In today's El Globo TV sports article, it stated that tomorrow's home opener on Ch. 56 (7:30) will be simulcast on WEEI. So the season opening simulcast at LA was not a one shot deal. As I predicted months ago, the Revos are going the simulcast route, taking their product closer to minor league hockey than a real Major League production. So no separate radio broadcast team. The English language radio broadcast team has gone by the way of the Spanish language broadcasts. So now we get Adrian Healy and Brad Feldman both ways, and Feldman doubles as the Revos public relations director. So Adrian is now the lone "semi-independent" voice of the Revolution, since Feldman is "in-house." Based on past threads, a lot of people will glad that Jon Meterparel is gone. But this is not a good thing. Just more cutbacks. More organisation cheapness. They didn't even team Healy with Mike Noonan and let Feldman concentrate on his main job of PR, which the team is so sorely lacking. The very least the organisation could have done is spent some of the money they are saving by not paying three broadcasters and their expenses on marketing the team and the home opener. Just more bottom line buffoonery.
BigFrank, just out of curiosity, but have you ever had something positive to say about the Revs? I love your posts, you make us aware of both sides of the story, but I mean come on, its beautiful outside, it looks like it'll be beautiful tomorrow, say something positive for once. Otherwise it doesn't matter to me because I never listen to the game on the radio, I'm either there or watching the game on TV.
Which reminds me that todays Globe says it'll be on EEI on tape delay beginning at 9:30. If it goes well, might listen in the car on the way home.
Exactly, I'd much rather see something like what the Bruins and Red Sox have, where they have a bunch of different announcers on NESN, none of whom are employed by the teams AFAIK. Well, except for the fact that the teams jointly own the station, so all NESN employees work for the teams. Seriously, just how much of their own money do you want the Krafts to spend on the team? Rather then rejoicing in the fact that there's a way to hear Revs games when you can't be in front of a TV, you criticize it. If the Revs don't provide announcers and content, who will? Considering the interest in the team from the public at large, do you think there are radio and TV stations lining up to pay for the rights to broadcast the games? How much money do you think sponsors are willing to spend on commercials for these games? Other sports broadcasts have these "independent" announcers (which I believe teams have to approve of first) that you put so much value in, because they are able to sell commercials for the games in order to pay for these announcers. Do you honestly think that there is money out there for this to happen for the Revs, but the Krafts instead just want to control what people are saying about the team in some sort of Orwellian conspiracy? I have to wonder if the Krafts are making any money off of the radio broadcasts. I don't think that everything the Krafts do is wonderful, nor do I think that they run the team out of charitable intentions, but I would think there are just basic economic factors that have to be taken into account in the present environment. Do such thoughts occur to the people when they chose to complain about little amenities like this? How many teams in the league get as much game coverage as we do?
I don't know the precise details for the Boston teams, but it is routine in big time sports that the team has final say over the local announcers. Some teams use of this power renders the question of who the announcers work for irrelevent.
Big Frank, please, please get back on your Prozac. If you need a new Rx come by the office and I will write one for you. George
Teams usually have the right of refusal on announcers, which seems fair enough. Sports Illustrated's state of week this week was Massachusetts, and the poll had the state's favorite announcer as Jerry Remy. Most states have picked John Madden or some other national announcer. Remy is a former Red Sox player, employed by NESN, Ch. 38 and Ch. 4 when the do the games. I'm sure the Red Sox have the right of refusal on their broadcasters. Fans like Remy because he tells the truth, no matter how closely connected he has been with the team. As for Dustin's post ... Dustin, would you like to offer a list of the teams that have separate broadcast teams to go with your two? I mean "major league" franchises? What would the score be, about 130-2? The Dallas Stars? Ice hockey in Texas? Wonderful. How many high school football teams in Texas have separate broadcast teams? And Doc, keep those blinders on and attend a Brockton Rox independent league baseball game. The Rox put the Revs to shame when it comes to marketing their team, and they are not even a Single A team.
Well, given the NFL's TV situation, you get 32 freebies on your side. As far as the other 29 teams in the NBA, the other 29 teams in the NHL, and the 30 teams in MLB, you can look them up yourself. I was merely taking issue with your characterization of simulcasts as "minor league." If you consider the Los Angeles Lakers to be "minor league," then yes, they're minor league. A team whose attendance, since arriving from Minnesota 11 years ago, has averaged 99% of the American Airlines Center's capacity this season, 100% of the American Airlines Center's capacity in 2002-03, 100% of the American Airlines Center's capacity in 2001-02, 100% of Reunion Arena's capacity in 2000-01, 100% of Reunion Arena's capacity in 1999-2000, 99% of Reunion Arena's capacity in 1998-99, 97% of Reunion Arena's capacity in 1997-98, 93% of Reunion Arena's capacity in 1996-97, 92% of Reunion Arena's capacity in 1995-96, 100% of Reunion Arena's capacity in 1994-95, and 95% of Reunion Arena's capacity in 1993-94. (BTW, call me when the B's average 90% of the FleetCenter's capacity. And yes, I checked.) And the Stars have one of the higher payrolls in the NHL, so you can't accuse them of merely being a cheap organization. How many more dumb stereotypes are you going to bust out?
Here's another "minor league" organization that does simulcasts: The Los Angeles Dodgers. BigFrank, you need to tell Angelenos who enjoy hearing the dulcet tones of Vin Scully on both radio and TV that they're a bunch of saps who are being shortchanged by their team's cheapness.
