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sundaydoug

sundaydoug

Monkey
Jun 8, 2009
682
359
fwp said:
Seems shortsighted. I would think the more eyes on the sport the bigger the industry the more money for everyone.
Look at snowboarding for example, about the same age as MTB, even more barriers to entry, even more expensive and yet Snowboarding is a million times bigger than Mountain biking. Never had to pay to watch Snowboarding.
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Chicken and the egg. Companies aren't going to invest in something that doesn't get views, but the views won't come unless companies invest. Growth has to be organic on some level, and mountain biking just isn't mainstream. It's not even close to being mainstream. I'm surprised RedBull was able to offer the quality of coverage they did, while charging nothing to the viewer. Sugary drink sales paid for all that, and I have to imagine on some level their coverage actually helped sell more RedBull.

Snow sports are just more appealing to more people than cycling, particularly mountain biking. The reason you never had to pay to watch snowboarding is because it's a million times bigger than mountain biking. And it's not like coverage of snow sports on TV has any effect on the popularity of those sports.
 
F

fwp

Monkey
Jun 5, 2013
415
410
sundaydoug said:
Chicken and the egg. Companies aren't going to invest in something that doesn't get views, but the views won't come unless companies invest. Growth has to be organic on some level, and mountain biking just isn't mainstream. It's not even close to being mainstream. I'm surprised RedBull was able to offer the quality of coverage they did, while charging nothing to the viewer. Sugary drink sales paid for all that, and I have to imagine on some level their coverage actually helped sell more RedBull.

Snow sports are just more appealing to more people than cycling, particularly mountain biking. The reason you never had to pay to watch snowboarding is because it's a million times bigger than mountain biking. And it's not like coverage of snow sports on TV has any effect on the popularity of those sports.
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It is a million times bigger but as recently as the early 2000's you couldn't even snowboard at some of the biggest resorts in the us. Now look at the sport.
X Games and the olympics is the main reason snowboarding blew up in the last 20-30 years. Shaun white is a mainstream star and worth more than every WC rider combined because of television exposure. He didn't really do anything different than what Gwin did in almost the same time period, people just knew who he was because of TV.
 
norbar

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,505
1,722
Warsaw :/
sundaydoug said:
Chicken and the egg. Companies aren't going to invest in something that doesn't get views, but the views won't come unless companies invest. Growth has to be organic on some level, and mountain biking just isn't mainstream. It's not even close to being mainstream. I'm surprised RedBull was able to offer the quality of coverage they did, while charging nothing to the viewer. Sugary drink sales paid for all that, and I have to imagine on some level their coverage actually helped sell more RedBull.

Snow sports are just more appealing to more people than cycling, particularly mountain biking. The reason you never had to pay to watch snowboarding is because it's a million times bigger than mountain biking. And it's not like coverage of snow sports on TV has any effect on the popularity of those sports.
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The people at Red Bull are pretty shrewd at what they sponsor and they did not offer us bike coverage for shits and giggles. Trying to get money out of Red Bull execs is not an easy task and at least in my interactions they seem to be fairly reasonable (unless you're are the owners family and want to produce shitty techno-sci fi films). So it must have made sense for them.

As for snowboarding. It wasn't always bigger but it still got more coverage during the old extreme sports boom. It's just snowboarding is easier to cover.



@fwp - I still remember those bans around 99/00 in Poland. Some resorts had select parts where snowboards were allowed.
 
sundaydoug

sundaydoug

Monkey
Jun 8, 2009
682
359
norbar said:
The people at Red Bull are pretty shrewd at what they sponsor and they did not offer us bike coverage for shits and giggles. Trying to get money out of Red Bull execs is not an easy task and at least in my interactions they seem to be fairly reasonable (unless you're are the owners family and want to produce shitty techno-sci fi films). So it must have made sense for them.
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That's kind of what I was getting at. I have to imagine it was a business decision to offer WC coverage with no charge. Either it helped promote sales of RedBull or they had $XMM already allocated to marketing and this was a fun and interesting way to spend it. Probably both.

As a side note, are there still ski resorts that don't allow snowboarding?
 
norbar

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,505
1,722
Warsaw :/
sundaydoug said:
That's kind of what I was getting at. I have to imagine it was a business decision to offer WC coverage with no charge. Either it helped promote sales of RedBull or they had $XMM already allocated to marketing and this was a fun and interesting way to spend it. Probably both.

