Live narration/promotion/mental stimulation is at it's worst.
Dude literally VERBATIM would repeat any sentence Gwin got out of his mouth. So many times.
He has ZERO value added benefit to the race, entertainment value or educationally.
Gwin has technical knowledge but "free firty free" guy is NOT a DH color commentator...at ALL!!! He's a very uncomfortable middle ground. Perfect voice for a EWS recap video. That's it.
</blockquote>
So much this, the repeating thing drives me mental!. It's not as Constant as last year, but it's still alot.
I enjoyed his EWS stuff - much more than Josh
I voted neutral, as the Poland round footage was really good. I hate having to go between youtube and the staylive app between juniors and elites. And the lack of Semi's viewing is just abysmal! If semi's are a thing then it needs to be televised. Be it free or payed. Just available either way. The staylive app is good for only $5.99 (10NZD) a month. but it's ONLY the elite races - no juniors, no shorts or highlights. thats a youtube trip.
But it's gonna suck when Gwin gets back on the bike and outa the booth, painful!
The broadcast Sunday was 3.5 hours long, if we add anymore riders to finals we will lose time seen of each run which I believe they have done better this year longer gaps with less riders you get to see more full runs. They aren't going to add more riders and make it a 5 hour broadcast.
If you are saying you want a 60 men and 20 female rider final broadcast you need to be honest with yourself would you really be dialed in and super invested into these 80 runs? You are more than likely really only perked up for the last 20 or so or if you are a fan of someone further down in the order.
Personally I think they should ditch semis, do a qualifier, top 30 go through, 31-60 go to a LCQ for the last 10 spots. 10 qualifier and 5 LCQ for women.
The 10 that advanced through the LCQ drop first and are shown like how redbull use to do the earlier runs just a quick recap before the top 30 drop.
I don't really get a chance to argue the quality of the coverage since the option of watching it, here in Canada, is the limiting factor. You either have to register to a very expensive monthly plan though FloSports at 39.99$ (to get through the world cup schedule, that would cost 200$) or you can be on the hook for a full year for 16,67$ a month for... 200$.
Now, I'm sure cheers and rugby and lacrosse are fun to watch, I'm just not interested. The packages from FloSports are super lame and expensive, and I am missing the action. On top of it all, they don't cover the semi finals like they used to.
So far, I haven't been super upset with things, but I'm also not paying for it (watching with friends who have). My thoughts are:
1. Scrap semi's. What's the point if it's not being broadcast or streamed?
2. I'm mostly okay with top 30 men, but would be alright with bumping it up a bit. I don't think we need 60, though.
3. Not okay with only top 10 women. Bump up to top 15 or 20.
4. Audio sync. Not sure what's going on, but frustrating when you're watching someone on a heater and the announcers are like,"oh no..." a second or two before the footage catches up.
5. Hot seat. Bring that back down to the finishing area. Everyone's getting up and going down to meet/cheer/congratulate whoever's finishing next anyway. It's a cool part of the community and they should make it easier for everyone.
6. Regardless of how good the footage is, there is no way it's worth paying $220cdn for a subscription. Absolutely ridiculous and even more so if they're not going to broadcast (live or otherwise) semi's.
7. Gwin has been awesome and I could listen to Minnar talk all day. Like the Bob Ross of dh. I like the idea of having different riders joining in on the broadcast/announcing if they don't make finals or are injured. I also hope they're getting compensated for it.
I actually think they made a poor business decision w.r.t. DH, because what they really should have done is make the first year free to draw in or maintain customers from the free days, and only afterwards begin charging for it. By going straight to charging for it, I feel like they lost more viewers and potential customers who would have been willing to give it a chance.
Additionally, I feel like the commentating has problems. They made an excellent decision by bringing riders into the booth to share insights, but they also are plagued by excited reactions about things that just don't feel like they matter. I really don't care about heart-rate especially since I am doubting the accuracy of the heart-rate monitors. It feels largely ok, but requiring a lot of improvement. And it frustrates me to think that the viewers are forced to pay (quite a lot!) without fully knowing what they are getting. If they had made things free or far less expensive first, THEN ramped up prices, then maybe I'd have bought in.
