ESPN Cuts Out Games, So Why Shorten The Matches?

[TomBrooklyn]

ESPN, in yesterday's broadcast of the Las Vegas BCA Championship woman’s and men’s semi-finals cut out at least one game per match if I'm not mistaken.

If they're going to do that anyway, the right number of games per match might as well be played. That amount, of course, should be equal to or more than the number of games per match played in the earlier rounds of the tournament. ESPN could then just cut out more games from the broadcast. Better still would be if they showed the break, the nine ball shot, and the highlights of each game for continuity.

It is an absurdity to shorten the matches at the semi-final and final level of a tournament. I'm happy to see the tournaments televised, but saddened that the competition has to be compromised to get the coverage.

Good points, Tom. It needed saying.

Regards,
Goldfish

Tom, I asked that very same logical question years ago to the WPBA Executive Director and Tournament Director, as well as to some of the top players who have to suffer as a result of this sad format. The answer (excuse) I was given is that it's all about the money.

Unlike any other televised sport (in which ESPN pays them for the rights to televise), ESPN charges the WPBA a substantial fee to tape and televise their matches. I assume they pay the production crew a hefty $ hourly rate as well as an additional charge to edit the tapes down to the correct length. If they were to go to longer matches it would require more hours of work for the production crew in addition to more editing - thus a higher production fee the WPBA must pay out.

Of course, there are many other obvious improvements to the production that could be made even without lengthening the matches. When I asked who does the editing, the answer was someone from ESPN. If they are forced to edit games due to time constraints - couldn't they at least show us the highlights and key shots of those games missed? If they had a knowledgeable player to make those editing decisions, they could better utilize and greatly improve that roughly 48 - 50 minutes of programming in which they try to squeeze in a potential 13 game match. - Chris in NC