On several occasions when people have complained about programming running late and preempting the start of soccer games, several people have stated repeatedly ESPN "doesn't leave live events" in the middle!!! However,yesterday they did indeed leave live drag racing for the USWNT- Ireland game, as soon as their technical diffuculties cleared up but while the racing event was still on. Obviously,I have no complaints they did so(but over at bigdragracing.com........) but it is pretty clear there is NO blanket network policy prohibiting this. Comments??
Are you sure the drag racing was actually live? If it wasn't I doubt they'd have any qualms about leaving a finished event for something live
The had never planned to stay with the drag racing past the time shown. A drag racing event can last for most of a day and they never show all of it. They often just show the last parts of the event. The quarterfinals to the finals, etc. They were done and they were just killing time because of the tech problems. It is not a fair example. If there was a soccer match on, let's say a cup final that went to overtime and there was a "major" US sporting event like a college football game that was being missed and they had nowhere to move the soccer or football, they would likely cut out the soccer, I would guess, saying they would give updates.
The announcers did some "live" fill-in at the end and used taped stuff with it. The same announcers who did the racing stated they had some extra time because of tech problems with the soccer. At least that much was live.
Actually ESPN will most definitely leave a live event. They just prefer not to, and try not to. It all depends on who has control, and what the contracts say. You'll find that ESPN will leave other events, or push them to other networks in favor of MLB games. I'm sure the NBA contract has the same stipulation.