Personally I don’t think full runs has made for better dh finals viewing. I’d much rather the focus be on having the best tracks. Including very long tracks where elevation and track design make it possible. Then simply film the best sections (biggest features and most technical sections where line choice and variance in speed is common plus the finish line). Personally I have found the new finals format to be more boring than the old one. Semis/lcq becomes a necessary evil. But offers a lot of points and has zero coverage. And let’s face it by race day there isn’t a lot of separation between riders in either speed or line choice in large sections of the track. And it takes a very long time commitment to watch just the top 10 let alone the whole broadcast.
I have routinely fallen asleep during the broadcast since the change. It gets very monotonous. I never really felt that way under redbull. (I’m sure commentary plays a part as well)
Red Bull was filming every rider. They could always piece together a full run from a 30-60 guy in the rare occasion they podiumed. (Maes at le bresse). And they provided the story of the race in a condensed viewing package. There was always raw/cathro/track preview/etc to get an idea of the track, wyn/team videos to get the story of what the broadcast missed, but a very exciting and compact broadcast that for me was way more fun to digest than what we have currently.
I would much rather see the Red Bull era format. a 30ish minute highlight video of qualis with finish line interviews and around a 3 hr broadcast of 30 woman and 60 men. I do not need to see everything that happens. I just want reasonable and exciting coverage of the best race series they can offer.
The broadcast Sunday was 3.5 hours long, if we add anymore riders to finals we will lose time seen of each run which I believe they...
The broadcast Sunday was 3.5 hours long, if we add anymore riders to finals we will lose time seen of each run which I believe they have done better this year longer gaps with less riders you get to see more full runs. They aren't going to add more riders and make it a 5 hour broadcast.
If you are saying you want a 60 men and 20 female rider final broadcast you need to be honest with yourself would you really be dialed in and super invested into these 80 runs? You are more than likely really only perked up for the last 20 or so or if you are a fan of someone further down in the order.
Personally I think they should ditch semis, do a qualifier, top 30 go through, 31-60 go to a LCQ for the last 10 spots. 10 qualifier and 5 LCQ for women.
The 10 that advanced through the LCQ drop first and are shown like how redbull use to do the earlier runs just a quick recap before the top 30 drop.
I posted the same exact thing after Ft. William, fully agree with the LCQ format like this. Those riders have to work a little harder to get into the big show. I am also okay with 5 protected riders, maybe even 10? But 10 would actually only give 20 open spaces plus LCQ rider.
Camera work at Poland was incredible. Commentating is fine with Gwin in the both.
Regarding Enduro coverage, the manufacturers/teams need to take this on themselves. It is obvious that UCI/WB are killing coverage, although this week was better than last week. That being said the teams/manufacturers should be collaborating with each other and pooling the rider GoPro's/team videographers images. Then pay someone to edit/commentate on a daily basis from track walk through race day. If they actually did this it would probably cost less than $250/team/race and they could put together some incredible slightly delayed coverage. They would just have to agree that the focus is on the race and not their individual brands which would benefit all of them long term.
The broadcast Sunday was 3.5 hours long, if we add anymore riders to finals we will lose time seen of each run which I believe they...
The broadcast Sunday was 3.5 hours long, if we add anymore riders to finals we will lose time seen of each run which I believe they have done better this year longer gaps with less riders you get to see more full runs. They aren't going to add more riders and make it a 5 hour broadcast.
If you are saying you want a 60 men and 20 female rider final broadcast you need to be honest with yourself would you really be dialed in and super invested into these 80 runs? You are more than likely really only perked up for the last 20 or so or if you are a fan of someone further down in the order.
Personally I think they should ditch semis, do a qualifier, top 30 go through, 31-60 go to a LCQ for the last 10 spots. 10 qualifier and 5 LCQ for women.
