Monthly Archives: August 2009
MNF: It’s just a football game
Some of the quotes coming out of last week’s ESPN media event in Bristol — and so sorry I couldn’t attend, but my travel visa to leave Maryland has expired — spoke to how Monday Night Football should continue to be viewed as a big deal. Sure, some of that is a push-back against NBC’s Sunday night NFL extravaganza, but one can also take the view that, if you have to talk about the subject, MNF‘s prominence must be very much in question.
That’s not to say ESPN hasn’t had ratings success on Monday nights and with the plethora of NFL programming attached to the weekly telecast across it various platforms. But MNF long ago had become simply the last NFL game of the week — albeit one with high production values and frequently featuring the league’s brightest lights.
The last gasp of presenting MNF as something bigger ended with the departure of non-football personage Tony Kornheiser (and was I the only one in America who enjoyed him on the telecasts?) with the soon-to-be rumored next coach for several teams, Jon Gruden. Already, ESPN had retreated from the celebs in the booth to put the focus more on just football.
And that’s perfectly fine. ESPN presents the games about as well as they can be shown, though I prefer NBC’s version of the NFL at Night (maybe it’s Faith Hill over Hank Jr.). We can’t expect to return to the days when MNF was a pop cultural touchstone. Back when sports and news were the only kinds of reality TV and you were lucky to receive more than six channels, Frank and Howard and Dandy Don presided over a weekly show where Ronald Reagan and John Lennon might drop by for a visit.
But maybe we’ll see the Giffer and the Gipper as MNF marks its 40th season during this year’s telecasts.
ESPN Media Workshop Wrap
This will be my final post regarding last week’s ESPN Media Workshop in Bristol.
First and foremost, I doubt anyone who attended the workshop looked at it as anything else but what it was, a P.R. move by ESPN to showcase the multi-platforms of its brand. It was a chance for the network to pinpoint items of interest about its operation with the hopes it would be picked-up by the sports media press.
With that said I thought the workshop was a great opportunity to not only report on what ESPN was working on, but to pry deeper into the layers of the self-proclaimed “World Wide Leader in Sports”.
I thank the ESPN Communications Department for including bloggers in the discussion. It shows that some in Bristol view what we do as important, at least when it comes to expanding the level of dialogue on how ESPN serves its audience. Throughout the two days we were treated as equals along with those from the mainstream media and industry trade publications.
The only major news broken during the workshop came late Thursday when it was announced that the next local ESPN website will debut in Boston (ESPNBoston.com) on September 14th.
Much was made of the virtual reality technology unveiled during the 30th Anniversary panel with Chris Berman and Bob Ley. I had already seen the innovation used last year during CNN’s coverage on Election Night.
Other smaller news items were announced, including expanded college football coverage on ESPNU and a new ESPN Radio program featuring Jeremy Schapp called The Sporting Life, based on a series with the same name made popular by Jeremy’s late father Dick.
The 30th Anniversary panel with Berman, Ley, and Executive VP of Technology Chuck Pagano was a walk down memory lane for those who have been with the network since its inception. I, for one, have always been interested in how media companies got their start and how they’ve grown.
Tours of the Brsitol campus gave us all a better understanding of just how large, both physically and organizationally, ESPN is.
Gaining access to behind-the-scenes looks at the work of production assistants or how the studio is run for Mike & Mike in the Morning or SportsCenter allowed those not in television the chance to see the details to what goes in to making successful television.
Being a student of history I was especially excited to get a sneak preview of four of the “30 for 30″ documentaries in development by the ESPN Films division. The series begins this fall and has the potential for greatness.
I welcomed the chance to chat with ESPN talent and staff to get a better feel about the work they do, something that in my role as a blogger I might not have had the opportunity to do if I had not attended the workshop.
The most important part of the ESPN Media Workshop for me were the contacts made inside and outside the network which, I hope, will make what we do here at Sports Media Journal more worthwhile to you, our readers.
SMJ Video- ESPN Production Assistant
One of the opportunities the Communications staff at ESPN afforded reporters during last week’s media workshop was the ability to shadow a production assistant.
There are dozens of production assistants working on various segments for either SportsCenter or other studio programs.
I had the opportunity to shadow David Dreyfuss. David has worked at ESPN as a P.A. for over six years. This night he was working on a segment for Baseball Tonight. Our conversation took place at approximately 9:35pm and he was working on deadline for the 10:00pm edition of the show.
SMJ Video- ESPN 30th Anniversary Panel
One of the major events of the recent ESPN Media Workshop is the enclosed panel featuring Chris Berman, Bob Ley, and Executive VP of Technology Chuck Pagano discussing the first 30 years of the network.
This video is long. It is also not the entire presentation as I needed to change batteries on two separate occasions. It probably represents 90 percent of the seminar, however. I was unable to mic the presenters so the audio is picked up from the p.a. in the room.
The video begins with a look at a new virtual reality technology ESPN is experimenting with. (The technology was actually first used last November by CNN on Election Night.
The trio talk about the early years of ESPN, some of their favorite moments, and what may lie ahead. Those of you, like me, who are interested in sports media history should find this presentation interesting
SMJ Video- Hannah Storm, ESPN SportsCenter Anchor
At the end of the ESPN Media Workshop this week I had the chance to interview Hannah Storm, anchor of the daily 9am to 12pm edition of SportsCenter.
In the interview Storm discusses her first year, her relationship with Josh Elliot, and the integration of social media in sports coverage…
