The "TV Timeout" Debate

HoneyBadger

HoneyBadger

I love short track racing (Taylor's Version)
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John Bacon and David Shuster had an interesting discussion on Twitter earlier about "TV Timeouts" in College Football - as part of a larger discussion, of course. Anyways, I thought I'd post it here along with my thoughts because it pertains to racing in the sense that we've had the same debate in this sport.

http://www.johnubacon.com/2014/06/h...football-game-experience-before-its-too-late/

David Shuster responded on Twitter, essentially saying that television networks are allowed to make money from commercials during action in NASCAR, golf and soccer, but not in college football. Anyways, I chimed in, talking about the problem in NASCAR being that 1/3 of the broadcast being commercials.

Bacon's point was that the "TV timeouts" hurt the experience for fans because they pay hundreds of dollars to go through the game and often sit in oppressive heat, bitter cold, rain and snow and end up sitting through an average of 30 TV timeouts per game. This is a sharp contrast to, let's say, high school football, where a game is often done and over with in under two hours - while college and pro games are running for over three hours now.

To me, this debate, which can easily be applied to the fan experience at NASCAR races, suggests that maybe all sports necessitate "Nonstop" coverage. But, the advertisers won't go for that.

In NASCAR, we have a deal here where the television experience for racing is absolutely miserable and Bruton Smith and FOX Sports have both thrown out the idea of TV timeouts. But, at the same time, we have a deal where those competition cautions (which is what they are) would take laps away from the fans. I've said my piece about shorter races and, when I do, I'm bombarded with posts from fans who say they want 500 laps of racing at every race because that's what they've paid for. I disagree with that logic but I understand it. I don't think California fans are missing the extra 50 laps at that track at all.:rolleyes:

Now, this competition caution stuff, on the other hand, this is a deal where, regardless of race distance, fans have paid for, I don't know, 267 laps of racing. Now, we'd be saying, well, we're going to run, I don't know, 40 of those laps under caution to appease television advertisers. I don't see that going over. At all.

It's like football, where you pay $240 for a ticket and half the time you're there, nothing's going on because of "television timeouts".

What's everyone else's thoughts?
 
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Hopefully, FOX, NBC, NASCAR and the advertisers all sit down collectively and realize "Nonstop" (side-by-side) is the solution here for a better overall race experience - not just for fans watching on television but for fans in the stands as well. But I imagine the advertisers would stomp their feet and storm out of whatever meeting room in Daytona Beach they're sitting in.
 
Televised college football games are easily 3 1/2 hours. CBS games are longer because they have more time out spots built in to their programming. Bowl games are 4 hours because of the extended halftimes to allow bands from both teams to play and for whatever entertainment the game has planned.

I can see both sides of the TV timeout arguement. My thinking is the race should play out however it plays out, even if that means the whole race is ran caution free. The networks should try harder to get sponsors to buy into the non-stop broadcast. The only time a full screen of commercials should be shown is under cautions.
 
It sucks for fans in attendance when other sports have tv timeouts but they don't miss the action nor do the fans at home. You'll be there longer but you're not getting robbed of action. Only in Nascar is that the case. While I understand it, if Nascar could work out a deal where a sponsored race would be green lap commerical free, the product would be better for it.
 
The thing about TV timeouts in those others sports, stoppage of play is built in to the game, is actually a part of the game. The play stops the chains move, there's a reply review, whatever. All a TV timeout does is extend the dead time a little bit longer. At no point to they stop in the middle of the action and go to a commercial. They don't stop a running play, or stop everything as the quarterback is dropping back to throw the ball and say "everyone stop what you're doing, let's go to commercial!" These built in timeouts don't really exist in racing, except when there's a yellow.
 
VaDirt said:
The thing about TV timeouts in those others sports, stoppage of play is built in to the game, is actually a part of the game. The play stops the chains move, there's a reply review, whatever. All a TV timeout does is extend the dead time a little bit longer. At no point to they stop in the middle of the action and go to a commercial. They don't stop a running play, or stop everything as the quarterback is dropping back to throw the ball and say "everyone stop what you're doing, let's go to commercial!" These built in timeouts don't really exist in racing, except when there's a yellow.
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But the TV networks have reinvented television coverage and don't use cautions to knock out as many commercials breaks as they used to. Now, it's a time to go to the "Hollywood Hotel" or "Quicken Loans ESPN Pit Studio" so Michael Waltrip or Rusty Wallace and Brad Daughetry can give us their insight on what's going on in the race. There was one year when FOX covered the Daytona 500 and did "Side-By-Side" coverage ... but only did so during caution periods. When they cut to commercial during green flag racing, it was full screen.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Hopefully, FOX, NBC, NASCAR and the advertisers all sit down collectively and realize "Nonstop" (side-by-side) is the solution here for a better overall race experience - not just for fans watching on television but for fans in the stands as well. But I imagine the advertisers would stomp their feet and storm out of whatever meeting room in Daytona Beach they're sitting in.
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hhhhhmmmmmm...............????
 
