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Dude's sure to have a ball when he joins backup with our "retarded redneck" fans in ATL...
The Shop
45 seconds later:
"Who was that guy who crashed in the whoops and hit his head...?"
"...Cooper Webb?"
NEVER alienate your base.
We need to be working to connect the dots to those sports rather than the redneck sports. Part of the reason I'm such a huge Leigh Diffey fan. (I'm from TN and I'm a bit of a redneck so don't get butthurt.)
On a completely different note, you know what sport LOVES Moto and I didn't really realized it until recently?
Mountain Biking. The mountain bike guys love Dirt Bikes. Big time. The top guys all love riding dirt bikes and pit bikes.
I 100% agree with DV and his opinions. That guy knows a TON and if not for his inability or lack of interest to explain himself in a manner that more people understand, he could be one of the best consultants FELD, NBC, AMA, or anyone could bring in to enhance MX/SX.
Rutledge has no place here. It doesn't matter to me that he sees himself above the sport, even though he wears flannel and jeans. Oh, someone let him in on the fact that Top Gear America was crap compared to the UK version with Jeremy, Richard, and James.
Edit: PS - Most disappointing part of listening to his segment of the podcast.......Learning he grew up in Alabama.
Pit Row
However, as much as we want to hammer on Rutledge, the blame pie for him ending up on the broadcast is split equally between Feld and NBC. Both parties seem so desperate to try to grow Supercross by connecting it to other sports and celebrity and this has been the case historically for years (NASCAR mostly). And thinking about I just keep coming back to DV's main point that the sport is what it is. People are not just "discovering Supercross as they cruise the channels". In today's world, anyone under the age of 35 is never cruising the channels as they have cut the cord already. So either they already know about the sport and they are into it, or they don't give a shit.
So with that in mind, how does NBC/Feld grow the viewership? Again I really think DV nails it with providing free access. Yes, someone has to pay for that but it seems to me that if the sport ended up with 1 million viewers on YouTube it could be sold to sponsors outside the sport much easier than this weirdo protectionist/cannibal model it exists in right now. By that I mean Feld goes to great lengths to protect its associations (Toyota, GoPro, etc) but then when a team is able to bring in a sponsor they have no problem jumping in to negotiate a deal for themselves (see Reed with Discount Tire and CBDmd). This model pretty much guarantees the sport stays where it is, which is OK by me but if so then let's stop trying to make it something it can't be.
Anyone see the top of this rabbithole I'm stuck in??
I just wrote him off as a misdirected dork on the broadcast and pin pointed it on NBC, but turns out he’s a condescending super dork.
That was hard to listen to.
There's an unspoken ultimatum at play here. NBC wants the broadcast to be profitable. If it is not, it gets axed.
Keeping the sport "niche" is what we like, but it certainly isn't what advertisers, sponsors, or the network want. Like it or not, the sport NEEDS that money.
If NBC throws up their hands, says "fuck it" and dumps SX, a lot of money will be lost.
That said, Rutledge is DEFINITELY not the answer. As I and others have repeatedly stated, it's the Stews, the McGraths, the RC's that keep people tuned in. The broadcast needs to focus on the guys on the track, on making stars and household names out of them. Yeah, Ralph's constant "BUT WHERE'S ELI TOMAC?!?" every damn week was annoying, but guess what? Eli was THE star, and HE is why lots of people tuned in to begin with.
Post a reply to: Rutledge Wood