Downhill on TV

iandude94 · Aug 2, 2009

red bull rampage was on mtv one time, and the jeep 48 straight was too. it was pretty radd.

mattmatt86 · Aug 2, 2009

Average Americans don't care about bikes especially on TV, they love Nascar and Walmart too much.

Iridemtb · Aug 2, 2009

I ride a little motocross, and like it. It is on TV obviously. But the crashes in downhill are far more entertaining, and I think it is more entertaining to watch. That is coming from someone who likes downhill too much though.

gemini2k · Aug 2, 2009

With motocross around, DH racing will always be a joke of sorts to the general public. It's slower, less head to head action, less talent, and less flashy, give up hope.

mattmatt86 · Aug 2, 2009

gemini2k said:
With NASCAR around, DH racing will always be a joke of sorts to the general public. It's slower, less head to head action, less talent, and less flashy, give up hope.

Fixed.

In the US, any and all forms of racing are second tier to Smashcar.

buckoW · Aug 2, 2009

All the races are on Eurosport 2 over here. Maybe that channel is available in the US/Canada somehow.

ebarker9 · Aug 3, 2009

I guess we're all biased, but I was thinking how much more exciting the WC rounds have been compared to the crap that's currently on the X Games. I suffered through I don't know how much "skateboard park" coverage last night trying to watch the rally racing. I don't see how anyone could possibly find DH less interesting than that. It had to be the least interesting athletic competition I've ever seen.

stiksandstones · Aug 3, 2009

dh gangster said:
Yesterday (Saturday) I watched some race action from Mt. St. Anne on TV at 11:00 on the Canadian news station CBC, (I don't know if anyone else in the US gets this but here in WA its channel 99.)

Granted it was mainly focused on the XC but it did show the final run of the men's and women's 4X as well as Sabrina's run in DH and Steve Peat and Sam Hills runs also in DH.

Is this a step forward as far as getting mountain biking back on TV?
Do you guys ever think that DH will ever be fully televised on mainstream US channels again?
Freecaster is definitely a promising step in that direction, but do you think anything will ever be televised like Freecaster runs it?

Even in the sports glory days (financially anyways) there was not A LOT of mtbing on TV. Much more than there is now, but you had the bad production of the NCS on ESPN that was done in house by GT and was awful. FOX sports had the downhill manias for a bit, there was your once and a while mainstream ABC stage races, the really really bad OLN coverage, etc...but it was all sprinkled through the mid 90's, never any consistency like the Eurosport world cup coverage. Also the viewership of all those shows back in the day was less than what the live viewership is for the races on freecaster now.

There are so many ways for people to get content now a days, people are watching less TV now more than ever so I do not know if this whole old notion of 'getting on tv' is so important. Hell, look at Lance Armstrong, he just managed to squeeze $30 million out of Radioshack and his one race that gets on TV is on some low rated channel called 'versus'.

And kind of along the same subject matter, this read was pretty entertaining, I threw up a little knowing I had to read MXA, but good entertainment is worth it...it's an article on what a joke the xgames are:
http://www.motocrossactionmag.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=FD6BD45269EA40B3950817CAF5A732FB

nenjarickard · Aug 3, 2009

gemini2k said:
With motocross around, DH racing will always be a joke of sorts to the general public. It's slower, less head to head action, less talent, and less flashy, give up hope.

"America! **** yeah!" or what?

Less talent? Doubt that without ever riding MX seriously.

Here in Sweden the ones who have "Europsport 2" can watch every WC live.

Sonic Reducer · Aug 3, 2009

getting TV worthy shots on a wooded downhill course seems kinda hard. they'd have to go to a tram setup like in some of the films or put a ton of cameras on the course.
and how much enduro racing do you see on TV? it is all motocross that is in a confined area and much easier to film, more exciting to watch, etc. I can't see DH catching on as a spectator sport to non participants on a very big scale.

gemini2k · Aug 3, 2009

nenjarickard said:
"America! **** yeah!" or what?

Less talent? Doubt that without ever riding MX seriously.

