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  1. #1

    Masters VS NCAA TV Coverage

    It was a pleasant experience to watch the Masters 4th round today without the constant barrage of commercials. I wonder what if would be like if the NCAA tourney, or at least the final four games were treated with as much respect. There would be time for meaningful replays, real input from analysists and just a better connection to the games. I think the network is kind of killing the goose that laid the golden eggs by over commercializing the television coverage. I don't know what most folks did, but I just muted all the adds anyway.

    Every team time out, all the TV time outs, between fouls shots and at half were packed solid with commercials. Even when going back to the game, they still were determined to do a reprise of all the ads you just saw by placing icons in center screen. Why can't someone like Adidas or Nike come in and do what was done on the masters? How greedy are these TV execs anyway?

  2. #2
    I agree, I like when they come back from a commercial break, just to let us know they will be back after this commercial break.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    About 150 feet in front of the Duke Chapel doors.
    CBS's coverage of the Masters is an interesting story. I'm sure others here know it better than me, but the folks at Augusta know that they have the primo golf tournament for TV ratings, and they use the power that it gives them to dictate a lot of unusual terms to CBS. Like, it was only recently that CBS could show full-round coverage.

    As for commercial, time for ads and ad content is restricted by the club. It's not that CBS is doing this out of the generosity of their hearts, or that certain sponsors buy up all the time so that there is limited commercial interruption. It's all the doing of the club.

    So, to change things for the NCAAs, you'd have to have the NCAA more interested in controlling the content of the tournament broadcasts than they are in squeezing every last bit of money out of CBS. That's not going to happen. Thus, CBS will cram every bit of advertising into the broadcasts that they can.
    JBDuke

    Andre Dawkins: “People ask me if I can still shoot, and I ask them if they can still breathe. That’s kind of the same thing.”

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Allawah, NSW Australia (near Sydney)
    Quote Originally Posted by JBDuke View Post

    So, to change things for the NCAAs, you'd have to have the NCAA more interested in controlling the content of the tournament broadcasts than they are in squeezing every last bit of money out of CBS. That's not going to happen. Thus, CBS will cram every bit of advertising into the broadcasts that they can.
    You got that right. One of the only benefits in the world of the money and power that those old geezers at Augusta jealously horde is that they're so loaded, they could give a rat's rear-end how much money they make off the Masters. They are for more interested in how the tournament and the club come off during the event. This allows us to see the Master with "limited commercial interruption."

    I have no great love for the powers that be at Augusta, obviously, but it is nice to see somebody tell television "no, you'll do it our way," for a change. The sad part is, the Masters is unique. No other organization has the resources and inclination to keep TV from commercialising a prime sporting event to the hilt.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Saratoga2 View Post
    It was a pleasant experience to watch the Masters 4th round today without the constant barrage of commercials. I wonder what if would be like if the NCAA tourney, or at least the final four games were treated with as much respect...

    How greedy are these TV execs anyway?
    Easy...more greedy than there are grains of sand at the beach.

    But, if there wasn't an endless loop of yowling Southwest bare belly-ed luggage handlers, when would snrubchat drink beers?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Lewisville, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by weezie View Post
    Easy...more greedy than there are grains of sand at the beach.

    But, if there wasn't an endless loop of yowling Southwest bare belly-ed luggage handlers, when would snrubchat drink beers?
    Haha...good. I finally got adjusted to the extra-long breaks during NCAA action and used it to pace around or replenish beverages.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Durham, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Saratoga2 View Post
    ... real input from analysists ...
    In college beasketball? Are you crazy? This is heresy! Any good fan knows that analysts are only allowed to spew unrelated, inconsequential material about how great their own coverage is. Any actual discussion of the game would be... would be... I don't know because I've never seen it attempted, but I'm sure it would be absurd.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Steamboat Springs, CO

    Talking CBS and the Masters

    I am not current on the situation, but it is hard to believe anything has changed. The Masters asks for only a small payment (a few mill, I believe), when an auction of rights would generate far more. In return, the gents there get total control, allowing only a few minutes an hour for commercials. Announcers who fallen into disfavor are summarily dismissed, most notably wild man Gary McCord and the far more gentlemanly Jack Whitaker. Gary McCord -- the "horror" -- referred to the greens as "smoothed with bikini wax."

