I doubt there is any real malice on Chris Balls part. I also don't believe that he is so naive as to believe that Wb were interested in in Mtb'ing any further than in what it can do to their bottom line. He has been employed to lend legitimacy to Wb ownership (I suspect he has little to no autonomy) and I'm sure any philosophical misgivings he has with what he has been tasked to achieve are more than assuaged by being Executive Junior Vice President of Adult Pushbiking Racing and it's generous associated compensation package.
I doubt there is any real malice on Chris Balls part. I also don't believe that he is so naive as to believe that Wb were...
I doubt there is any real malice on Chris Balls part. I also don't believe that he is so naive as to believe that Wb were interested in in Mtb'ing any further than in what it can do to their bottom line. He has been employed to lend legitimacy to Wb ownership (I suspect he has little to no autonomy) and I'm sure any philosophical misgivings he has with what he has been tasked to achieve are more than assuaged by being Executive Junior Vice President of Adult Pushbiking Racing and it's generous associated compensation package.
He has been handed an impossible task: "build the sport" while also "increasing value" while also "building viewership" while also "changing the image" while also "cementing WB as good".
Any of these tasks is already difficult without trying to accomplish them all at the same time. I think it's fair to criticize them, but I do also try to understand their situation...
"a small group of us want to make a bunch of money, so we hijacked the sport you all love and now really need to make huge changes to make it happen. we really don't care what you think."
The whole 'growing' the sport thing pisses me off. I'm not sure how restricting access to the top level of competition whilst refusing to help establish a pathway to get there 'grows' the sport. I'm not sure how basically destroying top flight enduro 'grows' the sport. The want to 'grow' subscribers to their broadcast to increase it's 'value' so they can charge sponsors,teams and venues more. Who does that help exactly?
The whole 'growing' the sport thing pisses me off.I'm not sure how restricting access to the top level of competition whilst refusing to help establish a...
The whole 'growing' the sport thing pisses me off. I'm not sure how restricting access to the top level of competition whilst refusing to help establish a pathway to get there 'grows' the sport. I'm not sure how basically destroying top flight enduro 'grows' the sport. The want to 'grow' subscribers to their broadcast to increase it's 'value' so they can charge sponsors,teams and venues more. Who does that help exactly?
I think their version of growing the sport is 20 percent of the people currently making a living from the racing industry make more money and the other 80 percent have to go and do something else entirely.
I really feel for riders like Matt Walker and the Dorval riders , they're world class racers and at any point in the last few years they would have found a team but under the current circumstances they might struggle.
Regarding enduro... Wild idea, did it maybe work 10 years ago because it was something new, fresh and we were interested in it, now it became a bit stale and people gravitated away from it? So no matter what they do, it's basically a fools errand?
Regarding enduro... Wild idea, did it maybe work 10 years ago because it was something new, fresh and we were interested in it, now it became...
Regarding enduro... Wild idea, did it maybe work 10 years ago because it was something new, fresh and we were interested in it, now it became a bit stale and people gravitated away from it? So no matter what they do, it's basically a fools errand?
They realise it's a not a format they can present to the public and monetize.
So,what is this Enduro? -It's racing downhill stages. So it's just downhill. -Well yeah, but they have to ride between the stages. Oh right......and they get timed on riding between them.Like xc? -Well no. So its downhill but without lifts? -Err sort of And all the downhill bits are televised? -Err no, not really, they are too long and it takes all day to run. Oh...............right.
Also there seems a shift away from Enduro at a national level, at least in the Uk. It is a massive amount of work for an organiser to prepare new venues. The two biggest organisers (pmba/tweedlove) have announced they are stopping.
Why can’t they just leave the 60 riders(now 30) alone and cut the semi? I really disliked how much he said um and in my opinion. Lets hear the facts. how are you growing it?? I want the stats from red bull broadcasts to now! What have you actually achieved.
I just don’t understand why cycling has to exponentially grow all the time. Downhill and especially freeride are fringe extreme sports. Bold opinion here. LEAVE IT THAT WAY. There are more than a million of us already. Many are entitled jerks who cruise around in spandex repping brands they paid for while yelling at innocent pedestrians for being in the way of their watt gains. Trying to impersonate an elite.
