ESPN Coverage

[CHBB]

Am I the only one who thinks ESPN's coverage of the FIBA World Cup is an absolute joke? After the way they shoved the FIFA World Cup down our throats for two consecutive World Cups now, putting every game on every channel on the ABC network family and promoting the hell out of it, for the second consecutive FIBA World Cup they're only showing Team USA's games and are basically treating this event as if it's a low level college athletic conference. An American sport, the second most popular sport in the world and the fastest growing, and this is the level of coverage and exposure they give it in the US?

Oh well, I'll try to ignore it by convincing myself NBC will outbid ESPN next time around and give the FIBA World Cup ( I hate that name) the exposure it deserves once and for all.

[JGX]

All of the games will be streamed via ESPN3 and NBA TV will be showing some games as well. Realistically this tournament is much smaller that the soccer world cup, even in the US.

[Dr. T]

Maybe ESPN will give the scores at the bottom of the screen on the annoying scroll.....

[CHBB]

All of the games will be streamed via ESPN3 and NBA TV will be showing some games as well. Realistically this tournament is much smaller that the soccer world cup, even in the US.

Exactly my point. Streamed online, and on NBATV (which some of us don't have), when they pushed the World Cup on every single channel on the ABC Network almost 24/7.

It's an American sport, one that is much larger than soccer/football will ever be in the US.

[usagre]

Exactly my point. Streamed online, and on NBATV (which some of us don't have), when they pushed the World Cup on every single channel on the ABC Network almost 24/7.

It's an American sport, one that is much larger than soccer/football will ever be in the US.

have a look at the ratings that the world cup of soccer got on espn and abc, it might answer your question. but wait ratings are like a statistic and you dont do that.

[Milos.Djuric]

Oh well, I'll try to ignore it by convincing myself NBC will outbid ESPN next time around and give the FIBA World Cup ( I hate that name) the exposure it deserves once and for all.

Why do you hate the name?
Unfortunately that's the reality in US, most of you just don't care about WC and anything except gold would be a fail, I think most don't care about it, except if you don't get the gold.
Also this team you sent is not helping and together with the fact you have no serious challenges until the finals doesn't help up the popularity of the contest...

[Steadysoul]

Why do you hate the name?
Unfortunately that's the reality in US, most of you just don't care about WC and anything except gold would be a fail, I think most don't care about it, except if you don't get the gold.
Also this team you sent is not helping and together with the fact you have no serious challenges until the finals doesn't help up the popularity of the contest...

FIBA has to compete with football this time of the year. Whether its pro, college, or high school. It's going to come before anything basketball related.

[durden_tyler]

So part of the blame is the US media since they don't hype the WC, eh? Even in NBA forum they don't really care about it much.

One way to make them care is... Beat them inside the court, only then the world will get their attention

[CHBB]

have a look at the ratings that the world cup of soccer got on espn and abc, it might answer your question. but wait ratings are like a statistic and you dont do that.

Because they hyped it up and put it on every single channel.

You come across like a five year old. Keep running your mouth like the little girl that you are.

So part of the blame is the US media since they don't hype the WC, eh? Even in NBA forum they don't really care about it much.

One way to make them care is... Beat them inside the court, only then the world will get their attention

Exactly. No promotion whatsoever, and they relegate it to ESPN3.

[Milos.Djuric]

FIBA has to compete with football this time of the year. Whether its pro, college, or high school. It's going to come before anything basketball related.

I presume you mean football as the NFL? I completely agree, and I would like to also add that they compete with the soccer/football World Cup in the same year (not in the same time). That's why the next one is in 5 years, and also the Eurobasket is switching from it's "every 2 years" model to "every 4 years" like the WC. So now it goes year 1: Soccer Euro/Olympics, year 2: Eurobasket, year 3: Soccer World Cup, year 4: Fiba World Cup. With this most players will have at least one year where they don't have to think about the National team and could rest. And I hope they switch back to something closer to the old championship dates for the competitions (end of July, start of August), all this could really upgrade the level of the competition and therefore improve the popularity.

[CHBB]

I presume you mean football as the NFL? I completely agree, and I would like to also add that they compete with the soccer/football World Cup in the same year (not in the same time). That's why the next one is in 5 years, and also the Eurobasket is switching from it's "every 2 years" model to "every 4 years" like the WC. So now it goes year 1: Soccer Euro/Olympics, year 2: Eurobasket, year 3: Soccer World Cup, year 4: Fiba World Cup. With this most players will have at least one year where they don't have to think about the National team and could rest. And I hope they switch back to something closer to the old championship dates for the competitions (end of July, start of August), all this could really upgrade the level of the competition and therefore improve the popularity.

Completely agree. Putting it in late August is the worst possible time. It needs to be July-August.

And it needs to be off of ESPN.

[Dtown]

Well 1 they hyped it up during every USA preparation game

2: They actually showed US practice games and hyped it there too which was unheard before this year.

3: Every US game will be televised live despite the time difference.

4: They're making every game available online, which everyone who has access to ESPN you should have.

5: the FIFA world cup got better ratings even when it wasn't shoved down Americas throat (1994, 1998, 2002, 06, and 10) so you're point is moot.

Yes the NBA is incredibly popular in the US that's why every US game is televised, international basketball is not popular at all in the US and won't be till average Americans believe the US has consistent competition. Really the US success over the last 8 years is the tournaments own worst enemy television wise.

Also considering the horrible job NBC did with the Olympics why in the world would you want them anywhere near this? Maybe CBS/TNT but NBC? God no, we'd be lucky not to see US games on tape delay!

[usagre]

Well 1 they hyped it up during every USA preparation game

2: They actually showed US practice games and hyped it there too which was unheard before this year.

3: Every US game will be televised live despite the time difference.

4: They're making every game available online, which everyone who has access to ESPN you should have.

5: the FIFA world cup got better ratings even when it wasn't shoved down Americas throat (1994, 1998, 2002, 06, and 10) so you're point
Yes the NBA is incredibly popular in the US that's why every US game is televised, international basketball is not popular at all in the US and won't be till average Americans believe the US has consistent competition. Really the US success over the last 8 years is the tournaments own worst enemy television wise.

Also considering the horrible job NBC did with the Olympics why in the world would you want them anywhere near this? Maybe CBS/TNT but NBC? God no, we'd be lucky not to see US games on tape delay!

It's funny I remember watching the 1990 world championships on the Mexican channel Univision. There was no coverage on American tv whatsoever of that tournament. And even that coverage was limited to the usa vs Latin American countries. The semifinal loss to yugoslavia was not shown. So at least we have made some strides.

[Buzissa]

It would be great if everybody put here the online broadcast (if there is one for free) in their country.
Like Lithuania http://www.sportotv.lt/ Is this the one?
Or Turkey http://www.ntvspor.net/canliyayin

[Dtown]

for residents in the United States with a cable package http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index? will have every game.