TV just can't win with some fans
INSIDE MOTORSPORTS
Wednesday, Jul. 20, 2011
It appears ESPN has won the good graces of NASCAR fans – at least for now – after announcing this week it made some changes to its broadcast team in the Sprint Cup Series.
Veteran Allen Bestwick will move into the booth as the lap-by-lap announcer for all of ESPN’s Cup telecasts, which begin next week with the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Nicole Briscoe, who has been a host and reporter for ESPN2’s “NASCAR Now” show will become the regular host of the pre-race “NASCAR Countdown” show for all Cup and Nationwide series broadcasts.
How long will the good vibe last?
Probably until Bestwick announces for the first time that the broadcast is cutting away for a commercial break.
It’s an almost impossible battle the TV networks that cover NASCAR wage each week with unhappy fans.
The complaints fans make most about TV broadcasts the networks have little ability to fix.
With no “natural” breaks in racing, TV will likely be at commercial break when some critical event happens in the race. Even during the breaks there are – cautions – fans want to see the pit stops that happen then, too.
TV networks never spend enough time covering (insert fans' favorite driver here). With 43 drivers, there’s no way every driver gets mentioned enough to please everyone.
TV spends too much time covering the leader OR too much time covering the racing in the back of the field. Which side you come down on depends on where your favorite driver is running at the time.
Don’t get me wrong. There are problems that can be – and are – corrected in TV broadcasts. Those include factual errors, keeping up with story lines as they develop in the race and keeping viewers up to date going to and coming back from commercial breaks.
Will changes to ESPN’s broadcast team produce a new era of goodwill between the network and NASCAR fans?
It will for a little while – the next Cup race isn’t until July 31.
More racing news, blogs, photos and more at www.ThatsRacin.com.
The Charlotte Observer is pleased to be able to offer its users the opportunity to make comments and hold conversations online. However, the interactive nature of the internet makes it impracticable for our staff to monitor each and every posting.
Since charlotteobserver.com does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted on our website. In addition, we remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not The Charlotte Observer.
If you find a comment offensive, clicking on the exclamation icon will flag the comment for review by the administrators, we are counting on the good judgment of all our readers to help us.
