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ESPN replacing Coaches' Film Room with new broadcast crew of Jason Witten & Booger McFarland for the NC title game

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2 hours ago, Gene Parmesan said:

I never watched any of the coaches film room broadcasts.  Were their ratings good?

No idea. I wouldn't even had known about it if not for everyone on the game thread talking about it. Without any promotion, I wouldn't be surprised to hear the ratings were low...but it was extremely entertaining. I definitely would've been tuning in for that crew again.

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2 hours ago, Vic Mackey said:

Is this that serious for you? Watch with music on and the sound off. Announcers as a whole are trash and add zero value.

NBC once broadcast an NFL game in 1980 with no announcers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Announcerless_game

Despite the increase in ratings, the experiment was considered a failure and never tried again. 

Some of these games have appeared on ESPN in the CFP era:

Top 5 Most-Ever Watched Televised College Football Games on Cable 2015 - Oregon-Ohio St, ESPN, 33M 2018 - Georgia-Alabama, ESPN, 29M 2015 - Alabama-Ohio St, ESPN, 28M 2015 - Oregon-FSU, ESPN, 28M 2011 - Oregon-Auburn, ESPN, 27M 2018 - Georgia-Oklahoma, ESPN, 26M

2 hours ago, Vic Mackey said:

Is this that serious for you? Watch with music on and the sound off. Announcers as a whole are trash and add zero value.

Hmmm... not sure I agree with this.  It's distracting and bad when the crew is bad (the OSU-Mizzou Liberty Bowl being a great recent example), but when there's a good crew doing a big game it absolutely enhances the broadcast experience, IMO.

NFL games are better when Al Michaels/Chris Collinsworth or Buck/Aikman are doing them.  Ditto college games with to the top announcers (Fowler, Gus Johnson, etc.)

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3 minutes ago, oSuJeff97 said:

Hmmm... not sure I agree with this.  It's distracting and bad when the crew is bad (the OSU-Mizzou Liberty Bowl being a great recent example), but when there's a good crew doing a big game it absolutely enhances the broadcast experience, IMO.

Two words: Gus Johnson.

3 minutes ago, satyanash said:

Two words: Gus Johnson.

Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt is my absolute favorite college football broadcasting team.

I doubt ESPN's left leaning bias had anything to do with this decision but as a decision, its a hilariously bad one.  The content in the OP, when I read it, I thought for sure it was from a  parody account or something, as in not real.  

ESPN just can not stop shooting themselves in the foot.  Jason Witten is objectively terrible at the job they are paying him to do.  No one likes him.  Cowboys and Vols fans probably mute him.  Why on Earth would anyone at ESPN think it would be a good job to have a feed of the CFP title game with him on it?  Especially in replacement to probably the most popular alternative CFP feed there was?

Cable TV as a bundled service is bleeding out.  The canary in that particular coal mine died about a year ago.  That is how ESPN makes money so they're fucked.  Not to mention they overpaid for pretty much every live rights package they have, in some cases incredibly so.  Disney is going to spin ESPN off for pennies on the dollar at some point.  My guess would be Amazon or Netflix buys them.

2 hours ago, Rimbo said:

Someone make sure @Nicole44 knows in advance so she isn't shocked

Sup? Also Jimbo:

 

? Don't ever go up to the drive-thru! Okay? Always walk up to the counter. You know why? Okay. Okay. They fuck you at the drive-thru! Okay?! They fuck you at the drive-thru! They know you're gonna be miles away before you find out you got fucked! Okay? They know you're not gonna turn around and go back. So they don't care

Who knows, maybe the bad press from this move will boost ratings when they bring back the coaches in the future.

2 hours ago, BearSchlong said:

ESPN seems to be mailing it in. I wonder how much they pay coaches to come do special events like these? Maybe they're just trying to utilize talent that's already under contract to minimize expenses.

Gonna be funny if these 2 teams are in the same situation after next season.

Eventually it'll just be tape delay, like NFL games were in the beginning of television.

They could pay me a few slices of great pizza and a couple good Biers and that’d be enough

The best part of having coaches do it is hearing them talk about in-game strategy with each other and hearing how actual football minds view the game. I don't even see the need to have a simulcast of other TV announcers. Just show field hockey or something in that case.

But wait, THERE'S MORE:

 

 

 

 

 

ESPN really has their finger on the pulse of your average college football fan. 

I will say Witten knows the game well enough to be part of a coaches roundtable.  But broadcaster Witten dumbs it down for the general viewing audience.

My guess is they want to meet in the middle of "the left guard's first step should have been closer to a 30-degree angle" and "coaches talk about what their favorite pizza joint is."  Personally, I'd rather have both/either of those extremes.

7 hours ago, NowThis said:

Witten and Romo should team up

I'd watch that probably.

Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt is my absolute favorite college football broadcasting team.


Gus Johnson?

I can’t even.
Noooooooooo the coaches film room was awesome 
Which is why they changed it.

That's a very pro SEC team.. and  ESPN wonders why they have an image problem. 

3 hours ago, oSuJeff97 said:

Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt is my absolute favorite college football broadcasting team.

Yup. I love it when I see on the schedule that Texas's games will be on Fox. I cry when I tune though and see it's Spencer and Brando though. 

Terrible idea

This went from being the primary reason for tuning in to me maybe catching the game if nothing else is going on.

