How many times when your watching a game do you see comercials? Too many right? After listening to Dick Maxwells speech this morning I learned that there are 5 commercial breaks per quarter in every NFL football game. All lasting 110 secons. The media timeouts are not called during breaks of plays either. Their is a sideline referee that has 2 orange bands on his arms and when he signals it is time for a media timeout it happens. It doesnt matter if Peyton Manning was about to take the snap or the lions were about to blitz. Once the whistle is blown the ref signals to the broadcaster and the commentator then has 10 seconds to make a sendoff statement followed by 90 seconds of comercial. After commercial the commentator has 10 more seconds to bring it back for a totla of 110 seconds of marketing commericals. Do you think it is degrading to the game to have commercials dictate the flow of the game?
Personally I do, The marketing aspect has taken over sports completly. The big players don't even seem to play for teams anymore. Its almost as if they play for a brand. Hockey for example, when someone says sidney crosby one of the first things that comes to my mind is Reebok. Why? Because when I see him on T.V he is either in a Reebok commercial or in a game wearing all Reebok. Same as Michael Jordan, immediatly nike comes to your head. Same with Tiger, does PGA Tour come to your mind when you hear Tiger? No nike does...And maybe affairs but hats it lol.
My point is that sport has become overwhelmed with the advertising and marketing I feel were are losing some of the drive from players to play from the heart instead of their wallet. NBA is a great example. Those guys have enough money they don't need more. But yet, they are not playing because they are getting a pay cut which is still in the millions for almost all. What happened to play the game because you love it? Is that gone for good?
Yes, I do think it is bad for the game to have the commercials dictate the flow. I think that the level of marketing and advertising is different for different sports, for example, NASCAR is all marketing. For some sports it gets kind of annoying (at least from a viewer’s perspective), because it diverts your attention away from the actual event.
ReplyDeleteI really think the marketing angle is one thing that keeps soccer from becoming as big as sports like football in this country. Without stoppages in play, how can they possibly get their commercial messages across? I know they have experimented with ways to show ads during games, but that never seemed to catch on for soccer. Now it is not just professional sports but even the Olympics (consider the 1992 Dream Team Nike players who covered their Reebok logos) and college sports that are all about money (the BCS especially).
ReplyDeleteTorey,
ReplyDeleteYour point of view that "branding" is taking a front seat to the actual sporting event that is being televised is on target. When sitting in the actual stadium for a game that is televised with commercials, it can be especially frustrating. Just when the crowd gets excited and the game is building momentum, it become time for another commercial break. While I know that the dollar support from key sponsors is necessary, I agree that commercials at some point do disrupt the flow of the football, basketball, etc. game.
Stephen