A 5,000 and 10,000m TV proposal..........

[einnod23]

5K: A TV timeout at laps 4 and 8, with commercials as short as CBS does with those NCAA Hoops 20 second timeouts! (may get one or two commercials in, between :30 and 1:00).

10K: A TV timeout at laps 5, 10, 15, 20, and the commercial breaks the same as the above.

With the proposal, I calculate that the commercials are no more than a lap, so fans won't miss much of the action on TV. And advertisers get their product seen.

[tandfman]

If you're thinking of producing a telecast like that, I'd suggest you keep your day job.

[gh]

and that clicking sound you here is TV sets being turned off all across America.

Average sports fan has no interest in watching (non-car) races that long.

And it's not just the average fan. I'm stunned at the number of meets I go to, and if there's a 10K at the end of the program, as soon as the shorter races are finished half of the crowd gets up and leaves.

[KevinM]

I'm under no illusion that races that long will regularly be shown in their entirety, but I do think that in races longer than 4 minutes, if there is a need to do interviews or show field event highlights (or field events going on simultaneously), why not do screen-in-screen? How many times have we seen the TV coverage cut away from a race in progress to show not a commercial, but a feature about an athlete IN THAT RACE! What sense does that make?

[einnod23]

and that clicking sound you here is TV sets being turned off all across America.

Average sports fan has no interest in watching (non-car) races that long.

And it's not just the average fan. I'm stunned at the number of meets I go to, and if there's a 10K at the end of the program, as soon as the shorter races are finished half of the crowd gets up and leaves.

Guess you're right, but a charismatic, iconic, 12 and 26-minute, World-leading American distance runner would cure all of that! (LA '84 Women's 3K was all live, and uninterrupted, if memory is correct!). Unfortunately, we don't have a Mary Slaney or Pre! :lol:

[tandfman]

(LA '84 Women's 3K was all live, and uninterrupted, if memory is correct!).

Yes, and it was 3K, if memory is correct, not 5 or 10.

[Marlow]

if there's a 10K at the end of the program, as soon as the shorter races are finished half of the crowd gets up and leaves.

And that includes some real track nuts too . . .. One of the givens here is that SOME events in a LIVE show MUST be on tape delay, the field events being the most obvious. I'd say the answer to distance races is to show the beginning, the major breaks and the last two laps. Even a distancophobe like myself does want to see that. I love the last 800 of distance races, but even when I watch a 1500, I zoom through the 200-800 portion. Field events are best seen on tape delay, which they mostly are on USA TV; my objection is they show 1 or 2 jumps and then break away and return for 1 or 2 more. Show the highlights of whole danged event without interruption!!!

[Jnathletics]

Re: A 5,000 and 10,000m TV proposal..........

5K: A TV timeout at laps 4 and 8, with commercials as short as CBS does with those NCAA Hoops 20 second timeouts! (may get one or two commercials in, between :30 and 1:00).

10K: A TV timeout at laps 5, 10, 15, 20, and the commercial breaks the same as the above.

With the proposal, I calculate that the commercials are no more than a lap, so fans won't miss much of the action on TV. And advertisers get their product seen.

Wishfully thinking at best, as NCAA TV timeouts are longer then 1:00. During the tournament TV timeouts are alot longer, even the first 20 second timeout called gets upgraded to a full timeout. (I think they are 2-3 minutes in length now.) So, for some silly reason Ads and TV exec think longer breaks are better. :roll: They make me get up and do something or flip channels, so in the long run the longer the commerical break the less commericals the viewing audience will see. But they are oblivious to that fact.

So, your idea in theory would be a good one. Just not believeable by those in charge. As more viewers would watch the 1:00 of commericals if they new that was the length of break in action.

My suggesstion would be though to adjust your lap breaks.
5k should be at 2 and 6 laps as there is typically a move with a mile to go, lap 8 or 9. So, ad's at that time are badly placed.
10k similarly lap 20 is a bad time for ad's, as the last mile to mile-an-a-half are the most exciting in good races.

Otherwise a good suggestion. 8-)

[Speedfirst]

Some of you guys are hitting the nail on the head as to some of the ill's of our sport, with respect to fan interest ( both new and old fans).

[Taliban]

10kkkkkkkzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............. .....

No Thank You.

5k maybe.. I physically watched Bekele at the African Championships and that was fun.

[wineturtle]

2 K or not 2K, that is the...

Should I just fall in line, stop thinking of the 5K&10K as road races and 5,000m&10000m as track races and embrace the power of K?.

I know of no rule on this topic but sometime during the Dan Ferris Admistration I was led to believe conventional wisdom put Ks on the road and left the metres on the track.

[Daisy]

Re: 2 K or not 2K, that is the...

and embrace the power of K?

Well it saves you four keystrokes!

A little off topic, but did you ever read the article where a researcher discovered that most people could understand a paragraph, despite atrocious spelling, as long as the first and last letters were correct? I guess that explains why the TXTing style works so well.

[donley2]

And it's not just the average fan. I'm stunned at the number of meets I go to, and if there's a 10K at the end of the program, as soon as the shorter races are finished half of the crowd gets up and leaves.

A lot of times that is just pure exhaustion. Take the NCAA Thursday schedule for example. I will be going. Lets say I decide to show up at 4:45 to catch a few field event starts and skip most of the multi event stuff. By 9:45 I have been there for 5 hours. I will probably lean on the wife to stay for the mens 10k with Rupp, but I will certainly make no guarantees. I can guarantee if the men were first after that finished I would be out of there in a heartbeat. Only 10k races I refuse to walk out on are the Olympic game and World Championship variety.

[ed gee]

Re: 2 K or not 2K, that is the...

For continuity, I would prefer the adoption of km for non-track and 3000, 5000, 10,000, etc for track events.

Km is in line with the IAAF, USATF, and the majority of the world.
'K' is not an official abbreviation for kilometer.

As someone involved with peer review for medical journals, I find the use of 'k' lowers the quality of publications and is potentially ambiguous.

Should I just fall in line, stop thinking of the 5K&10K as road races and 5,000m&10000m as track races and embrace the power of K?.

I know of no rule on this topic but sometime during the Dan Ferris Admistration I was led to believe conventional wisdom put Ks on the road and left the metres on the track.

[lovetorun]

Can't help with the TV dilemna, but the Stanford 5,000m and 10,000m races are quite exciting. They seem to create the right environment and athletes for some excitement.