If I wanted to be involved in any mainstream sport like football (any style), baseball or some team sport that is very easily accessible, I would have. I think all that stuff is whack. Why turn downhill into that. Downhill has always been it for me. Truly the only way to put all the bs away and just focus for fun. Going back to being a kid this is why I loved it. No dickhead coaches, no jocs in the hall, just hauling ass in nature. It was always just the icing on top when you would attended a pre 2010 rampage and realize damn there is a boatload of dirtbags out here just like me.
All I hear from Chris ball is elite elite elite. Shrink shrink shrink. I’m with everyone else on this one.
Why can’t they just leave the 60 riders(now 30) alone and cut the semi? I really disliked how much he said um and in my opinion...
Why can’t they just leave the 60 riders(now 30) alone and cut the semi? I really disliked how much he said um and in my opinion. Lets hear the facts. how are you growing it?? I want the stats from red bull broadcasts to now! What have you actually achieved.
I just don’t understand why cycling has to exponentially grow all the time. Downhill and especially freeride are fringe extreme sports. Bold opinion here. LEAVE IT THAT WAY. There are more than a million of us already. Many are entitled jerks who cruise around in spandex repping brands they paid for while yelling at innocent pedestrians for being in the way of their watt gains. Trying to impersonate an elite.
If I wanted to be involved in any mainstream sport like football (any style), baseball or some team sport that is very easily accessible, I would have. I think all that stuff is whack. Why turn downhill into that. Downhill has always been it for me. Truly the only way to put all the bs away and just focus for fun. Going back to being a kid this is why I loved it. No dickhead coaches, no jocs in the hall, just hauling ass in nature. It was always just the icing on top when you would attended a pre 2010 rampage and realize damn there is a boatload of dirtbags out here just like me.
All I hear from Chris ball is elite elite elite. Shrink shrink shrink. I’m with everyone else on this one.
Regarding enduro... Wild idea, did it maybe work 10 years ago because it was something new, fresh and we were interested in it, now it became...
Regarding enduro... Wild idea, did it maybe work 10 years ago because it was something new, fresh and we were interested in it, now it became a bit stale and people gravitated away from it? So no matter what they do, it's basically a fools errand?
They realise it's a not a format they can present to the public and monetize.So,what is this Enduro?-It's racing downhill stages.So it's just downhill.-Well yeah, but...
They realise it's a not a format they can present to the public and monetize.
So,what is this Enduro? -It's racing downhill stages. So it's just downhill. -Well yeah, but they have to ride between the stages. Oh right......and they get timed on riding between them.Like xc? -Well no. So its downhill but without lifts? -Err sort of And all the downhill bits are televised? -Err no, not really, they are too long and it takes all day to run. Oh...............right.
Also there seems a shift away from Enduro at a national level, at least in the Uk. It is a massive amount of work for an organiser to prepare new venues. The two biggest organisers (pmba/tweedlove) have announced they are stopping.
A run down of Enduro in Canada to see why its falling apart at a national and regional level in some places
I know in Canada, the current National series used to be the BC which was western BC focused and KR with was Eastern BC/Alberta focused series that were run by the same crew, which was great, both had a 4-5 great stops and the cost of them was pretty reasonable, i think about $75 a pop. I could race the whole KR service from Calgary for about $800 a year for 4-5 races on weekends and maybe fit a BC one in as well. Sure you got absolutely ruined by all the locals at every stop, but it was super fun. The series eventually became the CNES, but was still very west focused, with some great stops and later a stop in Bromont eventually added. Western stops started to dry up and this year there's only 4 stops for the whole series over 5 months in In Kamloops BC, Chilliwack BC (which replaced Revelstoke for some reason), Huntsville Ontario, and ending back in Kamloops at Sun peaks. Each event costs $200-250 and would require myself, in Calgary, to travel over 9000km over the course of 5 months (Canada is somewhat large). So for around $4000-5000, I could hit the national series of 4 races while taking a month off work to go them.