If not less talent, you can at least say the racers take the sport less seriously. They're less money to me made, less competition, less development of racers. When you have WC 4x heats where Gracia will grab a beer from a spectator and chug it down the course after he crashes....

(not that I'm criticizing, I think he and everything he does is f-ing awezome, he GETS mtb racing)

Bottom line: less money, less talent, less serious.

Sheeptechnique · Aug 3, 2009

Nice to see someone bringing this up as I was going to post a thread on my local board myself titled "Why no Mountain Biking on Fuel TV?!" Seems to me that would be the channel easiest to sell on covering Slopestyle or Freeride events - Yes, I know that this thread is titled "Downhill on TV", just seems like it would be easiest to sell them on these more flashy, "Rock-star" disciplines first. I know that mountain bikers as a whole are still viewed by many in the "Action Sports Industry" as a bunch of uptight, spandex-clad, leg-shaving, wanna-be Europeans but Fuel regularly features both Wake-boarding and Long-board surfing and you can't get much more flamboyant and snooze inducing than that!

Sonic Reducer said:
getting TV worthy shots on a wooded downhill course seems kinda hard. they'd have to go to a tram setup like in some of the films or put a ton of cameras on the course.
and how much enduro racing do you see on TV? it is all motocross that is in a confined area and much easier to film, more exciting to watch, etc. I can't see DH catching on as a spectator sport to non participants on a very big scale.

Sonic Reducer makes a valid point but it seems to me that outfits like Freecaster are already managing to overcome the technical hurdles and provide good DH race coverage. I imagine there's MX Enduro coverage on European TV, plus I can't see that the challenges would be much different than covering Rally either and I know there's plenty of that on TV outside the US - Seems to me that American TV Channels/Film crews are just lazy!

Of course, before we all start emailing Fuel asking them to cover Mountain-biking we probably need to ask ourselves whether that level of exposure would be a positive thing for our sport? Already I see tons of 16 y/o kids at my local mountains who think they're Rock-Stars just 'cos they race DH!

DH Rules · Aug 3, 2009

I believe there's a mint of money to be made by the first person who can figure out a way to track a downhill rider from start to finish. We're getting there and with the likes of Freecaster and others professionally covering the WCs we are starting to see DH racing reaching the realms of sport TV that is interesting even to the most hardened couchy.

I can't tell you how many first timers to watching the sport I have met on the slopes and all of them are blown away by it....."this is freaking awesome - why don't see more of this on national TV" . The sad thing is they don't know who is riding, who our heroes are and what are the rules.

Soon...very soon I am convinced a major network is going to get it...this sport is way more extreme than skate boarding or MX ad nausea. The athletes have unbelievable skills, the course hazards and crashes are spectacular and the risks the riders take are greater than any other main-stream sport I can think of. All the ingredients for "edge of the seat" TV.

Explain the sport to the viewers, introduce the riders and get a few national heroes, cover the races with great commentary and instant slo-mo replays and there you have it.

Great opportunities for the sponsors and more money for the deserving riders.

Anyone got a few $m to invest?

rigidhack · Aug 3, 2009

On a very basic level, all that is need for good coverage of a race is moar cameras. Given how cheap they have become lately (compared to what they were before) I can't see this being a big deal.

Everything else is there for really entertaining TV - a lot better than some of the stuff out there anyway. Most of the skate shows I have seen are horrid. How many times can you watch somebody grind a curb or ollie over a hand rail? Why not model the coverage on DH ski racing? That gets tons of air time.

Delimeat · Aug 3, 2009

Who cares.

Look at the gong show they call the X-games, what a joke. And I'm not talking about just the the moto events either, I mean the whole thing. I remember watching biking in both the summer and winter (WTF, how stupid can they make it look!?) X-Games and even though I was just a kid at the time I still knew it was absolutely retarded. We don't need that bull****. Obviously those events were not world cup DH races, but one of the issues is that as soon as an event gets that sort of coverage it starts to be more about the coverage than the event! We have a great thing going with our sport, we all do it regardless of how cool/great/gnarly the general public thinks it is.