 

Why fuck up a good thing?

I'll probably watch it just for the total comedy of a shitshow it will be.

Hologram Keith Jackson and Curt Gowdy should be on the next channel.

I am actually surprised they didn't just have the sec gameday crew with all sec coaches come in to do the film room.

People need to realize the coaches room only appeals to a small demographic. Most people do not want to listen to that or care about it. They want it simplistic and dumbed down to a degree like the MNF crew they are bringing in. All this analytical talk people like on here is not what the majority wants. 

2 minutes ago, Vic Mackey said:

People need to realize the coaches room only appeals to a small demographic. Most people do not want to listen to that or care about it. They want it simplistic and dumbed down to a degree like the MNF crew they are bringing in. All this analytical talk people like on here is not what the majority wants. 

That is why they have two broadcasts of the game, one with regular announcers and another with coaches game film that way the ones that do not like it have a option. Majority watch the regular game format anyways but the coaches room was awesome and they fucked it up.

22 hours ago, TexasMan said:

But wait, THERE'S MORE:

 

 

 

 

 

ESPN really has their finger on the pulse of your average college football fan. 

 

4 hours ago, Vic Mackey said:

People need to realize the coaches room only appeals to a small demographic. Most people do not want to listen to that or care about it. They want it simplistic and dumbed down to a degree like the MNF crew they are bringing in. All this analytical talk people like on here is not what the majority wants. 

Then why have another broadcast at all? Just stick with the main one if this is just more of the same.

5 minutes ago, formermav43 said:

Then why have another broadcast at all? Just stick with the main one if this is just more of the same.

Maybe it does better than whatever was going to be shown on ESPN news, but not good enough to pay a bunch of coaches to do it.  So stick in a crew that you are already under contract with you.

56 minutes ago, Gene Parmesan said:

Maybe it does better than whatever was going to be shown on ESPN news, but not good enough to pay a bunch of coaches to do it.  So stick in a crew that you are already under contract with you.

The cost aspect makes sense, sure. But from a ratings standpoint, doesn’t that really only make sense if the MNF crew brings in additional viewers? Is there a single person in America who thought, “Well, I was gonna skip Bama-Clemson, but now that I can hear Booger and Witten’s take I’m in.” Otherwise, you’re just dividing one audience.

(Of course, that could apply to the coaches too. Not sure multiple broadcasts are worth it in any case now that I think about it. This in particular doesn’t seem to offer a meaningful alternative, though, which at least the coaches did.)

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15 minutes ago, formermav43 said:

The cost aspect makes sense, sure. But from a ratings standpoint, doesn’t that really only make sense if the MNF crew brings in additional viewers? Is there a single person in America who thought, “Well, I was gonna skip Bama-Clemson, but now that I can hear Booger and Witten’s take I’m in."

NFL fans. I'm guessing this is ESPN's gambit to draw in their eyeballs as well.

On 1/3/2019 at 1:47 PM, satyanash said:

NBC once broadcast an NFL game in 1980 with no announcers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Announcerless_game

Despite the increase in ratings, the experiment was considered a failure and never tried again. 

If you have 5.1/7.1 and disconnect the center speaker you get pretty much the same effect....

Watching the wild card playoff game makes me think this idea is going to be television AUDS

As bad as this idea is, it seems like the least shitty of options, between suffering Derp Turdstreak on hte main channel, Turd MsShay on the next, or just random goofy camera angles.

If only there was some kind of Booger block one could activate it wouldn't be so bad.

Take a bunch of NFL guys who really don't do a decent job with commentating on the sport they are paid to watch and place them in a room to commentate on a sport and players they rarely watch. That's a real recipe for success. 

4 minutes ago, DougO said:

As bad as this idea is, it seems like the least shitty of options, between suffering Derp Turdstreak on hte main channel, Turd MsShay on the next, or just random goofy camera angles.

If only there was some kind of Booger block one could activate it wouldn't be so bad.

Holy Hell, I just realized Turd McShit is on the same panel as Booger. I guess I'll just turn the sound completely off and find a radio broadcast.

OK, I'm going with Field Pass for the first quarter. Seems like the least nauseating. But Tebow sounds like he's been huffing helium.

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So did any of y'all end up watching this feed? What were your thoughts?

 

I tuned in at halftime to see Booger bitching about the food they brought in. I couldn't take more than 3 minutes of their halftime analysis.

Also, someone said Witten did not know why the clock is stopping after a 1st down. How the fuck does a former college football player not know that?

All 22 was my favorite broadcast. Only stadium sound and 1 view. Only issues are lack of replays and they don’t change the angle for kicks. 

I watched for about 20 mins. They seems lost in the technology and didn’t seem to know football at all....

On 1/4/2019 at 11:02 AM, Rockethorn1978 said:

I am actually surprised they didn't just have the sec gameday crew with all sec coaches come in to do the film room.

They had an SEC crew on the SEC Network.

Didn't watch but I heard Booger started the game off by criticizing the fair catch at the 5 yard line on the opening kick.
Also this:
 
He also ate and played with his phone all night. Why the fuck was he even there?
I tuned in at halftime to see Booger bitching about the food they brought in. I couldn't take more than 3 minutes of their halftime analysis.

Also, someone said Witten did not know why the clock is stopping after a 1st down. How the fuck does a former college football player not know that?
CTE

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