Fortunately we do still have some smaller local one off races going on, and our local trail association has strava based virtual enduro's but the willingness to hit some of these bigger series in large countries dies as soon as you leave the regional zone. Mind you I'm a Sr. Whale shit hockey level racer, but it hurts everyone to spread it out like that. How is anyone supposed to be a Jesse or Remi, who would have come up during those BC/KR days. I still remember Remi schooling me in a section at a race in Panorama. That doesn't exist any more unless you live in a 600km zone of BC and want to fly to Ontario. Doing the Bellingham round of the Cascadia cup last month did remind me its still possible though.
A run down of Enduro in Canada to see why its falling apart at a national and regional level in some placesI know in Canada, the...
A run down of Enduro in Canada to see why its falling apart at a national and regional level in some places
I know in Canada, the current National series used to be the BC which was western BC focused and KR with was Eastern BC/Alberta focused series that were run by the same crew, which was great, both had a 4-5 great stops and the cost of them was pretty reasonable, i think about $75 a pop. I could race the whole KR service from Calgary for about $800 a year for 4-5 races on weekends and maybe fit a BC one in as well. Sure you got absolutely ruined by all the locals at every stop, but it was super fun. The series eventually became the CNES, but was still very west focused, with some great stops and later a stop in Bromont eventually added. Western stops started to dry up and this year there's only 4 stops for the whole series over 5 months in In Kamloops BC, Chilliwack BC (which replaced Revelstoke for some reason), Huntsville Ontario, and ending back in Kamloops at Sun peaks. Each event costs $200-250 and would require myself, in Calgary, to travel over 9000km over the course of 5 months (Canada is somewhat large). So for around $4000-5000, I could hit the national series of 4 races while taking a month off work to go them.
Fortunately we do still have some smaller local one off races going on, and our local trail association has strava based virtual enduro's but the willingness to hit some of these bigger series in large countries dies as soon as you leave the regional zone. Mind you I'm a Sr. Whale shit hockey level racer, but it hurts everyone to spread it out like that. How is anyone supposed to be a Jesse or Remi, who would have come up during those BC/KR days. I still remember Remi schooling me in a section at a race in Panorama. That doesn't exist any more unless you live in a 600km zone of BC and want to fly to Ontario. Doing the Bellingham round of the Cascadia cup last month did remind me its still possible though.
Thats an interesting read. My gut feeling (i am not a financial expert) is subs for the "paywall" will go up to cover shortfalls and the mention of the case with the NBA ain't great.
Thats an interesting read. My gut feeling (i am not a financial expert) is subs for the "paywall" will go up to cover shortfalls and the...
Thats an interesting read. My gut feeling (i am not a financial expert) is subs for the "paywall" will go up to cover shortfalls and the mention of the case with the NBA ain't great.
I doubt there is any real malice on Chris Balls part. I also don't believe that he is so naive as to believe that Wb were...
I doubt there is any real malice on Chris Balls part. I also don't believe that he is so naive as to believe that Wb were interested in in Mtb'ing any further than in what it can do to their bottom line. He has been employed to lend legitimacy to Wb ownership (I suspect he has little to no autonomy) and I'm sure any philosophical misgivings he has with what he has been tasked to achieve are more than assuaged by being Executive Junior Vice President of Adult Pushbiking Racing and it's generous associated compensation package.
He has been handed an impossible task: "build the sport" while also "increasing value" while also "building viewership" while also "changing the image" while also "cementing...
He has been handed an impossible task: "build the sport" while also "increasing value" while also "building viewership" while also "changing the image" while also "cementing WB as good".
Any of these tasks is already difficult without trying to accomplish them all at the same time. I think it's fair to criticize them, but I do also try to understand their situation...
this is it - mtb racing has been unsustainable for a few years now, and it needed to change so that those taking part could at least make a consistent living from it. I think Chris Ball is probably doing the best job he can, since at this stage WBD owns those right so I would rather have someone like him in that position who can at least try to steer it in the right direction. Unfortunately I think a lot of this was set in motion several years ago, and WB will be looking for short term returns that aren't realistic. It could "grow" in to a sustainable sport where the participants are fairly compensated and WB gets enough out of it to not consider it another write-off but that probably wouldn't happen in the kind of timeline they are expecting
DH isn’t a spectator friendly sport, so stop trying to make it one. When xc got put into the olympics the tracks got shorter and more man made. The Paris course was terrible, but it is easier to access and make a tv production. I hope dh takes a step back and makes the tacks slower with more technical line choice. This is unlikely to happen. Mtb is growing, at least in my area. Trails are well used. How big do ‘they’ want it to be
DH isn’t a spectator friendly sport, so stop trying to make it one. When xc got put into the olympics the tracks got shorter and more...
