Starcraft II on ESPN 2? - Page 31

On October 01 2011 19:11 DannyJ wrote:
As long as it doesnt cut into my NFL viewing im all for it.

On October 01 2011 20:55 Milvus wrote:
wait a sec, is that the same guys who wanted to have football (the real one) being organised in four quarters in order to show more ads?

On October 01 2011 20:59 iyoume wrote:


haha. ESPN only has Monday Night Football.

but i doubt they'd want to air MLG. Saturday is college FB day, and i'm sure they'd much rather dedicate their airtime to that than starcraft.

On October 01 2011 19:34 j0ker wrote:
You have to take a step back and look at this objectively. This isn't a new league or tournament that is relying on TV viewership to sustain itself. This is MLG, currently a staple of foreign sc2 and a very successful, sustainable business model that is potentially offering programming to Espn. The only risk here is that Espn wouldn't bother itself with SC2 again, which would be fine if this turned out to be unsuccessful.

Loving the armchair TV execs discussing programming length and commercial timing. Lets be realistic, this isn't going to get a primetime slot. Espn2 has a long history of covering niche "sports", and even has a history with Mlg. They also have a history of poker, which EXPLODED in popularity and spread like wildfire across the television medium and all over the internet. Poker coverage started on espn(2) as niche programming to fill in slots that were taken up by the 80th rerun of sportscenter.

From espn's perspective, they are looking at a game/"esport" that is currently experiencing pretty incredible growth in the U.S.(and to a slightly lesser extent in Europe), and has a decade-long history of extreme popularity in South Korea. They are also very reminiscent of the explosion of poker, of which they were a very big helping hand. They see this as an opportunity to grab Starcraft 2 first, and to nurture it and help it explode like they did with poker.

From the perspective of a Starcraft 2 fan, this has to be viewed as nothing other than a huge opportunity. I think we all agree that SC2 doesn't NEED to be shown on TV, the internet is the ideal medium and currently works best. But one has to realize that, despite programming becoming more and more popular online, there are ALWAYS going to be people that want to lay down on their couch and flip channels. And there are a lot more of those people than internet streamers like ourselves. A LOT more. Furthermore, ESPN leveraging their gigantic viewership and powerful advertising and self-promotion infrastructure on a game we all love is nothing but a good thing. We all know how addicting this game is to watch and we all know or know of dozens of people who have played little more than 5 games in bronze yet set their alarms to 2:10 AM to watch tastosis cover the GSL. It is naive to think that this addictive game isn't going to gain a pretty significant bump with exposure to MILLIONS of new sets of eyes.

Logistically, SC2 tourneys are not ideal for programming and SC2 games are not ideal for commerical timings. Concessions can be made though, from both sides. Initially this is almost certainly going to be a late night time slot, therefore not live considering MLG is the tournament being discussed. I know we all prefer our sc2 as live as can be, but remember that this isn't necessarily targeted at you specifically, but targeted at your classmate who doesn't know he likes SC2 yet(although you bet your ass you will end up tuning in as well). An edited 2-3 hour program could cover the late bracket stages of an MLG with minimal downtime between games. TV likes its commercials short and frequent, but sports on TV are given flexibility in this regard. Soccer is a nightmare for commercials but is shown on TV. Keep in mind that most SC2 games average around 15 minutes or shorter. The format would probably look quite a bit like it does for baseball.

(3 hour MLG final day condensed):

Intro/casters/bracket rundown
Commercial
Game 1
Commercial after each game
Double commercial after each match, with commentary and bracket stuff filled in

Pretty doable to be honest. Any nightmare 45 minute+ games would be an issue, but these are quite rare and a quick commercial could even be added in if the coverage was not live. Live coverage would be a good deal more difficult logistically, but realistically the overall popularity would be so high at that point that they could work things out without much legitimate whining from the community.

In closing, this would be an amazing opportunity for SC2 to grow and best of luck to Sundance and his staff.

On October 01 2011 19:56 jazzminkey wrote:
5% of the people ITT are killing e-sports.

On October 01 2011 21:06 feanor1 wrote:

If you SC2 t survive as a "sport" where people make a living playing it Bigger is without a doubt better.
No if Classical music was just on the mainstream radio it wouldn't magically become better. But it would make it a topic of conversation, boost sales, expose more people to classical music and get kids interested in studying it.

On October 01 2011 19:34 j0ker wrote:
This is MLG, currently a staple of foreign sc2 and a very successful, sustainable business model that is potentially offering programming to Espn.

On October 01 2011 21:48 Jibba wrote:

This really hasn't proven to be true at all. A year ago MLG was deep in the red and while 2011 was great for them, we don't know how much it's improved (consider that they've contracted the event number.) MLG is less of a staple than all the major organizations that have fallen before it. It's not an unequivocal situation, there are definitely major setbacks that could occur. If you don't keep that and the history of ESPORTS in mind, then you're setting yourself up for the fall. Be positive about the (potential) news, don't be ignorant.

On October 01 2011 21:18 TehTemplar wrote:
206 people voted no?
Seriously?

On October 01 2011 22:10 Awesomeness wrote:
A bo5 tennis-match can last between 2 and 5+ hours and they still show tennis on TV...I don't think it's a huge issue as long as there are enough people watching.