The 10 that advanced through the LCQ drop first and are shown like how redbull use to do the earlier runs just a quick recap before the top 30 drop.
I posted the same exact thing after Ft. William, fully agree with the LCQ format like this. Those riders have to work a little harder to...
I posted the same exact thing after Ft. William, fully agree with the LCQ format like this. Those riders have to work a little harder to get into the big show. I am also okay with 5 protected riders, maybe even 10? But 10 would actually only give 20 open spaces plus LCQ rider.
Yeah the protected rider thing I gave some thought too as well. Part of me wants no protected riders but with weather and mechanicals, I think you need protected riders.
Compared to Supercross where you have two qualifying sessions and only needing one hot lap if they have a mechanical they will still be able to qualify. The cream will always rise to the top but when you only have one run its very possible that you'll have a final missing some big names, but also the LCQ format can remedy some of this as well.
This is the thing - in this case more coverage of each run does not mean the coverage is better overall. Now, instead of having all of the key features and most technical sections with each run being action packed, there are all of the more boring bits thrown in as well which I think makes each run more less interesting...
Personally I don’t think full runs has made for better dh finals viewing. I’d much rather the focus be on having the best tracks. Including very...
Personally I don’t think full runs has made for better dh finals viewing. I’d much rather the focus be on having the best tracks. Including very long tracks where elevation and track design make it possible. Then simply film the best sections (biggest features and most technical sections where line choice and variance in speed is common plus the finish line). Personally I have found the new finals format to be more boring than the old one. Semis/lcq becomes a necessary evil. But offers a lot of points and has zero coverage. And let’s face it by race day there isn’t a lot of separation between riders in either speed or line choice in large sections of the track. And it takes a very long time commitment to watch just the top 10 let alone the whole broadcast.
I have routinely fallen asleep during the broadcast since the change. It gets very monotonous. I never really felt that way under redbull. (I’m sure commentary plays a part as well)
Red Bull was filming every rider. They could always piece together a full run from a 30-60 guy in the rare occasion they podiumed. (Maes at le bresse). And they provided the story of the race in a condensed viewing package. There was always raw/cathro/track preview/etc to get an idea of the track, wyn/team videos to get the story of what the broadcast missed, but a very exciting and compact broadcast that for me was way more fun to digest than what we have currently.
I would much rather see the Red Bull era format. a 30ish minute highlight video of qualis with finish line interviews and around a 3 hr broadcast of 30 woman and 60 men. I do not need to see everything that happens. I just want reasonable and exciting coverage of the best race series they can offer.
Red Bull was not filming every rider and they couldn't always piece together a full run from a 30-60 guy...
There is only a quarter of Alex Fayolle's winning run in Lourdes the year before Martin won in La Bresse.
It's easy to forget that RedBull had more than their fair share of flaws and had to continually keep learning how to broadcast DH racing. The same applies to WB, just with far higher consequences being a paid service rather than a glossed up drinks promotion.
Personally I don’t think full runs has made for better dh finals viewing. I’d much rather the focus be on having the best tracks. Including very...
Personally I don’t think full runs has made for better dh finals viewing. I’d much rather the focus be on having the best tracks. Including very long tracks where elevation and track design make it possible. Then simply film the best sections (biggest features and most technical sections where line choice and variance in speed is common plus the finish line). Personally I have found the new finals format to be more boring than the old one. Semis/lcq becomes a necessary evil. But offers a lot of points and has zero coverage. And let’s face it by race day there isn’t a lot of separation between riders in either speed or line choice in large sections of the track. And it takes a very long time commitment to watch just the top 10 let alone the whole broadcast.