DH isn’t a spectator friendly sport, so stop trying to make it one. When xc got put into the olympics the tracks got shorter and more man made. The Paris course was terrible, but it is easier to access and make a tv production. I hope dh takes a step back and makes the tacks slower with more technical line choice. This is unlikely to happen. Mtb is growing, at least in my area. Trails are well used. How big do ‘they’ want it to be
They want it to be as big as it needs to be to satisfy their profits. They really don’t care if it’s “big” for the benefit of the sport, only if it’s a benefit to them. The two don’t align and never will which is the crux of the problem.
One thing I don't understand with race coverage (applies to RB, WBD and whoever broadcast this event) is why on runs with reduced coverage they show the same part of the track over and over again. The cameras are all set up, why can't they show different parts of the track as different riders are coming down. It'd be far more interesting than seeing the same sections repeatedly. Is it just down to lazy direction?
Imagine you were a new viewer tuning in to your first race, just to spend the first hour watching riders hit the same sections of track repeatedly. How many just got bored and switched off?
All this noise about growing the sport, keeping people engaged would be a start.
One thing I don't understand with race coverage (applies to RB, WBD and whoever broadcast this event) is why on runs with reduced coverage they show...
One thing I don't understand with race coverage (applies to RB, WBD and whoever broadcast this event) is why on runs with reduced coverage they show the same part of the track over and over again. The cameras are all set up, why can't they show different parts of the track as different riders are coming down. It'd be far more interesting than seeing the same sections repeatedly. Is it just down to lazy direction?
Imagine you were a new viewer tuning in to your first race, just to spend the first hour watching riders hit the same sections of track repeatedly. How many just got bored and switched off?
All this noise about growing the sport, keeping people engaged would be a start.
Probably because then you can't compare riders against each other, and they want to show the finish line Live. To show the bottom 3 cameras on rider A, but then top 2 and finish 1 for rider B, would mean you can't compare A to B.
Also by the time you show rider A across the finish, rider B has already made it halfway down the hill (for the early riders. Obviously by top 10 they stop this)
Probably because then you can't compare riders against each other, and they want to show the finish line Live. To show the bottom 3 cameras on...
Probably because then you can't compare riders against each other, and they want to show the finish line Live. To show the bottom 3 cameras on rider A, but then top 2 and finish 1 for rider B, would mean you can't compare A to B.
Also by the time you show rider A across the finish, rider B has already made it halfway down the hill (for the early riders. Obviously by top 10 they stop this)
How many people are actually comparing every single rider on the two sections, especially if you already know one is 5 seconds (for example) behind the pace? I love this sport and watch every race, but I find myself zoning out after watching a few riders hit the same sections. For making comparisons I look at split times and overall times, especially when there aren't any real line choice decisions.
I get what you're saying about other riders already starting their runs, but when the technology is there to show replays interspersed with live footage at the end of runs and riders leaving the start gate why can't we look at other sections of track then cut back to the live finish? I acknowledge it might not be "live" footage (same as riders leaving the start gate), but especially in cases where it's obvious the rider is way back on time wouldn't it be more engaging to see something different?
Just FYI- ESO has nothing to do with the organisation of world champs.
Yeah, I've seen plenty of comments about the poor Worlds coverage, and blaming ESO/Discovery.......
The Worlds organisers are to blame; it's their gig - and while Worlds coverage can be hit or miss, and is usually miss. I recall Rob apologising for the poor camera positions in Val Di Sole a few years ago. The camera positions weren't great here either.
I thought it was a poor Worlds for live coverage across all formats; there was more live coverage last year. Switzerland next year, so it might be better.
One thing I don't understand with race coverage (applies to RB, WBD and whoever broadcast this event) is why on runs with reduced coverage they show...
