All-Star Espn Worlds Coverage Dissapointment

[5-6-7-8]

I have a radical view on this whole topic.

Don't have a TV show.

Take the money (hundreds of thousands, I presume) that you WOULD have spent on production and airtime and do something more useful with it. Scholarships, coaches education, gym owner training, etc. My personal favorite - make it less expensive to go to Worlds.

Put together a highlight video and put it on YouTube, along with links to FREE videos of each routine. Make it available online and let social media go to town with it. I would guess that you could get volunteers to put the whole thing together for them and it would BLOW AWAY the quality of the televised show and probably be a much more effective marketing tool.

Traditional broadcast TV just seems like an antiquated way to try to promote the sport. It seems like the reason they keep doing it is just because that is what they have always done, rather than actually doing a serious cost/benefit analysis and trying to do the most efficient, most effective way to promote the sport.

Couldn't agree more. Old school TV broadcast just can't be the best way to reach the target audience (I'm guessing under 25 or even 18.)

Sure *I* may still get excited when a Christmas special is on broadcast TV (even though I own the DVD), but I am pretty sure that doesn't apply to the under 25 crowd.


The Fierce Board App! || iPhone || Android || Upgrade Your Account!

 

[CheerKatie08]

I literally joined All-Star because of TV coverage. I saw NYCheer on the Fox Sports Network and had my mom call about tryout information that night. I had no idea about All-Star cheerleading although I was part of a competitive high school team. The true "fans" would know where to watch videos broadcast on the internet, but the non-Allstar cheerleader or gymnast would have no idea they even existed. I do think that national TV coverage helps encourage a high school cheer/gymnastics audience to try the sport. The program on ESPN2 was shown after a gymnastics meet, which was a smart move (although probably not 100% intentional).

 

[SharkDad]

I literally joined All-Star because of TV coverage. I saw NYCheer on the Fox Sports Network and had my mom call about tryout information that night. I had no idea about All-Star cheerleading although I was part of a competitive high school team. The true "fans" would know where to watch videos broadcast on the internet, but the non-Allstar cheerleader or gymnast would have no idea they even existed. I do think that national TV coverage helps encourage a high school cheer/gymnastics audience to try the sport. The program on ESPN2 was shown after a gymnastics meet, which was a smart move (although probably not 100% intentional).

Bet you didn't know then you would eventually be an ESPN star yourself. . .

 

[mamabear]

The tv shows are what brought us to cheer too. My CP was only 3 when the Worlds were on tv a few years ago. I paused as I was changing the channel and said "look at the girls cheer" and she became mesmerized . Every day for months she asked when she would get to cheer. Finally I broke down and signed her up.

This year while watching Worlds, she declared that "someday I will compete at Worlds". So, I can attest to the fact that the broadcasts are reaching at least one kid in their targeted audience.

 

[thatgymowner]

agreed... I'm glad they took the time to show IOC6 but it took up almost half the time. They could have just showed top 3 in all divisions instead of taking the time to show 1 division for half an hour

My thought exactly. Top 3 in every division and ALL could have fit in 1 1/2 hours or so! And we could have seen everything. I bought the archive so I can watch it all.. But some people didn't and the coverage was terrible.


Ashley

 

[Ems]

So... I may have an unpopular opinion here, but I honestly didn't think it was that bad. I do agree that it could be extended to 90 minutes or two hours to show more divisions, but for an hour time slot, I liked what they showed. And I also agree that they should at least cover ALL the winners in every division. You won worlds, you should at least get your 15 seconds on ESPN.

However, I may have liked it so much because I was comparing it to the NCA Collegiate Nationals coverage (though I already ranted about it in a different thread). I know it aired on CBS sports but I think someone said something earlier that it was all produced by Varsity. On that they showed the D1A Small Coed winner and then the full routines of every single D1A Large Coed finalist. So essentially one division for the entire hour. So getting to see 3 divisions wasn't too bad.

 

[ScottyB]

I have a radical view on this whole topic.

Don't have a TV show.

Take the money (hundreds of thousands, I presume) that you WOULD have spent on production and airtime and do something more useful with it. Scholarships, coaches education, gym owner training, etc. My personal favorite - make it less expensive to go to Worlds.

Put together a highlight video and put it on YouTube, along with links to FREE videos of each routine. Make it available online and let social media go to town with it. I would guess that you could get volunteers to put the whole thing together for them and it would BLOW AWAY the quality of the televised show and probably be a much more effective marketing tool.

Traditional broadcast TV just seems like an antiquated way to try to promote the sport. It seems like the reason they keep doing it is just because that is what they have always done, rather than actually doing a serious cost/benefit analysis and trying to do the most efficient, most effective way to promote the sport.