I have routinely fallen asleep during the broadcast since the change. It gets very monotonous. I never really felt that way under redbull. (I’m sure commentary plays a part as well)
Red Bull was filming every rider. They could always piece together a full run from a 30-60 guy in the rare occasion they podiumed. (Maes at le bresse). And they provided the story of the race in a condensed viewing package. There was always raw/cathro/track preview/etc to get an idea of the track, wyn/team videos to get the story of what the broadcast missed, but a very exciting and compact broadcast that for me was way more fun to digest than what we have currently.
I would much rather see the Red Bull era format. a 30ish minute highlight video of qualis with finish line interviews and around a 3 hr broadcast of 30 woman and 60 men. I do not need to see everything that happens. I just want reasonable and exciting coverage of the best race series they can offer.
Red Bull was not filming every rider and they couldn't always piece together a full run from a 30-60 guy...
There is only a quarter of Alex...
Red Bull was not filming every rider and they couldn't always piece together a full run from a 30-60 guy...
There is only a quarter of Alex Fayolle's winning run in Lourdes the year before Martin won in La Bresse.
It's easy to forget that RedBull had more than their fair share of flaws and had to continually keep learning how to broadcast DH racing. The same applies to WB, just with far higher consequences being a paid service rather than a glossed up drinks promotion.
Hit the nail on the head with the last paragraph. Viewers/riders/fans/whatever you call them were far more tolerant of mistakes errors and missteps from the RBTV coverage as it was free.
By charging for it, WB by default has set the expectation that there is a certain level of quality that needs to be delivered if they expect people to pay money for it.
I hate how the hot seat is in some ivory tower now.
The redbull days had that dialed, a seat right at the bottom where the...
I hate how the hot seat is in some ivory tower now.
The redbull days had that dialed, a seat right at the bottom where the riders could salute each other.
The racing is on too late for me these days, I'm tired and wear an onion on my belt. I watch the replay on Tiz the next morning and don't look at my phone so no spoilers.
What i think about this is: they come down from having an amazing run, fast, descending through the mountain, all that power, all that adrenaline... to come down and sit in a stool lol poor kids!
Camera work at Poland was incredible. Commentating is fine with Gwin in the both.
Regarding Enduro coverage, the manufacturers/teams need to take this on themselves. It...
Camera work at Poland was incredible. Commentating is fine with Gwin in the both.
Regarding Enduro coverage, the manufacturers/teams need to take this on themselves. It is obvious that UCI/WB are killing coverage, although this week was better than last week. That being said the teams/manufacturers should be collaborating with each other and pooling the rider GoPro's/team videographers images. Then pay someone to edit/commentate on a daily basis from track walk through race day. If they actually did this it would probably cost less than $250/team/race and they could put together some incredible slightly delayed coverage. They would just have to agree that the focus is on the race and not their individual brands which would benefit all of them long term.
Assuming they'd be allowed. With WB/D holding the broadcast rights that's not a given.
RedBull was an action sports media company producing an action sports program live. Literally their wheel house.
Wonder if the venues and companies that bought banners all over the sides of the track knew in advance of this year that they would be getting half of the film exposure of last year.
Would assume they purchased ad space based on the exposure they got last year. Anyone know if it was a bait & switch where they were sold at a set price based on last season's exposure then flipped to "we've got twice the viewership this year so we're not refunding any money. Your exposure has increased even though we're showing 30 runs instead of 90"
The broadcast and organization needs some work for sure, but it's frustrating to see 90% of the online world cup discourse be comprised of people bitching and moaning about the broadcast instead of appreciating the fantastic racing brought to us by these talented and dedicated athletes.
I've pirated every discovery world cup and had no issues, enjoying the insane competition in all categories these days
I don't think there's an issue with the cameras, sure commenting could be better, and season schedule and venues could be distributed more globally. These are all things that take a lot of logistics and training on to make better, which (fingers crossed) will come.
My big concern is access and hype about this. Very limited numbers of official videos on youtube before/ during a race weekend for any MTB sport these days, and wtf is up with viewing access to the races? Most of the positive experiences with WBD seem to be coming from Americans who have Max, but here in Canada I have Flo or pirating as my options. The average cyclist is not going to jump through these hoops to access the content, and it's much harder to recommend to friends who may not be as invested in biking. Previously, I would have forwarded the specific link to the race, and said "great race this weekend, worth a watch."