One thing I don't understand with race coverage (applies to RB, WBD and whoever broadcast this event) is why on runs with reduced coverage they show the same part of the track over and over again. The cameras are all set up, why can't they show different parts of the track as different riders are coming down. It'd be far more interesting than seeing the same sections repeatedly. Is it just down to lazy direction?
Imagine you were a new viewer tuning in to your first race, just to spend the first hour watching riders hit the same sections of track repeatedly. How many just got bored and switched off?
All this noise about growing the sport, keeping people engaged would be a start.
As a fan I want tot see section of the track I haven't seen before along with the classic parts that we see every year.
How about someone analyze the races and find out sections where the race was one in previous years and have camera coverage for that section as one of the new camera angles for that World Cup? Each venue, and each year you change up how the race is covered by the cameras. That would make things at least interesting. We all love seeing the "RAW" videos that Vital, Jack Moir, and EdBullTV are putting up for us to see. Incorporate that along the course via a PTZ camera.
Since we are paying for the coverage create a "Red Zone" coverage where you can choose to follow the riders entire run. I don't care if it is slightly delayed. Or they could so split screen showing the multiple riders who are coming down the hill with "Raw" audio. I don't need commentary to enjoy the racing. I like watching them bomb down the course. Throw up timing, updated results on overlays or it's own view.
They need to do more packages on the riders, rivals, up and comers, team news, locations. It could be part of the broadcast or you have it as "Extras" that are included. Pump the sport and the fans up with the coverage leading up and and before the next round. I know everyone is putting up Instagram and YouTube videos, but having more conent is what everyone is after.
Chatting about it with someone recently, I, as part of the main demographic (male, 35-45) that should be getting constant advertising for world cup streaming, have seen nothing. I also enjoy F1... which should also be a crowd they're advertising too if they want to grow the viewer base. I see nothing, anywhere, not even a google ad. There's never any advertising other than sparse Social media posts as far as the actual events go about MTB racing and Disco. But they do seem to advertise other events and shows during the races, so did they jump in just to grab a captive audience for advertising products and other events/shows on the platform with the promise of growth and are now just trying to shave it down to make a quick, tight and as cheap as possible?
I doubt there is any real malice on Chris Balls part. I also don't believe that he is so naive as to believe that Wb were interested in in Mtb'ing any further than in what it can do to their bottom line.
He has been employed to lend legitimacy to Wb ownership (I suspect he has little to no autonomy) and I'm sure any philosophical misgivings he has with what he has been tasked to achieve are more than assuaged by being Executive Junior Vice President of Adult Pushbiking Racing and it's generous associated compensation package.
He has been handed an impossible task: "build the sport" while also "increasing value" while also "building viewership" while also "changing the image" while also "cementing WB as good".
Any of these tasks is already difficult without trying to accomplish them all at the same time. I think it's fair to criticize them, but I do also try to understand their situation...
"a small group of us want to make a bunch of money, so we hijacked the sport you all love and now really need to make huge changes to make it happen. we really don't care what you think."
This Warner Bros?
Warner Bros. Discovery stock falls as it writes down $9.1 billion, misses estimates
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/07/warner-bros-discovery-wbd-earnings-q2-2024.html
The whole 'growing' the sport thing pisses me off.
I'm not sure how restricting access to the top level of competition whilst refusing to help establish a pathway to get there 'grows' the sport.
I'm not sure how basically destroying top flight enduro 'grows' the sport.
The want to 'grow' subscribers to their broadcast to increase it's 'value' so they can charge sponsors,teams and venues more.
Who does that help exactly?
I think their version of growing the sport is 20 percent of the people currently making a living from the racing industry make more money and the other 80 percent have to go and do something else entirely.
I really feel for riders like Matt Walker and the Dorval riders , they're world class racers and at any point in the last few years they would have found a team but under the current circumstances they might struggle.
Regarding enduro... Wild idea, did it maybe work 10 years ago because it was something new, fresh and we were interested in it, now it became a bit stale and people gravitated away from it? So no matter what they do, it's basically a fools errand?
They realise it's a not a format they can present to the public and monetize.
So,what is this Enduro?
-It's racing downhill stages.
So it's just downhill.
-Well yeah, but they have to ride between the stages.
