Dollars & Sense - ESPN Says Never Enough Tebow

Late last week, word was circulating around the Twitter universe about ESPN’s internal stance on Tim Tebow.  According to multiple tweets, Doug Gottlieb (formerly with ESPN, now with CBS Sports) was told by ESPN upper management basically that you can never talk enough Tebow.  Am I surprised about this?  Not necessarily.  But am I happy about it… now that’s a different story.

After the story came out, @awfulannouncing posed an interesting question:

Giving it further thought, I completely agree.  Talking Tebow is essentially SEO for television ratings.  Every network needs to drive their ratings, and it seems to be a proven fact that Tebow will do that.  However, the thing is when I think SEO headlines, I think begging for views or ratings or whatever the measure of success is on a given platform.  I associate SEO headlines with Bleacher Report, who in my opinion has no use in the world of sports besides pretty slideshows about the most irrelevant speculation the human mind can think up.  The only time I ever go on it is to prove to somebody how utterly useless it really is.  I’m sure that I’m not the only one that thinks it, so why do they do it? 

Is ESPN dictating Tebow talk really all that different than Bleacher Report's SEO headlines & creating content from search data?
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 3, 2012

  Wouldn’t you think that ESPN is so far ahead of the game that they really don’t need to stoop to this kind of level, especially on television?

It really comes down to what your business values are.  Do you want to skate by?  ESPN has shows that they are willing to innovate, so clearly skating by isn’t for them.  Do you want to leverage your resources, reputation and business for the greatest ROI possible?  If you don’t say yes to that, then you probably don’t have much of a business sense.  Do you want to do the job ethically, naturally, and without bias?  That’s something that I can’t decide with ESPN.  They claim that they want to do business this way, but their actions never really back it up 100%.  I completely understand giving people what they want, but is more Tebow what the people want?

For the casual sports fan that flips to some ESPN medium for 10 minutes a day, maybe they want to hear about Tebow.  He is a fascinating player, a conundrum of sorts.  But what about the avid sports fan?  ESPN was built on the sports craze of the avid sports fan, so you would think that they would continue to cater to them.  It has gone the opposite way though.  Sure, ESPN gives countless options for fans to watch their teams with all their various options.  ESPN’s “news” shows don’t really give the news.  In fact, they may be more biased than Fox News, CBS, and NBC combined.  It’s theatrical, and it’s biased.  You never get the full story with ESPN.

Is this wrong?  Technically, I suppose it isn’t.  But does ESPN have a further duty to supply sports fans with the unbiased coverage that they deserve?  In an ideal view the answer is obviously yes.  Then again, nothing in the world is truly ideal.  ESPN has just been corrupted by corporate greed.  They’re the next example in a long line of businesses prior to them. 

I wonder if ESPN can or will ever change.  I don’t think they will because they continue to make more and more money.  I wonder what will happen when the money flow peaks.  That may be an answer that we won’t know for years.  Who knows when the sport-crazy consumers will finally say enough is enough.  For now ESPN can keep holding the Tebow pedal to the floor, but remember as the consumer you have the choice.  You can play into ESPN’s trap or you can change the channel.

Follow Kevin Rossi on Twitter @kevin_rossi.

ESPN Training Camp Coverage

Alarm goes off.

Turn on coffee.

Hop in shower.

Pour cup of coffee and big bowl of cereal.

Sit on couch in boxers and business socks to drink coffee, eat cereal, and watch SportsCenter.

Now you’re stuck in your boxers and business socks watching SportsCenter show Tim Tebow run across the field shirtless followed by a small video montage about how jacked Tim Tebow is and now you feel a bit awkward because you’re still only wearing boxers and business socks.

How many times have you woken up to this?

For the past week now, this has been the morning routine for men that wake up and try to catch some highlights from the previous night before they head off to work.  Instead they tune in to find live coverage of NFL Training Camps.  Alright, that’s not too bad. 

What’s bad is that ESPN has decided to cover the training camps of the New York Jets and the Denver Broncos to a nauseating extent.  Does it take Neil Everett and Tom Jackson multiple days to knock home the message that it’s weird to see Peyton Manning in a Broncos uniform?  I don’t think so.  Does it take Hannah Storm or Sal Paolantonio and Keyshawn Johnson multiple days to place thoughts in our minds of a nonexistent quarterback controversy between Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow?  I don’t think so. 

I've lost track of how many days they've been live from Cortland, NY.

It seems that New York Giants owner John Marra tends to agree as well.  After the brash Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones took an unprovoked cheap shot at John Marra and the Giants, Marra was asked about it on Mike Lupica’s show on ESPN Radio.  Marra responded, “I have been so caught up in the (Tim) Tebow coverage that I haven't had time for anything else.”  Clearly, people are taking notice.

Then again, we all did see this coming.  Plus what else would they show?  Breakdown MLB trade deadline trades?  Show extensive highlights of the London 2012 Olympics (you know because the Olympics aren’t an every year occurrence)?  No, let’s “report” on two NFL training camps.  If there was a more balanced approach to covering NFL training camps, then there wouldn’t be so much backlash.

ESPN would argue that they are just trying to give the people what they want, but how many people really want this type of coverage?  Maybe I find myself in a circle of avid sports fans where the criticisms against ESPN are abundant.  I wonder though, is this really what the casual fan wants?  Tebow shirtless.  Erroneous “stories” of quarterback controversy.  Minute by minute updates on Peyton Manning’s surgically fused neck.  Maybe I’m naïve, but I don’t believe it. 

We need a new story.

My harsh criticisms of ESPN could hinge on one important distinction: is ESPN’s SportsCenter sports news or sports entertainment?  ESPN constantly defend their journalistic integrity which would indicate that they believe they fall under the news category.  However, their television coverage is much more entertainment.  Admitting this fact is something that will never be done by ESPN, it just won’t happen.  Would the avid sports fan (that ESPN was built off of, mind you) stop watching if ESPN admitted this fact?  Probably not.  But would the avid sports fan be able to watch more comfortably knowing that they aren’t being lied to?  I speak for myself in saying that I would. 

If there is a time for a network to break into the sports television industry with an unbiased sports news show, then the time is now.  Criticism against ESPN has never been higher.  NBC Sports Network has some big kinks to work out.  Fox Sports Network looks to break into the landscape.  Network suits are hearing the cries of the avid sports fan and they are responding.  The avid sports fans want more news, and ESPN just isn’t giving the news.

For weekly updates on SportsCenter’s coverage take a look at Deadspin’s Bristolmetrics page.