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On October 02 2011 01:03 SundanceMLG wrote:
ESPN is one of the outlets that we have access to EuroSport is another. There are more. IMG is an asset there.
My goal is to get live competitive gaming out there in bits and pieces. May take some time but it can happen.
Also - trust me when I say that I promise not to fuck it up. At least not that much. Expect some familiar faces calling the matches if and when the time comes.
Awesome! I love you Sundance. <3
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The problem w/ moving Starcraft into tv is that it needs to have a broad base. As of right now most people who watch Starcraft are usually individuals (not entire families, nor huge groups of friends who can relate to watching sc2). I think SC2 needs time to grow, at least enough to where there's less public stigma about the nerdiness of pro-gaming, before SC2 goes on TV.
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On October 02 2011 01:03 SundanceMLG wrote:
ESPN is one of the outlets that we have access to EuroSport is another. There are more. IMG is an asset there.
My goal is to get live competitive gaming out there in bits and pieces. May take some time but it can happen.
Also - trust me when I say that I promise not to fuck it up. At least not that much. Expect some familiar faces calling the matches if and when the time comes.
Good to hear. Good luck!
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United States22883 Posts
On October 02 2011 01:03 SundanceMLG wrote:
ESPN is one of the outlets that we have access to EuroSport is another. There are more. IMG is an asset there.
My goal is to get live competitive gaming out there in bits and pieces. May take some time but it can happen.
Also - trust me when I say that I promise not to fuck it up. At least not that much. Expect some familiar faces calling the matches if and when the time comes.
In Sundance I trust.  I think Wheat/Day9 would work perfectly on TV, assuming Brent Musburger is already taken.
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On October 02 2011 01:03 SundanceMLG wrote:
Also - trust me when I say that I promise not to fuck it up. At least not that much... LOL
I just check and i still have Eurosport in my tv package, so i'm a little less afraid i won't have access to all the MLG content. As long as it's about competative play and not the scene/community... IIRC i once saw a show about IEM that was pretty boring and showed like 1 minute of in-game content total. Not worth it.
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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.
Most people haven't really said anything that goes entirely against what you've said.
I specifically said that it could work in a non-live format, but I would be uninterested in watching that and would much prefer just watching MLG live on a stream. So to answer Sundance's question of whether I would tune in, my honest response would have to be "No" unless it was live coverage of an MLG event which I don't see happening any time soon. Even it were event coverage, MLG is fucking long, it doesn't take a genius to realize that ESPN wouldn't be willing to put in those resources into niche programming which you've basically said yourself.
So, as a "3 hour MLG final day condensed"... No, I'm sorry, I wouldn't watch it. I'd much rather just watch it live on a stream.
As for way down the line, if Starcraft explodes like Poker and we get long-ass live coverage, sure I may watch it, but even then, I much prefer online delivery.
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I am watching ESPN2 while reading this, so my answer is hell ya.
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There is nothing to lose by having SC2 broadcast on ESPN.
In the worst case it fails miserably and we never try to have it on TV again. In that case, who cares? We just go back to watching streams as we always have. Maybe we've gained a few viewers who enjoyed the broadcast. Maybe not.
But the best case has massive potential. Most importantly a chance to bring in a market of people who are still untouched. More viewers leads to more sponsors leads to more tournaments and teams, etc, etc.
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On October 02 2011 01:03 SundanceMLG wrote:
ESPN is one of the outlets that we have access to EuroSport is another. There are more. IMG is an asset there.
My goal is to get live competitive gaming out there in bits and pieces. May take some time but it can happen.
Also - trust me when I say that I promise not to fuck it up. At least not that much. Expect some familiar faces calling the matches if and when the time comes.
Thank you Sundance. I know you wouldn't sacrifice the quality and the growth of the SC2 community just to get it on TV. Hopefully everything turns out well.
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On October 02 2011 01:03 SundanceMLG wrote:
ESPN is one of the outlets that we have access to EuroSport is another. There are more. IMG is an asset there.
My goal is to get live competitive gaming out there in bits and pieces. May take some time but it can happen.
Also - trust me when I say that I promise not to fuck it up. At least not that much. Expect some familiar faces calling the matches if and when the time comes.
Thanks for the update Sundance!
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YESSS PLEASE!!!!! :D That'd be SOO sick. I'd watch it for sure.
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would love to be abel to watch that here in Nl
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If you pull this off, I think you would get a lot of the community watching. Go for it! What better time to start setting something up like this, perhaps if it is timed with the release of the expansion (the only time Blizzard advertises SC2 in commercials) it could get some decent ratings.
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No, ESPN is made for real sports, not eSports. I love them both but keep eSports online and off American TV.
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I'd say no, but regardless, it's good to see eSports growing!
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The more time that passes the more I find myself trusting MLG and Sundance to do everything they can to increase the MLG experience and spread esports responsibly. Very excited to see what comes of this.
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Having Starcraft on TV would help people accept it into families where only 1 or 2 are interested.
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On October 02 2011 00:03 zul wrote:
I dont know if one can watch ESPN in germany. Since I got rid of my TV years ago, can anyone post if this is possible or not? (a little extra question: Can you watch ESPN online for free?)
[url="http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/source/espn3/"]espn3.com[/url] is free for most internet providers. Caveat... most of the ISPs partnered with espn3 are U.S. based, as far as I know.
You can give it a shot though. If it doesn't recognize the IP that you're coming from (that's how it identifies who your ISP is) it will ask you to choose an ISP from the approved list and enter account info (which you wouldn't have if you didn't have an account with one of the partner ISPs).
You can't watch actual ESPN/ESPN2 online (not legally), but ESPN 3 has a lot of the less popular stuff broadcast on it.
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Anyone being against this is insanity. This is exactly what the future of eSports needs to be. It needs to follow the poker trajectory.
Starcraft 2 the viewing experience is a superior product, which is why we all carry the banner the way we do. I would be thrilled if it gets on ESPN ocho at 3 AM instead of the 2011 crossfit challenge, spends a couple of months bouncing around, and finds an audience. I think it just needs to be given a chance.
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United States97277 Posts
This would be so awesome but I think my roommate would be like wtf if he walked in on me watching this lol.
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EPT