    BTW, it is is the club's baby, not the USGA's, the PGA's or the PGA Tour's. This is unique in the golf world. And the members of the club take enormous pride in the tournament. With members like Bill Gates and most of the $500 million+ individuals in the South, it can afford it.

    At the same time, it is out-of-touch in some areas. Consider the prepared criticism of Tiger Woods by Billy Payne, the President of the Augusta National Golf Club. Uh, Billy... We didn't really think you approved of Tiger's antics. Why don't you put a sock in it? And the issue of women members, which are not allowed, is surely causing controversy inside the Club. I think if there hadn't been outside pressure, there would probably be women members now. But some members got their backs up, and the premier Clubs like Augusta and Pine Valley are typically dictatorships. I imagine Bill Gates here's a bit on that subject from Melinda French Gates, his Dukie wife.

    sagegrouse
    'Are they still selling egg salad sandwiches for $1.50 on the grounds of the Masters?'

  9. #9

    Augusta National and Duke

    Not only was I delighted to watch my beloved Devils win the championship, I was able to attend the Masters for the first time Sunday as a guest of one of the members of Augusta National. It is a phenomenal event that is first class all the way. As someone mentioned earlier, with the wealth and power the club has, they can call the shots.

    But I would caution against using terms like " old geezers" and "no love for the powers that be" and "using their wealth" to deride the Augusta National club. In some ways, there is a parellel to the postion that Duke occupies in the minds of some hoops fans.

    There were plenty of people expressing their jealousy of Duke and it's large basketball budget and Coach K gets all the calls and CBS wants Duke to win, etc.

    Sometimes, you have to admire success. Duke is success. The Masters is success. Both have wealth (relative), both have prestige, both do it the right way. I suggest that jealousy and envy are the root of derision that both entities receive. I choose to admire them both!

  10. #10
    If you get DirecTV, you get 3 extra channels of Masters coverage. 1 channel does Amen Corner (11,12,13), another does 15-16, another has a featured pairing, and there's one that shows all four channels (including the standard CBS coverage) Oh and it's all in HD and free.
    "Something in my vicinity is Carolina blue and this offends me." - HPR

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Quote Originally Posted by sagegrouse View Post
    At the same time, it is out-of-touch in some areas. Consider the prepared criticism of Tiger Woods by Billy Payne, the President of the Augusta National Golf Club. Uh, Billy... We didn't really think you approved of Tiger's antics. Why don't you put a sock in it?

    Yeah, that was the epitome of out of touch. Why didn't he call out Jim Nance? Fricking John Daly? Any number of PGA professionals on their second wives due to indiscretions with their first.

    But I am guessing there is an element out there that was glad Billy Payne gave that prepared statement, and that was the element that was most important to him.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Mary's Place
    Call out Jim Nantz? Quite the contrary, Billy "Rocket In My Pocket" Payne laid a slobbery man-crush on our friend Jimmy. Dang near turned Butler Cabin into the Love Shack. Bill Simmons nails the Masters TV coverage here:

    http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...simmons/100412

    Money quote (pun intended):

    "In 2010, networks, agents and superstars have all the power in sports. Nobody else really matters. Augusta flips that around. They make it very clear to everyone. We hold the cards. Not you. Us. For one week a year, you will play by OUR rules. Augusta might be the only sports monolith left that doesn't totally care about money."

    Contrast with the NCAA, where they even break away during 30-second timeouts, and are now apparently even scalping their own Final Four tickets INSIDE the arena!! Cha-ching!!
    "Quality is not an option!"

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Allawah, NSW Australia (near Sydney)
    Quote Originally Posted by Atldukie79 View Post
    Not only was I delighted to watch my beloved Devils win the championship, I was able to attend the Masters for the first time Sunday as a guest of one of the members of Augusta National. It is a phenomenal event that is first class all the way. As someone mentioned earlier, with the wealth and power the club has, they can call the shots.

    But I would caution against using terms like " old geezers" and "no love for the powers that be" and "using their wealth" to deride the Augusta National club. In some ways, there is a parellel to the postion that Duke occupies in the minds of some hoops fans.

    There were plenty of people expressing their jealousy of Duke and it's large basketball budget and Coach K gets all the calls and CBS wants Duke to win, etc.