I think the concerns about sanctioned DH is warranted, especially with limits on international viewing access to these races. If you want to sell something (subscriptions) you need to market the goods (hype the shit out of this sport). Sure the US market is huge, but completely alienates the other few hundred million in the global market.
The broadcast and organization needs some work for sure, but it's frustrating to see 90% of the online world cup discourse be comprised of people bitching...
The broadcast and organization needs some work for sure, but it's frustrating to see 90% of the online world cup discourse be comprised of people bitching and moaning about the broadcast instead of appreciating the fantastic racing brought to us by these talented and dedicated athletes.
I've pirated every discovery world cup and had no issues, enjoying the insane competition in all categories these days
Did we just get a "relax it's fine" from the neighbor stealing cable?
RedBull was an action sports media company producing an action sports program live. Literally their wheel house.
Wonder if the venues and companies that bought banners...
RedBull was an action sports media company producing an action sports program live. Literally their wheel house.
Wonder if the venues and companies that bought banners all over the sides of the track knew in advance of this year that they would be getting half of the film exposure of last year.
Would assume they purchased ad space based on the exposure they got last year. Anyone know if it was a bait & switch where they were sold at a set price based on last season's exposure then flipped to "we've got twice the viewership this year so we're not refunding any money. Your exposure has increased even though we're showing 30 runs instead of 90"
I suspect a lot of sponsors (of lower ranked teams) will re-evaluate their ROI on dh teams and either adjust budgets or pull out completely. Leading to less teams down the order........which is exactly what WB/Darth Ball have wanted from day 1.
One of the things I love about this sport are stories like Ronan's. Watching him on WynTV where they talk about him getting the privateer award 3 years ago, to winning his first WC race (massive kudos to Wyn and GT for what they're doing).
It'd be such a loss for stories like this to become a thing of the past if WB/D continue to push the sport the way they seem to be set on.
RedBull was an action sports media company producing an action sports program live. Literally their wheel house.
Wonder if the venues and companies that bought banners...
RedBull was an action sports media company producing an action sports program live. Literally their wheel house.
Wonder if the venues and companies that bought banners all over the sides of the track knew in advance of this year that they would be getting half of the film exposure of last year.
Would assume they purchased ad space based on the exposure they got last year. Anyone know if it was a bait & switch where they were sold at a set price based on last season's exposure then flipped to "we've got twice the viewership this year so we're not refunding any money. Your exposure has increased even though we're showing 30 runs instead of 90"
I suspect a lot of sponsors (of lower ranked teams) will re-evaluate their ROI on dh teams and either adjust budgets or pull out completely. Leading...
I suspect a lot of sponsors (of lower ranked teams) will re-evaluate their ROI on dh teams and either adjust budgets or pull out completely. Leading to less teams down the order........which is exactly what WB/Darth Ball have wanted from day 1.
I'll say it over and over. We're not F1. Ski resorts in summer are not Monaco.
Million dollar yachts aren't backing up to the bay with 30 bikini clad entourage to get hammered and look at cars they own 30 of.
It's mud, jorts & teen costumes.
WB is killing the sport.
The fewer teams, the less to do in a weekend, the smaller the competition will kill it all.
It is BORING AS FOKK to watch World Cup even if there aren't hundreds of riders doing laps all day.
I want everything back as it was before, we no longer see the DH elite class races, in Italy it has become a problem, the RAI national network does not show the world cup races in our country
io rivoglio tutto come era prima, non si vedono più le gare della classe elite della dh, in italia è diventato un problema, la rete nazionale RAI non mostra la gare di coppa del mondo nel nostro paese
Watching the Crankworx Redbull TV live feed with 25% riding with 75% filler BS.
Once the race run actually starts most of the track isn't shown...
