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Author Topic: The WIBC can work with ESPN - why won't they work with Sanders?  (Read 2174 times)

mumzie

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The WIBC can work with ESPN - why won't they work with Sanders?
« on: March 22, 2004, 11:29:06 PM »
There's got to be more to it than meets the eye...
http://www.bowl.com/bowl/wibc/common/news/record.html?record=7912
quote:

WIBC & ESPN Reach Two-Year Agreement
March 23, 2004
The Women’s International Bowling Congress reached an agreement with ESPN to televise its 2004 and 2005 Queens Tournament presented by Reno Tri-Properties.

This year’s event at Northrock Lanes in Wichita, Kan., is scheduled to air on Tuesday, May 25 at 8:30 p.m. EDT in a 90-minute format on ESPN2. The Tournament will begin with qualifying on May 15 and culminate with the taping of the television finals on May 19 at 7:00 p.m. CDT.

"We continue to have an interest in women's bowling and are happy to once again partner with the WIBC to offer this marquee event to our national audience," said Leah Buhl, director, ESPN programming and acquisitions.

“We are pleased that ESPN will once again be televising the Queens Tournament,” said WIBC Director of Tournaments and Marketing Jan Schmidt. “ESPN will provide the best outlet for fans to watch some of the top female athletes compete for the Queens Title.”

The 2005 WIBC Queens Tournament is scheduled for May 14-18 at Riverlanes in Tulsa, Okla. The airdate and time will be announced at a later date.

The WIBC Queens Tournament is open to all WIBC members, amateur and professional, and offers the opportunity to bowl with some of the best women bowlers in the sport. It is recognized as the most prestigious event in women’s bowling.

For more information or to download an entry form, visit WIBCtournament.com.

Women’s International Bowling Congress
The WIBC is the world’s oldest and largest women’s sports membership organization with more than 1.2 million members. WIBC’s mission is to identify and fulfill the needs of women bowlers.

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Aristotle

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Re: The WIBC can work with ESPN - why won't they work with Sanders?
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2004, 02:49:51 PM »
Maybe it's a matter of the poor telecasting that was done in prior years by the PWBA.. Maybe it's a matter of people finding the men bowling more interesting to watch than the women.. (Take as an example the NBA/WNBA viewership ratings) Keep in mind that ESPN is, first and foremost, and entertainment business. They entertain in order to make money, and all that matters is their bottom line. The Queens tournament is a once a year deal, the WIBC was most likely more open to time slots where PWBA was not, and it IS the premier event in women's bowling.
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seadrive

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Re: The WIBC can work with ESPN - why won't they work with Sanders?
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2004, 04:25:03 PM »
mumzie, this looks like exactly the kind of deal they offered Sanders, which he rejected.  It's taped, not live, and it will be shown on ESPN2, at a time of their choosing.

And there's no mention of how much WIBC is paying to have it produced.

The Queens is a once-a-year event.  It doesn't require a weekly time slot, or a production crew to follow it around the country, like a traveling league.
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iommifan

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Re: The WIBC can work with ESPN - why won't they work with Sanders?
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2004, 04:43:59 PM »
It boils down to ratings and I can't believe that Poker (which isn't even a sport) and table tennis can get more people to watch it than womens bowling. There has to be a underlying problem here that we don't know. Who the hell watches table tennis??? Certainly not me. But I try not to miss the PWBA whenever it's on. There has to be a time slot available. Look at all the college basketball games on, thousands of them. And there is no available time slot that espn would give to pwba? The ratings for Poker must be dismal at best, if you have time to watch poker life must be way to boring. I personally would watch a infomercial long before poker!! But hey, it's espn's loss, well our loss. How about WE or Lifetime or OxyGen?? Why don't they step up to the plate and do their part for equality?? Because they unwilling to put their money where their mouths are, that's why.
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Phillip Marlowe

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Re: The WIBC can work with ESPN - why won't they work with Sanders?
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2004, 06:36:16 PM »
The stories I hear from the industry are that the PWBA pissed off ESPN with poor show quality, poor marketing and stubbed its toes on the PBA, trying to get into its time slot and piggyback, to some degree, its marketing.

Also remember that the PWBA was paying ESPN for time in the last contract because the geniuses there thought that would be the way to make money -- they thought they could produce the show and sell adverting and the show better than ESPN. Uh, no.

Could it be that the people running the PWBA were...(gasp) not very good at the sports entertainment business?  Here is a show made for TV, limited production costs, big potential audience, limited promotional costs....  Say it isn't so....
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mumzie

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Re: The WIBC can work with ESPN - why won't they work with Sanders?
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2004, 11:53:16 PM »
BTW - if you read the article above, please note the following sentence:
quote:

“We are pleased that ESPN will once again be televising the Queens Tournament,” said WIBC Director of Tournaments and Marketing Jan Schmidt.


Jan Schmidt was the marketing director for the PWBA - and had a LOT to do with the production quality...
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seadrive

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Re: The WIBC can work with ESPN - why won't they work with Sanders?
« Reply #6 on: March 24, 2004, 09:16:30 AM »
quote:
Jan Schmidt was the marketing director for the PWBA - and had a LOT to do with the production quality...

That would be... the LACK of production quality.

Anyone who thinks bowling telecasts should be done by two bowlers need only look at the PWBA shows for confirmation that, yes, you do need a professional broadcaster in the play-by-play spot in the booth.

Jan could have made a 100% improvement in the quality of the show by simply replacing herself with an ESPN pro.  Tish Johnson should have been the color commentator, seeing as how she has more personality than the rest of the touring pros combined.
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Rantings

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Re: The WIBC can work with ESPN - why won't they work with Sanders?
« Reply #7 on: March 24, 2004, 09:30:27 AM »
I have read some things in Bowlers Journal that makes me believe Mr. Sanders has a problem in tact that might be to the PWBA's disadvantage if he takes over.
He did tick off the PBA over some of his accusations and that couldn't help his plans for the PWBA and ESPN...but that's my opinion....
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Edited on 3/24/2004 12:05 PM
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da Shiv

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Re: The WIBC can work with ESPN - why won't they work with Sanders?
« Reply #8 on: April 03, 2004, 10:04:50 AM »
ESPN is also going to televise the inaugural NCAA women's bowling championship, and it's coming up soon.  Check it out here, in the second section of the article; subtitled "TV Queens."

http://www.freep.com/sports/othersports/bowl3_20040403.htm

By the way, the article's writer, Matt Fiorito, was recently inducted into the ABC Hall of Fame in the writer category.  He's been just about the only source of bowling info in the major print media in Detroit for many years.  Congratulatons, Matt!

Shiv

P.S.  I'll also make a separate post of this in case anybody misses it here.--------------------
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Edited on 4/3/2004 10:59 AM
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