As a side note, are there still ski resorts that don't allow snowboarding?
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Haven't heard about any place banning snowboarders in the last 20 years. Even that North Korean resort doesn't.
 
jackalope

jackalope

Mental acuity - 1%
Jan 9, 2004
7,725
6,163
in a single wide, cooking meth...
It's probably on this thread somewhere, but does anyone know if GCN+ will offer replays like RedBull did? That was a handy feature which allowed me to consume the proper amount of coffee/bourbon and take a satisfactory dump before firing up the gravity porn.
 
slimshady

slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
Dec 20, 2007
5,756
3,595
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
norbar said:
A replay option for his poop?
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Just in case, I don't know if it's georestricted, but I've just learned from a friend Claro Sports broadcasted the whole XCO event live in YouTube:


- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
norbar

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,505
1,722
Warsaw :/
slimshady said:
Just in case, I don't know if it's georestricted, but I've just learned from a friend Claro Sports broadcasted the whole XCO event live in YouTube:


- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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Georestricted. Both Warner and Disco have a fairly large presence in Poland (hell I've learned English watching undubbed Eurosport) so I would be surprised if it wasn't. Will check it out through the good old vpn once I'm back from work.
 
SylentK

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,657
1,101
coloRADo
jackalope said:
It's probably on this thread somewhere, but does anyone know if GCN+ will offer replays like RedBull did? That was a handy feature which allowed me to consume the proper amount of coffee/bourbon and take a satisfactory dump before firing up the gravity porn.
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Yes, that is how I watched the Mauve Modesto XC race. Haha at voice to text Mauve.

Not sure how quick they are at turning around the replays. I know on Peackock on the Motocross footy, it's not very quick...But hey, more time for mowing lawns and drinking beers. Then you can tell the wife you actually did something today before watching motocross for 2 hours :D
 
6thElement

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
17,419
14,907
jackalope said:
It's probably on this thread somewhere, but does anyone know if GCN+ will offer replays like RedBull did? That was a handy feature which allowed me to consume the proper amount of coffee/bourbon and take a satisfactory dump before firing up the gravity porn.
Click to expand...
Yes.

They generally have the full replay of stuff available not long after it finishes, then a while later depending on the race there's short/long highlights video released.
 
Redwood Mulch Chucker

Redwood Mulch Chucker

Monkey
Feb 21, 2020
968
1,340
SoCo Western Slope
SylentK said:
Yes, that is how I watched the Mauve Modesto XC race. Haha at voice to text Mauve.

Not sure how quick they are at turning around the replays. I know on Peackock on the Motocross footy, it's not very quick...But hey, more time for mowing lawns and drinking beers. Then you can tell the wife you actually did something today before watching motocross for 2 hours :D
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Que?

The SX replays were available 15 minutes or less after the race ended this year.
Stoked that MX is back on Peacock as well (instead of that MavTV shit show last year), I gladly pay the whopping $2.19 it costs each month just for the moto racing. :p

Pour a can of Monster out for Tomac Jr rupturing his achilles in the race he was set to clinch the series title in.
 
SylentK

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,657
1,101
coloRADo
Redwood Mulch Chucker said:
Que?

The SX replays were available 15 minutes or less after the race ended this year.
Stoked that MX is back on Peacock as well (instead of that MavTV shit show last year), I gladly pay the whopping $2.19 it costs each month just for the moto racing. :p

Pour a can of Monster out for Tomac Jr rupturing his achilles in the race he was set to clinch the series title in.
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Yeah, the replay's didn't show up for at least a couple hours for me. Not sure why. Maybe just bad timing. But like I said, gives me an excuse to do chores around the house :)

Oh man. Tomac. That could be a career ending injury. Notice how Rachel Atherton never came back after her achilles injury? Everyone is different, tho. Wish him the best. Plus there were at least 2 other top 10 MX riders that broke themselves off too, right? Sexton and ... ? I forget and it's late. Crazy.
 
Redwood Mulch Chucker

Redwood Mulch Chucker

Monkey
Feb 21, 2020
968
1,340
SoCo Western Slope
SylentK said:
Yeah, the replay's didn't show up for at least a couple hours for me. Not sure why. Maybe just bad timing. But like I said, gives me an excuse to do chores around the house :)

Oh man. Tomac. That could be a career ending injury. Notice how Rachel Atherton never came back after her achilles injury? Everyone is different, tho. Wish him the best. Plus there were at least 2 other top 10 MX riders that broke themselves off too, right? Sexton and ... ? I forget and it's late. Crazy.
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Cooper and Barcia. Coop got his head run over when he was just 2 points down on Tomac and got all concussed.