Watching the Crankworx Redbull TV live feed with 25% riding with 75% filler BS.
Once the race run actually starts most of the track isn't shown on the feed.
Making WB/Disco look pretty good now.
Nothing new there really, Crankworx DH coverage has always been pretty poor. They just don't have the budget for a full top to bottom production it seems?
And Cairns has always been crap coverage, whether World Cup with RB TV or World Champs, that track is terrible to cover and pretty dull to race too
<blockquote>
Live narration/promotion/mental stimulation is at it's worst.
Dude literally VERBATIM would repeat any sentence Gwin got out of his mouth. So many times.
He has ZERO value added benefit to the race, entertainment value or educationally.
Gwin has technical knowledge but "free firty free" guy is NOT a DH color commentator...at ALL!!! He's a very uncomfortable middle ground. Perfect voice for a EWS recap video. That's it.
</blockquote>
So much this, the repeating thing drives me mental!. It's not as Constant as last year, but it's still alot.
I enjoyed his EWS stuff - much more than Josh
I voted neutral, as the Poland round footage was really good. I hate having to go between youtube and the staylive app between juniors and elites. And the lack of Semi's viewing is just abysmal! If semi's are a thing then it needs to be televised. Be it free or payed. Just available either way. The staylive app is good for only $5.99 (10NZD) a month. but it's ONLY the elite races - no juniors, no shorts or highlights. thats a youtube trip.
But it's gonna suck when Gwin gets back on the bike and outa the booth, painful!
The broadcast Sunday was 3.5 hours long, if we add anymore riders to finals we will lose time seen of each run which I believe they have done better this year longer gaps with less riders you get to see more full runs. They aren't going to add more riders and make it a 5 hour broadcast.
If you are saying you want a 60 men and 20 female rider final broadcast you need to be honest with yourself would you really be dialed in and super invested into these 80 runs? You are more than likely really only perked up for the last 20 or so or if you are a fan of someone further down in the order.
Personally I think they should ditch semis, do a qualifier, top 30 go through, 31-60 go to a LCQ for the last 10 spots. 10 qualifier and 5 LCQ for women.
The 10 that advanced through the LCQ drop first and are shown like how redbull use to do the earlier runs just a quick recap before the top 30 drop.
I don't really get a chance to argue the quality of the coverage since the option of watching it, here in Canada, is the limiting factor. You either have to register to a very expensive monthly plan though FloSports at 39.99$ (to get through the world cup schedule, that would cost 200$) or you can be on the hook for a full year for 16,67$ a month for... 200$.
Now, I'm sure cheers and rugby and lacrosse are fun to watch, I'm just not interested. The packages from FloSports are super lame and expensive, and I am missing the action. On top of it all, they don't cover the semi finals like they used to.
It's hard to be on their side right now.
So far, I haven't been super upset with things, but I'm also not paying for it (watching with friends who have). My thoughts are:
1. Scrap semi's. What's the point if it's not being broadcast or streamed?
2. I'm mostly okay with top 30 men, but would be alright with bumping it up a bit. I don't think we need 60, though.
3. Not okay with only top 10 women. Bump up to top 15 or 20.
4. Audio sync. Not sure what's going on, but frustrating when you're watching someone on a heater and the announcers are like,"oh no..." a second or two before the footage catches up.
5. Hot seat. Bring that back down to the finishing area. Everyone's getting up and going down to meet/cheer/congratulate whoever's finishing next anyway. It's a cool part of the community and they should make it easier for everyone.
6. Regardless of how good the footage is, there is no way it's worth paying $220cdn for a subscription. Absolutely ridiculous and even more so if they're not going to broadcast (live or otherwise) semi's.
7. Gwin has been awesome and I could listen to Minnar talk all day. Like the Bob Ross of dh. I like the idea of having different riders joining in on the broadcast/announcing if they don't make finals or are injured. I also hope they're getting compensated for it.