I see what your point but I disagree.
By making it online and social media only, the spread of the information will barely extend beyond the edges of the cheer world. By putting it on traditional TV, sport enthusiasts of all types can watch and get a glimpse of what the cheer world does and works at. And from many responses it seems that parents seeing cheer on TV helped get their kids into cheer. Growing the number of participants is the end goal for most people involved in the industry, so this can't be that bad for the sport.

 

[gymcatmomx2]

I literally joined All-Star because of TV coverage. I saw NYCheer on the Fox Sports Network and had my mom call about tryout information that night. I had no idea about All-Star cheerleading although I was part of a competitive high school team. The true "fans" would know where to watch videos broadcast on the internet, but the non-Allstar cheerleader or gymnast would have no idea they even existed. I do think that national TV coverage helps encourage a high school cheer/gymnastics audience to try the sport. The program on ESPN2 was shown after a gymnastics meet, which was a smart move (although probably not 100% intentional).

I agree completely with you! There are so many ex-gymnasts that have transitioned into all-star cheerleaders, my CP included. All of those gymnasts who realize that they may not have what it takes to be an Olympic gymnast may decide that they want to go to Worlds from watching the TV coverage.

 

[BlueCat]

Are there potentially some young future all-star athletes that happen to catch Worlds on ESPN 5 and decide to join their local gym? It is certainly possible, although TV watching is rapidly declining among youth today overall. I still believe there is much more bang for the buck to be had in other mediums.

 

[rosebud]

Just to pre-empt any "Why did they waste time showing IOC6?!" let's not forget that it's called Worlds and not USASF Nationals. Showing IOC6 is a great way to show the international teams and to show that they're catching up to the US.

I agree but I was surprised they devoted a full half hour to that division and the Small Senior and Large Senior each got 15 minutes and they just had time to show the top 3. They could show the top 3 for the divisions and still show the list of who was in the top 10 so that you could see what other countries made it to the top 10. I just wish it was longer than just 1 hour!

 

[glitterandbows]

I have mixed opinions on this subject. While I love the idea of using the money they would have used for broadcasting to make online videos free and make it cheaper to go to worlds, I also agree that the TV broadcast could help our sport in some ways. We just need to find the happy medium.

As for the show itself, I know a lot of us want to see all of the divisions. But, on the off chance that a non-cheer person watches the show, what will they think? They will see it and think: The announcer said this was the world championships, all I see are USA teams. When they see that, they will not think highly of the sport that cheerleading is. I believe one of the points of the TV broadcast is to gain respect for cheer and maybe gain some new athletes. Showing the international divisions is a good way to do that.

 

[AndrewSky]

I have mixed opinions on this subject. While I love the idea of using the money they would have used for broadcasting to make online videos free and make it cheaper to go to worlds, I also agree that the TV broadcast could help our sport in some ways. We just need to find the happy medium.

As for the show itself, I know a lot of us want to see all of the divisions. But, on the off chance that a non-cheer person watches the show, what will they think? They will see it and think: The announcer said this was the world championships, all I see are USA teams. When they see that, they will not think highly of the sport that cheerleading is. I believe one of the points of the TV broadcast is to gain respect for cheer and maybe gain some new athletes. Showing the international divisions is a good way to do that.

But if you show all divisions you'll see international teams. They don't disappear.

 

[Jtsmith1]

I brought this up in the newbie thread, my friend watch the world championship for the first time with me and she couldn't understand how it could qualify as a world championship if all the teams represnted "gyms" and not countries. Another thing is that she didn't understand why there was a seperate divison for international teams if its a world competition? She said would it not just be easier to just have two divisons girl and coed and then do like gymnastics were they have a limited number of team members. She said for the first time she can understand why people don't think cheerleading is a sport where they have world championship that is dominmated by amrican gyms. If anything it should just be called the national championships. I do have to agree with her. I think the ICU worlds should be considered the real world championships. The cheerleaders actually represent countries and unlike all star cheerleading there is no maxium age out. Whereas with the ICU worlds I think the cheerleader has to be the minium age of 18. I really want to see cheerleading in the Olympics and I think the ICU worlds are a better way to go.

 

[gofriars610]

My friend right now messaged me out of the blue saying she was watching Worlds on ESPN out of the blue and how she thinks it's adorable that the stunt partners got married.

So I guess...something...is working?

 

[mamabear]

I wanted to add that I think that the commentary brings in people too. My husband is a huge sports fan, but even after two years he just doesn't get cheer. By watching him listen to the commentary, things seem to be clicking more. BY learning about the about the scoring, and what is needed to have a successful routine, he seemed to be more interested.