Oh right......and they get timed on riding between them.Like xc?
-Well no.
So its downhill but without lifts?
-Err sort of
And all the downhill bits are televised?
-Err no, not really, they are too long and it takes all day to run.
Oh...............right.
Also there seems a shift away from Enduro at a national level, at least in the Uk. It is a massive amount of work for an organiser to prepare new venues. The two biggest organisers (pmba/tweedlove) have announced they are stopping.
Why can’t they just leave the 60 riders(now 30) alone and cut the semi? I really disliked how much he said um and in my opinion. Lets hear the facts. how are you growing it?? I want the stats from red bull broadcasts to now! What have you actually achieved.
I just don’t understand why cycling has to exponentially grow all the time. Downhill and especially freeride are fringe extreme sports. Bold opinion here. LEAVE IT THAT WAY. There are more than a million of us already. Many are entitled jerks who cruise around in spandex repping brands they paid for while yelling at innocent pedestrians for being in the way of their watt gains. Trying to impersonate an elite.
If I wanted to be involved in any mainstream sport like football (any style), baseball or some team sport that is very easily accessible, I would have. I think all that stuff is whack. Why turn downhill into that. Downhill has always been it for me. Truly the only way to put all the bs away and just focus for fun. Going back to being a kid this is why I loved it. No dickhead coaches, no jocs in the hall, just hauling ass in nature. It was always just the icing on top when you would attended a pre 2010 rampage and realize damn there is a boatload of dirtbags out here just like me.
All I hear from Chris ball is elite elite elite. Shrink shrink shrink. I’m with everyone else on this one.
Exactly this!
A run down of Enduro in Canada to see why its falling apart at a national and regional level in some places
I know in Canada, the current National series used to be the BC which was western BC focused and KR with was Eastern BC/Alberta focused series that were run by the same crew, which was great, both had a 4-5 great stops and the cost of them was pretty reasonable, i think about $75 a pop. I could race the whole KR service from Calgary for about $800 a year for 4-5 races on weekends and maybe fit a BC one in as well. Sure you got absolutely ruined by all the locals at every stop, but it was super fun. The series eventually became the CNES, but was still very west focused, with some great stops and later a stop in Bromont eventually added. Western stops started to dry up and this year there's only 4 stops for the whole series over 5 months in In Kamloops BC, Chilliwack BC (which replaced Revelstoke for some reason), Huntsville Ontario, and ending back in Kamloops at Sun peaks. Each event costs $200-250 and would require myself, in Calgary, to travel over 9000km over the course of 5 months (Canada is somewhat large). So for around $4000-5000, I could hit the national series of 4 races while taking a month off work to go them.
Fortunately we do still have some smaller local one off races going on, and our local trail association has strava based virtual enduro's but the willingness to hit some of these bigger series in large countries dies as soon as you leave the regional zone. Mind you I'm a Sr. Whale shit hockey level racer, but it hurts everyone to spread it out like that. How is anyone supposed to be a Jesse or Remi, who would have come up during those BC/KR days. I still remember Remi schooling me in a section at a race in Panorama. That doesn't exist any more unless you live in a 600km zone of BC and want to fly to Ontario. Doing the Bellingham round of the Cascadia cup last month did remind me its still possible though.
Whale shit all the same.
Thats an interesting read. My gut feeling (i am not a financial expert) is subs for the "paywall" will go up to cover shortfalls and the mention of the case with the NBA ain't great.
Another one today: https://deadline.com/2024/08/nba-says-warner-bros-discovery-lack-cash-tv-rights-lawsuit-1236049637/
this is it - mtb racing has been unsustainable for a few years now, and it needed to change so that those taking part could at least make a consistent living from it. I think Chris Ball is probably doing the best job he can, since at this stage WBD owns those right so I would rather have someone like him in that position who can at least try to steer it in the right direction. Unfortunately I think a lot of this was set in motion several years ago, and WB will be looking for short term returns that aren't realistic. It could "grow" in to a sustainable sport where the participants are fairly compensated and WB gets enough out of it to not consider it another write-off but that probably wouldn't happen in the kind of timeline they are expecting
DH isn’t a spectator friendly sport, so stop trying to make it one. When xc got put into the olympics the tracks got shorter and more man made. The Paris course was terrible, but it is easier to access and make a tv production.