I actually think they made a poor business decision w.r.t. DH, because what they really should have done is make the first year free to draw in or maintain customers from the free days, and only afterwards begin charging for it. By going straight to charging for it, I feel like they lost more viewers and potential customers who would have been willing to give it a chance.
Additionally, I feel like the commentating has problems. They made an excellent decision by bringing riders into the booth to share insights, but they also are plagued by excited reactions about things that just don't feel like they matter. I really don't care about heart-rate especially since I am doubting the accuracy of the heart-rate monitors. It feels largely ok, but requiring a lot of improvement. And it frustrates me to think that the viewers are forced to pay (quite a lot!) without fully knowing what they are getting. If they had made things free or far less expensive first, THEN ramped up prices, then maybe I'd have bought in.
Personally I don’t think full runs has made for better dh finals viewing. I’d much rather the focus be on having the best tracks. Including very long tracks where elevation and track design make it possible. Then simply film the best sections (biggest features and most technical sections where line choice and variance in speed is common plus the finish line). Personally I have found the new finals format to be more boring than the old one. Semis/lcq becomes a necessary evil. But offers a lot of points and has zero coverage. And let’s face it by race day there isn’t a lot of separation between riders in either speed or line choice in large sections of the track. And it takes a very long time commitment to watch just the top 10 let alone the whole broadcast.
I have routinely fallen asleep during the broadcast since the change. It gets very monotonous. I never really felt that way under redbull. (I’m sure commentary plays a part as well)
Red Bull was filming every rider. They could always piece together a full run from a 30-60 guy in the rare occasion they podiumed. (Maes at le bresse). And they provided the story of the race in a condensed viewing package. There was always raw/cathro/track preview/etc to get an idea of the track, wyn/team videos to get the story of what the broadcast missed, but a very exciting and compact broadcast that for me was way more fun to digest than what we have currently.
I would much rather see the Red Bull era format. a 30ish minute highlight video of qualis with finish line interviews and around a 3 hr broadcast of 30 woman and 60 men. I do not need to see everything that happens. I just want reasonable and exciting coverage of the best race series they can offer.
I posted the same exact thing after Ft. William, fully agree with the LCQ format like this. Those riders have to work a little harder to get into the big show. I am also okay with 5 protected riders, maybe even 10? But 10 would actually only give 20 open spaces plus LCQ rider.
Camera work at Poland was incredible. Commentating is fine with Gwin in the both.
Regarding Enduro coverage, the manufacturers/teams need to take this on themselves. It is obvious that UCI/WB are killing coverage, although this week was better than last week. That being said the teams/manufacturers should be collaborating with each other and pooling the rider GoPro's/team videographers images. Then pay someone to edit/commentate on a daily basis from track walk through race day. If they actually did this it would probably cost less than $250/team/race and they could put together some incredible slightly delayed coverage. They would just have to agree that the focus is on the race and not their individual brands which would benefit all of them long term.
Yeah the protected rider thing I gave some thought too as well. Part of me wants no protected riders but with weather and mechanicals, I think you need protected riders.
Compared to Supercross where you have two qualifying sessions and only needing one hot lap if they have a mechanical they will still be able to qualify. The cream will always rise to the top but when you only have one run its very possible that you'll have a final missing some big names, but also the LCQ format can remedy some of this as well.
This is the thing - in this case more coverage of each run does not mean the coverage is better overall. Now, instead of having all of the key features and most technical sections with each run being action packed, there are all of the more boring bits thrown in as well which I think makes each run more less interesting...
Red Bull was not filming every rider and they couldn't always piece together a full run from a 30-60 guy...
There is only a quarter of Alex Fayolle's winning run in Lourdes the year before Martin won in La Bresse.
It's easy to forget that RedBull had more than their fair share of flaws and had to continually keep learning how to broadcast DH racing. The same applies to WB, just with far higher consequences being a paid service rather than a glossed up drinks promotion.