As great as we think our sport is it will NEVER be spoken in the same breath as other major league sports by the average viewer, and I really like that fact. That fact alone gives us identity. I for one hope I never ever turn on the tele and see a load of mountain bike programing.

UNHrider · Aug 3, 2009

the other thing tv and videos take away from the sport is perspective. The steepness and technical sections always look tamer on video just due to the various angles that are available for filming.

To do it properly you'd need the riders wearing helmet cams, sort of like in the car video of rally races, to give perspective as well as a constant display of speed, for the uninitiated to really appreciate what the riders are doing.

The other big thing about mainstream sports is people can identify with it. Id guess the majority of people watching pro sports (baseball, football, basketball, hockey, etc) probably participated in the sport as a kid or in high school, and can appreciate the skill and ability of the players on tv. Mountain biking doesnt have that base to build off of. So most watchers wouldnt be able to identify with whats going on. theyd just write it all off as, "man, those guys are crazy" watch and hope for wrecks, then change the channel.

Our best bet is to continue supporting sites like freecaster and hope as they gain viewers they can upgrade the experience.

Iridemtb · Aug 4, 2009

On another note... I think people watch nascar because of crashes. Probably most people. Frankly, two hundred and fifty laps of left handed turns is not entertaining unless a car catches on fire, or someone crashes.

Same with sports on tv. X games, you get to see people fall. Do I feel bad for the competitor, yes, is it still entertaining, absolutely.

What I am getting at is 4cross. Not some weak stuff like jeep king of the mountain (let's face it, you can't even tell how big jumps are because the filming isn't all that great). I am talking racing like in the last earthed video with the vigo 4x.

nenjarickard · Aug 4, 2009

That is clearly one huge step i wanna see Freecaster/whatever make. More cameras, enough to shoot awsome angles showing the gnarly **** rather then showing as mush as possible with one camera making it look almost as non-entertaining as motorsports.

Why don't freecaster throw up a paypal account so that we can help em out?

blackspire · Aug 4, 2009

nenjarickard said:
That is clearly one huge step i wanna see Freecaster/whatever make. More cameras, enough to shoot awsome angles showing the gnarly **** rather then showing as mush as possible with one camera making it look almost as non-entertaining as motorsports.

Why don't freecaster throw up a paypal account so that we can help em out?

Non-entertaining as motorsports?

DH isn't more entertaining than motosports. They are both entertaining, alot of people who don't like motorsports don't like DH either so I think it goes hand in hand.

DH Rules · Aug 4, 2009

I'm using skateboarders as an example, but what grinds me is seeing these guys being dropped off at events in limos and living in decadent luxury while we have top DH athletes, selected to represent their country at a World Championship, who can't go because they can't afford the price of a ticket. They can't compete on the WC circuit and gain essential international experience as the pitiful amount of sponsorship money is about enough to buy a race jersey.

These guys have amazing talent and we need to see the sport and, more importantly the sponsors money coming into sport, evolve to where a talented rider can make a decent living. Popular TV coverage will make this happen.

Dylan Dean · Aug 4, 2009

this is something i'm actually looking into (how soon, i do not know), but it's worth an investigation rather than just hearsay from a few people. i'm not looking at anything mainstream now, but am checking out the 'versus' type media outlets. hearing from a pretty good source, it'll be a long time coming until we see MTB on fuel.. they have no interest in MTB at all... unfortunately i believe many people still also see MTB as the "lycra wearing crowd"... which is one reason tv is needed to spread the knowledge at how "different" we are from the traditional mindset.

anyway, if i can get what i'm looking for, it won't be a full 30min/1hr spot after every event on like it used to be on OLN... but it'd be a good start - for marketing purposes at least. I've already been in contact to several producers from outside the sport who hav expressed some interest... & they have a background in MTB... so that's a BIG plus!

anyway, i've been investigating this for some time & still have a lot of research to do... but hopefully something cool will turn out.

Downhill on TV

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