I hope dh takes a step back and makes the tacks slower with more technical line choice. This is unlikely to happen.
Mtb is growing, at least in my area. Trails are well used. How big do ‘they’ want it to be
They want it to be as big as it needs to be to satisfy their profits. They really don’t care if it’s “big” for the benefit of the sport, only if it’s a benefit to them. The two don’t align and never will which is the crux of the problem.
"Growing the sport" 🙄, thanks for nothing ESO
One thing I don't understand with race coverage (applies to RB, WBD and whoever broadcast this event) is why on runs with reduced coverage they show the same part of the track over and over again. The cameras are all set up, why can't they show different parts of the track as different riders are coming down. It'd be far more interesting than seeing the same sections repeatedly. Is it just down to lazy direction?
Imagine you were a new viewer tuning in to your first race, just to spend the first hour watching riders hit the same sections of track repeatedly. How many just got bored and switched off?
All this noise about growing the sport, keeping people engaged would be a start.
Probably because then you can't compare riders against each other, and they want to show the finish line Live. To show the bottom 3 cameras on rider A, but then top 2 and finish 1 for rider B, would mean you can't compare A to B.
Also by the time you show rider A across the finish, rider B has already made it halfway down the hill (for the early riders. Obviously by top 10 they stop this)
How many people are actually comparing every single rider on the two sections, especially if you already know one is 5 seconds (for example) behind the pace? I love this sport and watch every race, but I find myself zoning out after watching a few riders hit the same sections. For making comparisons I look at split times and overall times, especially when there aren't any real line choice decisions.
I get what you're saying about other riders already starting their runs, but when the technology is there to show replays interspersed with live footage at the end of runs and riders leaving the start gate why can't we look at other sections of track then cut back to the live finish? I acknowledge it might not be "live" footage (same as riders leaving the start gate), but especially in cases where it's obvious the rider is way back on time wouldn't it be more engaging to see something different?
Just FYI- ESO has nothing to do with the organisation of world champs.
Yeah, I've seen plenty of comments about the poor Worlds coverage, and blaming ESO/Discovery.......
The Worlds organisers are to blame; it's their gig - and while Worlds coverage can be hit or miss, and is usually miss. I recall Rob apologising for the poor camera positions in Val Di Sole a few years ago. The camera positions weren't great here either.
I thought it was a poor Worlds for live coverage across all formats; there was more live coverage last year. Switzerland next year, so it might be better.
As a fan I want tot see section of the track I haven't seen before along with the classic parts that we see every year.
How about someone analyze the races and find out sections where the race was one in previous years and have camera coverage for that section as one of the new camera angles for that World Cup? Each venue, and each year you change up how the race is covered by the cameras. That would make things at least interesting. We all love seeing the "RAW" videos that Vital, Jack Moir, and EdBullTV are putting up for us to see. Incorporate that along the course via a PTZ camera.
Since we are paying for the coverage create a "Red Zone" coverage where you can choose to follow the riders entire run. I don't care if it is slightly delayed. Or they could so split screen showing the multiple riders who are coming down the hill with "Raw" audio. I don't need commentary to enjoy the racing. I like watching them bomb down the course. Throw up timing, updated results on overlays or it's own view.
They need to do more packages on the riders, rivals, up and comers, team news, locations. It could be part of the broadcast or you have it as "Extras" that are included. Pump the sport and the fans up with the coverage leading up and and before the next round. I know everyone is putting up Instagram and YouTube videos, but having more conent is what everyone is after.
All the best,
BostonDon
Chatting about it with someone recently, I, as part of the main demographic (male, 35-45) that should be getting constant advertising for world cup streaming, have seen nothing. I also enjoy F1... which should also be a crowd they're advertising too if they want to grow the viewer base. I see nothing, anywhere, not even a google ad. There's never any advertising other than sparse Social media posts as far as the actual events go about MTB racing and Disco. But they do seem to advertise other events and shows during the races, so did they jump in just to grab a captive audience for advertising products and other events/shows on the platform with the promise of growth and are now just trying to shave it down to make a quick, tight and as cheap as possible?
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