Softball Question

#2
#2
Volsfaninva917 said:
Why is there only one game of this weekend's series being televised?
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I really think ESPN believes fans are satisfied with online broadcasts. They aren't showing much of anything but NFL draft and Spring football. Oh, and a bunch of 30-For-30 reruns.

Makes no sense.
 
#4
#4
This may be the first time I have ever heard a softball question that really was a softball question!
 
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#6
#6
All three games are available to watch. Friday and Saturday via Watch ESPN app. Sunday on ESPN2.

For the entire SEC, ESPN2 is airing 3 games, and SEC network 3 as well. All SEC games available for streaming on Watch ESPN app.
 
#9
#9
Volsfaninva917 said:
Why is there only one game of this weekend's series being televised?
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An excellent question. As popular as softball is in most parts of the country it seems to me that softball is not getting the coverage, based on fan interest, that it should be getting by the major networks. Most of the games we see on TV are sold out and the WCWS is sold out in advance every year.

So why so little coverage? Beats me although the fact that it's a "girls sport" probably is a major contributor.
 
#11
#11
StrangeVol said:
An excellent question. As popular as softball is in most parts of the country it seems to me that softball is not getting the coverage, based on fan interest, that it should be getting by the major networks. Most of the games we see on TV are sold out and the WCWS is sold out in advance every year.

So why so little coverage? Beats me although the fact that it's a "girls sport" probably is a major contributor.
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ESPN's family of networks is televising more games than they ever have this season.
 
#13
#13
tnburban said:
Exactly. But since every UT game isn't on ESPN in prime time, ESPN hates us, right? :p
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Naw, not a conspiracy. But it is the #1 team in the country playing the hottest top ten team for national seeding. And only one game is broadcast on tv. And they are literally showing reruns a good portion of the day.

Is it because they fired all their staff?
 
#14
#14
1CHATTVOL said:
Naw, not a conspiracy. But it is the #1 team in the country playing the hottest top ten team for national seeding. And only one game is broadcast on tv. And they are literally showing reruns a good portion of the day.

Is it because they fired all their staff?
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Schedule was made out before the season started. It's not like football where they pick games and put them in time slots and different networks a week or two before it's played.
 
#15
#15
1CHATTVOL said:
Naw, not a conspiracy. But it is the #1 team in the country playing the hottest top ten team for national seeding. And only one game is broadcast on tv. And they are literally showing reruns a good portion of the day.

Is it because they fired all their staff?
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The schedule was done months in advance. Traditionally, ESPN has not shown many, if any, college baseball and softball games the weekend of their NFL draft coverage.
 
#16
#16
tnburban said:
Exactly. But since every UT game isn't on ESPN in prime time, ESPN hates us, right? :p
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IMO, It's not ESPN hates UT, it's that they like the dollar.

Although softball has increased in popularity, it's still nonexistent in many parts of the country where it's something you play as a kid before moving on to baseball. That's hard to visualize for UT fan because UT is one of the fastpitch hotbeds.

In the northeast, most high schools have a women's fast pitch softball team, but fan interest and participation by girls is poor compared with field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, gymnastics and cheer leading.

Title 9 did much to get softball going, but that was a result of schools being forced to have a woman's team to justify baseball.

On the plus side, there are many people working hard to increase softball's popularity so there is hope for the future,
 
#18
#18
Everyone's saying logical possibilities. But really, those watching NFL draft round 7 are not gonna watch anything else. And how does it earn more money to show reruns of 30 for 30 vs live programming? The cameras and broadcast crew are already there. (I know they're not the same ones, but still. ..) And they could've changed the programming a week in advance. And i think softball is very popular based on ratings I saw.

No matter, I'll be at the game anyway.
 
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#19
#19
1CHATTVOL said:
Everyone's saying logical possibilities. But really, those watching NFL draft round 7 are not gonna watch anything else. And how does it earn more money to show reruns of 30 for 30 vs live programming? The cameras and broadcast crew are already there. (I know they're not the same ones, but still. ..) And they could've changed the programming a week in advance. And i think softball is very popular based on ratings I saw.

No matter, I'll be at the game anyway.
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Can you provide your source for softball's popularity, I'd like to see it.

I haven't found anything that lists softball on fan popularity lists. We're talking about fan interest here, not number of women playing.

Softball probably ranks 3rd for number of participants in college Behind only Soccer and Track & Field.
 
#20
#20
Besti said:
Can you provide your source for softball's popularity, I'd like to see it.

I haven't found anything that lists softball on fan popularity lists. We're talking about fan interest here, not number of women playing.

Softball probably ranks 3rd for number of participants in college Behind only Soccer and Track & Field.
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Can you provide source that says softball isn't? Will look.
 
#22
#22
Besti said:
As I said before - "I haven't found anything that lists softball on fan popularity lists. I did look.

Appreciate your looking too.
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My quick look found what I recalled, which was that the 2015 WCWS easily had more viewers than College Baseball WS. Also saw that ESPN had increased softball coverage over 44% (time frame escapes me now).

Gonna look more.
 
#24
#24
1CHATTVOL said:
My quick look found what I recalled, which was that the 2015 WCWS easily had more viewers than College Baseball WS. Also saw that ESPN had increased softball coverage over 44% (time frame escapes me now).

Gonna look more.
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Perhaps this is the article to which you are referring?
https://nfca.org/index.php?option=c...n-s-college-world-series&catid=109&Itemid=149

I did find this TV snapshot on a day when the Softball world series was in progress:
https://sportstvratings.com/auburn-...ts-tv-ratings-for-wednesday-june-8-2016/5219/

What was of interest is the high ratings for sports talk (in relation to live broadcast), which makes a lie of the statement, "Talk is cheap." Live broadcasts are expensive for ESPN because you need two equipment trucks to handle production and satellite uplinks, satellite time rental. Must pay the schools for broadcast rights, renting cameras and equipment, the broadcasters, hotels, meals, etc. It adds up, and for softball there's always a chance of a rainout.

That said, ESPN is broadcasting over 600 softball games this year, 200 of them on ESPN3. Since ESPN is losing customers at a heavy clip, this might be the heyday of cable broadcasting. Internet streaming is so much cheaper that will most likely overtake cable for the future.
 
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#25
#25
I know the links say it, but I have a serious problem believing that college softball is more profitable/has more viewership than college baseball.

What am I missing?
 
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