    Sometimes, you have to admire success. Duke is success. The Masters is success. Both have wealth (relative), both have prestige, both do it the right way. I suggest that jealousy and envy are the root of derision that both entities receive. I choose to admire them both!
    You can choose to do whatever you like and I will do the same. I used those terms you quoted and I'm not going to stop -- although this will be the last time I post about the Masters at DBR. I draw absolutely no moral parallels between the powers that be at Augusta and the people who run Duke's basketball program. The fact that some of the people on both sides have money means nothing. Augusta pretty much defines elitist and exclusive and the powers that be at that club are obsessed with maintaining impossibly pristine appearances. I loathe such institutions.

    It amazes me that you or anyone can even consider the phrase "the right way" in relation to that type of social institution and then go so far as to draw a comparison between it and a college basketball program.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Undisclosed
    ^^^ You understand that the National gives away millions of dollars in charitable donations each year, right? I think, with all due respect, that your perception of the membership is much different than the reality of who the members are. The members I know are amongst the most unassuming folks you would ever have the pleasure of knowing.

  15. #15

    Masters comments.

    Your right. Nothing like watching 3 hours of commercials and 40 minutes of B-Ball. The masters have it going on.


    Just one note about Tiger. He will never be the man that Jack, Arnold or even Phil is. There is more to a person than just majors. Jack, Arnold, and Phil have so much more substance and CLASS. Tiger doesnt have near the competition that Jack did, and when Jack got beat he was the first to congratulate the other guy. Not Tiger, He is off crying somewhere.

    I dont care if Tiger wins 25 majors, he is a discrace to the game.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Durham
    Quote Originally Posted by vikingbud8828 View Post
    Your right. Nothing like watching 3 hours of commercials and 40 minutes of B-Ball. The masters have it going on.


    Just one note about Tiger. He will never be the man that Jack, Arnold or even Phil is. There is more to a person than just majors. Jack, Arnold, and Phil have so much more substance and CLASS. Tiger doesnt have near the competition that Jack did, and when Jack got beat he was the first to congratulate the other guy. Not Tiger, He is off crying somewhere.

    I dont care if Tiger wins 25 majors, he is a discrace to the game.
    So disgraceful....though i bet everyone else on tour is happy with the fat paychecks they get because of the money he brings to the sport....
    1200. DDMF.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Allawah, NSW Australia (near Sydney)
    Quote Originally Posted by OldPhiKap View Post
    ^^^ You understand that the National gives away millions of dollars in charitable donations each year, right? I think, with all due respect, that your perception of the membership is much different than the reality of who the members are. The members I know are amongst the most unassuming folks you would ever have the pleasure of knowing.

    Yes, I understand that the National gives away millions of dollars in charitable donations each year.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Baltimore
    Tiger doesn't deserve all the mass hatred from the nation. Thats my opinion. He has some penetrating personal faults, sure. But who doesn't? There's a whole list of adulterers, from celebrities to presidents. If we bash Tiger that means we should bash them all. Get off the high horse. He is a golfer, and an incredible one at that. He sometimes flares up with emotion on the course, but thats why people like him. And I haven't seen him be a poor sport on the golf course to other players. Instead, he probably has had to deal with the most crap by any golfer in the history of the modern sport (at least for the first 5 years of his career when old fans started to hear whispers about this guy building a career to rival Golden Bear's, remember Fuzzy's comment?). I think its easy to get vacuumed into the media perception of Tiger. Take a step back.

  19. #19
    Tiger is not a disgrace to the game, he disgraced himself and his family. What the heck does his personal life have to do with the game of golf? I am so sick of the double standard people have laid upon Tiger. Using steroids in baseball is disgracing the game; blood doping in cycling disgraces the sport. These things affect the sport itself. Furthermore, there are plenty of golfers out there who have done questionable things (in their personal lives) and receive no criticism, because Tiger is simply a different level of celebrity.

    Edit: Sorry, didn't mean to rant and take this thread too far off topic. I agree that the Masters coverage is much better, but, as others have said, that is a product of the Masters itself. It's just a unique event that will probably never be replicated.

  20. #20
    Am I mistaken, or at the time when they had the protests about women members, were there no commercials at all, so sponsors wouldn't be pressured to boycott or something?

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