BamBam wrecked himself pretty good, busted multiple bones.

Crazy last few races, Sexton crashed the most throughout the season, but ended up winning the title because everyone else binned it big at the last few races and pulled out.

ET3 was set to retire after last year, but gave it another run because the new YZ was so good. I feel this could be it for him. If so still had a stellar career.

MX starts next weekend, Jett's racing the 450....better stock up on beer and lawn mower gas. :rockout:
 
SylentK

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,657
1,101
coloRADo
Redwood Mulch Chucker said:
Cooper and Barcia. Coop got his head run over when he was just 2 points down on Tomac and got all concussed.

BamBam wrecked himself pretty good, busted multiple bones.

Crazy last few races, Sexton crashed the most throughout the season, but ended up winning the title because everyone else binned it big at the last few races and pulled out.

ET3 was set to retire after last year, but gave it another run because the new YZ was so good. I feel this could be it for him. If so still had a stellar career.

MX starts next weekend, Jett's racing the 450....better stock up on beer and lawn mower gas. :rockout:
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Hmmm...Thunder Valley June 10th. Got a buddy who lives across the street. Guess I'll have to start planning....
 
OGRipper

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,744
1,255
NORCAL is the hizzle
Count me as another person frustrated at paying $50 for GCN + and then not being able to use the app on my (Sony) "smart" TV. It works reasonably ok to airplay from phone or tablet but that's a pain in the arse that shouldn't be needed. The only help I can find from GCN online tells me to uninstall the app and make sure I have the latest OS on my TV... All that said, so far the coverage has been fine but like others I'm waiting for DH.
 
norbar

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,505
1,722
Warsaw :/
OGRipper said:
Count me as another person frustrated at paying $50 for GCN + and then not being able to use the app on my (Sony) "smart" TV. It works reasonably ok to airplay from phone or tablet but that's a pain in the arse that shouldn't be needed. The only help I can find from GCN online tells me to uninstall the app and make sure I have the latest OS on my TV... All that said, so far the coverage has been fine but like others I'm waiting for DH.
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Apps on smart tv's are garbage in general but the blame here is a bit 50/50. TV software is unstandarized, underdeveloped trash. The only reason I spent stupid money on AppleTV is that stuff works on it even if the remote was designed by aliens.
 
Jeremy R

Jeremy R

<b>x</b>
Nov 15, 2001
9,701
1,056
behind you with a snap pop
OGRipper said:
Count me as another person frustrated at paying $50 for GCN + and then not being able to use the app on my (Sony) "smart" TV. It works reasonably ok to airplay from phone or tablet but that's a pain in the arse that shouldn't be needed. The only help I can find from GCN online tells me to uninstall the app and make sure I have the latest OS on my TV... All that said, so far the coverage has been fine but like others I'm waiting for DH.
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No doubt. GCN does not even have a Roku app in 2023. So lame.
 
jonKranked

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
89,240
27,436
media blackout
sethimus said:
roku is an island solution, how many cycling fans are in the us to support developing an extra versions just for americans?
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rokus are great. it was what got me to finally ditch my cable tv subscription b/c i can have all my streaming apps in one place with a UI that's easy enough for my kids to use.

also, you do realize that Warner is an American company, yes? and that GCN is owned by an American company?
 
canadmos

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
22,217
21,823
Canaderp
Yeah you don't even need to have a physical roku box to be a roku user. Our weirdly named tv from Costco is a Roku TV - there are tons of them out there.

Plus they are already paying a developer to build and maintain the other apps, whats one more?
 
schwaaa31

schwaaa31

Turbo Monkey
Jul 30, 2002
1,542
1,147
Clinton Massachusetts
From the Vital forum. I was hoping it would be on HBO Max after they merged.

HBO Max combined with Discover+ and was re-launched as the streaming service Max in the U.S. today. I haven't seen definitively whether UCI mtb events will be available on this service. But from what I can see when I login, there isn't any evidence there will be live event coverage or anything MTB or cycling related. I'm guessing this means GCN+ is now the only viewing option in the U.S., but interested in any other information anyone has.
 
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