ChexOrWrex said:
The World Cup games had 0 commercials during play because soccer is a "nonstop sport".

What about NASCAR? :bsflag:
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Yeah, but it's not like NASCAR has an abundance of advertising everywhere in your face or anything.

2011-NSCS-47-car.jpg


Oh wait I was so wrong.
 
TV timeouts are horrible when attending an NFL game and they would attending a NASCAR race. I don't like the idea. There are plenty of ways to follow sport of NASCAR during the race. I have the radio feed as well as real time stats / twitter feeds running during the race. If anything of importance happens while they're at commercial it's cut to or replayed after. Not as big a deal as it once was IMO.

I know everyone likes to complain about the commercials on here but they're a necessary evil in the sport. Comparing NASCAR to NFL/NCAA football broadcasts are apples to oranges. Obviously there are natural breaks in the action of a football game that allow for the placement of commercials. A better comparison would probably be NASCAR to PGA broadcasts. Their broadcasts suffer the same issues as NASCAR. Nothing of any importance is missed in either case.

Bottom line. If you don't like the commercials then go to the race.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
TV timeouts are horrible when attending an NFL game and they would attending a NASCAR race. I don't like the idea. There are plenty of ways to follow sport of NASCAR during the race. I have the radio feed as well as real time stats / twitter feeds running during the race. If anything of importance happens while they're at commercial it's cut to or replayed after. Not as big a deal as it once was IMO.

I know everyone likes to complain about the commercials on here but they're a necessary evil in the sport. Comparing NASCAR to NFL/NCAA football broadcasts are apples to oranges. Obviously there are natural breaks in the action of a football game that allow for the placement of commercials. A better comparison would probably be NASCAR to PGA broadcasts. Their broadcasts suffer the same issues as NASCAR. Nothing of any importance is missed in either case.

Bottom line. If you don't like the commercials then go to the race.
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Yep.

American football (NFL): The National Football League requires twenty commercial breaks per game, with ten in each half. (Exceptions to this are overtime periods, which have none). These breaks run either a minute, or two minutes in length. Of the ten commercial breaks per half, two are mandatory: at the end of each quarter, and at the two-minute warning for the end of the half. The remaining eight breaks are optional.[1] The timeouts can be applied after field goal tries, conversion attempts for both one and two points following touchdowns, changes in possession either by punts or turnovers, and kickoffs (except for the ones that start each half, or are within the last five minutes). The breaks are also called during stoppages due to injury, instant replay challenges, when either of the participating teams uses one of its set of timeouts, and if the network needs to catch up on its commercial advertisement schedule. The arrangement for college football contests is the same, except for the absence of the two-minute warning.
 
I expect the "race format of the future" to be similar to that of the All-Star Race but with longer segments. It won't go over well with most fans but it will take a lot to keep it from happening.

I'd rather networks do side-by-side or nonstop coverage, whichever you prefer to call it. ESPN has been good about this and I hope NBC does the same. I usually change the channel when full-screen commercials come on.
 
hmm. Good points all. If they have to have commercials full screen I would like to see the SECOND that there is trouble on the track or a very cool pass to go back to live racing or split screen.

Too many times we as fans hear the, "while we were away....."

But DPK made a good point too-you can listen to radio ...

I remember the old C-band satellite days when we could find a "wild" feed of a race with no-commercials. Was fun to watch Benny eat chicken wings, and chatter away.
 
DanicaFreak said:
I remember the old C-band satellite days when we could find a "wild" feed of a race with no-commercials. Was fun to watch Benny eat chicken wings, and chatter away.
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I used to the 10' BUD, (Big Ugly Dish). That thing was awesome. Not only was NASCAR commercial free..... All sports were commercial free. Then came scrambled feeds. :mad:
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
I used to the 10' BUD, (Big Ugly Dish). That thing was awesome. Not only was NASCAR commercial free..... All sports were commercial free. Then came scrambled feeds. :mad:
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LOL! I remember as a teenager trying to decipher the scrambled feeds on the "naughty" channels. Love the BUD reference.
 
I coach at a NAIA school. Last year we had a 1:00 football game that ended at 3:30. The NCAA games that started at 1:00 were at halftime when our game ended.

That's just wrong.
 
The TV timeouts have really screwed professional sports over. There are way to many TV timeouts during the normal viewing of a NASCAR race. What ever happened to voice over station ID and the transparent ad slicks, Oh yeah, sex became involved, it's always got to be about the ladies. :lilangel::growl::angel2:
 
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