Hit the nail on the head with the last paragraph. Viewers/riders/fans/whatever you call them were far more tolerant of mistakes errors and missteps from the RBTV coverage as it was free.
By charging for it, WB by default has set the expectation that there is a certain level of quality that needs to be delivered if they expect people to pay money for it.
What i think about this is: they come down from having an amazing run, fast, descending through the mountain, all that power, all that adrenaline... to come down and sit in a stool lol poor kids!
Assuming they'd be allowed. With WB/D holding the broadcast rights that's not a given.
RedBull was an action sports media company producing an action sports program live. Literally their wheel house.
Wonder if the venues and companies that bought banners all over the sides of the track knew in advance of this year that they would be getting half of the film exposure of last year.
Would assume they purchased ad space based on the exposure they got last year. Anyone know if it was a bait & switch where they were sold at a set price based on last season's exposure then flipped to "we've got twice the viewership this year so we're not refunding any money. Your exposure has increased even though we're showing 30 runs instead of 90"
The broadcast and organization needs some work for sure, but it's frustrating to see 90% of the online world cup discourse be comprised of people bitching and moaning about the broadcast instead of appreciating the fantastic racing brought to us by these talented and dedicated athletes.
I've pirated every discovery world cup and had no issues, enjoying the insane competition in all categories these days
I don't think there's an issue with the cameras, sure commenting could be better, and season schedule and venues could be distributed more globally. These are all things that take a lot of logistics and training on to make better, which (fingers crossed) will come.
My big concern is access and hype about this. Very limited numbers of official videos on youtube before/ during a race weekend for any MTB sport these days, and wtf is up with viewing access to the races? Most of the positive experiences with WBD seem to be coming from Americans who have Max, but here in Canada I have Flo or pirating as my options. The average cyclist is not going to jump through these hoops to access the content, and it's much harder to recommend to friends who may not be as invested in biking. Previously, I would have forwarded the specific link to the race, and said "great race this weekend, worth a watch."
I think the concerns about sanctioned DH is warranted, especially with limits on international viewing access to these races. If you want to sell something (subscriptions) you need to market the goods (hype the shit out of this sport). Sure the US market is huge, but completely alienates the other few hundred million in the global market.
Did we just get a "relax it's fine" from the neighbor stealing cable?
I suspect a lot of sponsors (of lower ranked teams) will re-evaluate their ROI on dh teams and either adjust budgets or pull out completely. Leading to less teams down the order........which is exactly what WB/Darth Ball have wanted from day 1.
One of the things I love about this sport are stories like Ronan's. Watching him on WynTV where they talk about him getting the privateer award 3 years ago, to winning his first WC race (massive kudos to Wyn and GT for what they're doing).
It'd be such a loss for stories like this to become a thing of the past if WB/D continue to push the sport the way they seem to be set on.
I'll say it over and over. We're not F1. Ski resorts in summer are not Monaco.
Million dollar yachts aren't backing up to the bay with 30 bikini clad entourage to get hammered and look at cars they own 30 of.
It's mud, jorts & teen costumes.
WB is killing the sport.
The fewer teams, the less to do in a weekend, the smaller the competition will kill it all.
It is BORING AS FOKK to watch World Cup even if there aren't hundreds of riders doing laps all day.
I want everything back as it was before, we no longer see the DH elite class races, in Italy it has become a problem, the RAI national network does not show the world cup races in our country
io rivoglio tutto come era prima, non si vedono più le gare della classe elite della dh, in italia è diventato un problema, la rete nazionale RAI non mostra la gare di coppa del mondo nel nostro paese
Watching the Crankworx Redbull TV live feed with 25% riding with 75% filler BS.
Once the race run actually starts most of the track isn't shown on the feed.
Making WB/Disco look pretty good now.
Nothing new there really, Crankworx DH coverage has always been pretty poor. They just don't have the budget for a full top to bottom production it seems?
And Cairns has always been crap coverage, whether World Cup with RB TV or World Champs, that track is terrible to cover and pretty dull to race too
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