Monday, December 18, 2006
Is another strategy required in women's sports promotion in view of figure skating's broadcast bust?
The included article is an extremely insightful commentary on the downward trend of figure skating from broadcast bananza to broadcast scarcity. To me it appears an industry council needs to be created for those interested in promoting women's sports (of course, only after consulting competent legal counsel on any and all possible antitrust implications of such a council) to address questions like:
- Though it is the broadcasters' right to define "profitability", just what are the implication of these profit models to the perceived "nature" of the women's sport being promoted? (Is that "nature" static or dynamic?)
- What are broadcasters defining as "appeal", and what are the various women's sports promoters perceiving as their sports' "appeal"?
- What are the financial trends within the various women's sports, and how might the "nature" of these trends be contrasted, distinguished and compared among the sports?
- What are the lessons to be learned from the individual sports in terms of successful (and unsuccessful) promotions of the sports?
It is my belief that no promoter of women's sports can view, without a thorough evaluation of all factors involved, any situation in any women's sport as just peculiar to that sport. And understand, I have absolutely no qualms with webcasting. WNBA webcasts are 'da bomb. I wanted to get into (watching) the synchronized team skating sport, and webcasts from the US Nationals were at one time still available; however, today the link to ttp://www.thefigureskatingchannel.com/ is not working. My concern is not about webcasts or not, but about the (shared) wealth model (as I am sure players and performers would prefer to characterize the situation broadcasters view as the "profit model".)
Chicago Tribune: Golden era down the tube: Figure skating may be coming to a Web site near you; Its days of earning big bucks and TV ratings appear over
See also: "Results and Pictures" section here
Also relevant: 2006-07 Figure Skating Broadcast Schedule (Tentative)
