they want."
Anything less than that response is weak on the part of the IOC AND NBC.
Strain on a host city of 17 million people by leaving 10 announcers home? Jeebus Keyrist...

 

[Football_Bat]

So which of the 10 sports will consist of 70% feature stories sugary-sweet enough to make my teeth rot?

 

[Armchair_QB]

Actually this doesn't surprise me. ABC/ESPN has been doing this with soccer since at least the 2002 World Cup. And other countries' network rightsholders do the same thing during the Olympics.

 

[Ace]

Actually this doesn't surprise me. ABC/ESPN has been doing this with soccer since at least the 2002 World Cup. And other countries' network rightsholders do the same thing during the Olympics.

It can work if everything goes right, but you have a riot in the stands, someone badly injured, a serious weather issue and you're screwed.

 

[suburbia]

knowing the answer before I say this, but the IOC needed to say "NBC is our largest TV partner. They can send all the announcers they want."
Anything less than that response is weak on the part of the IOC AND NBC.
Strain on a host city of 17 million people by leaving 10 announcers home? Jeebus Keyrist...

Maybe NBC is the one who wants to send fewer announcers and broadcast teams over there, and they want their public statements to come off sounding like they're doing the host city a favor.

Including air fare, hotel, meals, etc., I would imagine it costs at least US$5,000 per person to send one of their employees to Beijing for those two weeks, plus a week or so of prep time beforehand. You cut out 10 announcing pairs plus a producer for each of those teams, that's US$150,000 saved.

And before you say that's ludicrous, let's remember that CBS didn't send their studio analysts on site for either their NFL conference Championship Game or the Final Four this year, two things they've ALWAYS done.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Actually this doesn't surprise me. ABC/ESPN has been doing this with soccer since at least the 2002 World Cup. And other countries' network rightsholders do the same thing during the Olympics.

It can work if everything goes right, but you have a riot in the stands, someone badly injured, a serious weather issue and you're screwed.

Depends on how they handle it. If they're taking the IOC feed and just talking over it, they're screwed. If they have their own cameras and producers on-site and only have the announcers back in NYC they can probably work thru it.

Plus they'll have a ****load of researchers, interns, etc. on the ground in Beijing anyway.

And let's face it, this makes sense for every sport they listed except baseball, softball and soccer because those other seven sports get about five minutes of air time on NBC during an average Olympic fortnight anyway.

Hell, we don't even have a handball team competing in Beijing.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

Wow, they're going to do some basketball games by remote.

And somewhere, Zell and Singleton just eliminated all road travel for beat writers.

 

[imjustagirl]

That's weak. I'd refuse to write a story off TV. Think any announcers will refuse to call the action off TV?

You could never work at my paper then.

 

[Ace]

That's weak. I'd refuse to write a story off TV. Think any announcers will refuse to call the action off TV?

You could never work at my paper then.

Unless you work at the Plain-Dealer, I could live with that.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Actually this doesn't surprise me. ABC/ESPN has been doing this with soccer since at least the 2002 World Cup. And other countries' network rightsholders do the same thing during the Olympics.

It can work if everything goes right, but you have a riot in the stands, someone badly injured, a serious weather issue and you're screwed.

ESPN ran into that during Euro2008, when the satellite feed was knocked out during one match for about 30 minutes.

That said, the soccer announcers did a fantastic job working off TV monitors in a Bristol broom closet. If NBC has the right people on the microphones, you'll not notice a difference.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Meh,
It could be worse.
NBC could outsource this to New Delhi.

 

[poindexter]

I couldn't care two ****s if the announcers are at 30 Rock, or announcing from the Yangtze River. I certainly didn't give a **** if the NFL pregame are at the game site or not. Seems more of a distraction than anything else.

As noted previously, ESPN (and the spanish-speaking network) have been doing it for years with soccer, and it doesn't take one ounce of pleasure away from my viewing.

 

[spnited]

It's not like they're going to be showing anything live from Beijing to start with.