Uh, what's your point about mentioning Remy? You mention the fact that he's the most popular announcer in the state, and you say that he's liked because he tells the truth. Are you implying that if the Revs had such a well liked announcer, they'd choose to cut him if he were critical of the team. Hmmm, somehow I don't think that would happen. Also, part of Remy's appeal is the fact that he is a loved former player. I'm sure his honesty is part of his appeal, but another part of his appeal is the fact that he was a player who was idolized by current adult fans back when they were young, who helps tie the present for those fans to their fondly remembered youth. That's a slightly different situation, the Revs hardly have any former players to call on from generations past. And while you're making up this list of teams that have separate radio broadcast teams, could you also list which of these stations make money off of their broadcast teams' games? Do you think that the Revs are making money off of their radio broadcasts, or that they would be able to make money if they had to pay for more announcers? Or do you think that the team should lose more money, just so they could show you that they're major league, and is better than that insignificant basketball team that originated Minnesota?
Vin Scully is a Hall of Fame broadcaster, he knows how to do it, and I believe they added the TV years after he had done the radio. So I don't believe they ever had separate teams. Of the "major league" teams that do simulcasts, how many of them have the team's public relations director as one of the broadcasters? That, in of itself, is very minor league. And the NHL is moving ever closer to being a marginalised sport in this country. No matter how you slice it, the Revos are on a trend of going from more to less and nowhere has that proven to be effective except in reducing expenses. It certainly hasn't done anything to increase attendance, interest or revenues. As for the Bruins, there are a lot of better things to do in Boston than get fleeced at the Fleet Center. Dallas? I still miss J.R.
It would be very difficult to find anyone who makes their living broadcasting sports be as horrible at announcing soccer as Meterperel was. He was unlistenable. You can simulcast your TV broadcast - and what's heard over the radio will sound much better than any game that Meter announced for as long as he had the job. At the same time, you will save the expense of sending him and a color guy on the road. And let's face it, it's not like people are rearranging their Saturday night schedules to gather round the radio and listen to the Revs all summer. All Adrian as play by play announcer has to do is be a little more descriptive about where the ball is on the field and he'll sound fine on radio. Usually on TV you wouldn't say much about location because the viewer can already see it. If he does a good job at it, no one would notice the difference unless they'e really listening carefully. To me, the important factor is at least all the games are still televised so people can see the product. And they're still on the radio -- even though the Krafty's have to twist the arms of EEI and make them take the Revs as part of their Patriots programing deal. I would be more concerned about the declining attendance than the fact that the radio broadcast are now TV simulcasts.
FWIW, the Chicago Blackhawks also simulcast their radio and television productions... or at least they did when I lived there.
BF, You failed to mention that the Red Sox are, in effect, the owners of NESN - so right of approval isn't really an issue. As for his popularity, I think his criticism of the Sox is low on the list of factors - there are many others, mainly the fact that he played here on some of the Sox best teams, gave up his physical well-being for the Sox, comes from here, SOUNDS like he comes from here, is charming, funny, comfortable, knowledgeable, well-informed, well-prepared, intelligent, etc., etc. Seriously, you expect the Revs to bend over backwards to provide quality (independepent) radio coverage to all 15 people listening? In the past they've had "independent" radio coverage in Meterparel and he treated the game as background noise. I'd rather have a team employee do the broadcasting if it means they describe the game that they are supposed to be covering. Should we put up with the crap that comes out of a Meterparel in the name of "independence"?
Exactly. I think along with the Metros the Revs are the best team in MLS in terms of having their games on TV. How many games of the Revs this year are not on at least some broadcast? Would anyone rather have them spend their money on that as opposed to givinger Meter a salary?
Exactly. The Revs have the best radio and TV coverage in the league, hands down. They have all their games, home and away, on TV. They have all their games, home and away, on the radio. And they don't just have their radio broadcasts on some dinky station that you can only get within five blocks of the transmitter, they have them on one of the biggest sports radio stations in the country with a powerful signal, with a decent-sized station with a strong signal serving as the backup. And BigFrank wants to say that the Krafts are getting cheap because they simulcast? Give me a friggin' break. If the Krafts were really hell-bent to cut costs the way BigFrank seems to think, I can think of much better ways than merely simulcasting the TV broadcast onto the radio. That's chump change in the grand scheme of things. They could reduce the number of games that they show on TV. They could get rid of the radio coverage altogether. And those two things are what really costing the Krafts money in the broadcasting department, not paying that stooge Meterparel $100 a game to do the radio play-by-play. When the Revs have only 12 or 13 road games on TV and no English radio coverage, then yeah, you can safely say that they're getting cheap. Until then, as long as the Krafts are spending tens of thousands of dollars per game, 30+ times a year, to buy airtime on Fox Sports Net New England and WLVI and WEEI and WRKO and to produce the broadcasts, then I don't really see how you can say that the Krafts are getting cheap and expect to be taken seriously. I especially don't see, in light of all that, how you can compare them unfavorably to the Brockton Rox and be taken seriously. Yeah, BigFrank, the Revs are being run like a minor league organization. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Since Brian O'Donovan left the organization, there has been one cutback after another in Foxboro. Cutbacks in staff. Cutbacks in marketing. Cutbacks just about everywhere. What was once one of the best run organizations in MLS has become one of the worst, and you need only look at all of the cutbacks to realize this is what has been going on. The simulcast issue, and using the team's PR director as the sole analyst, may be more symbolic of the organization's path down the minor league road than it is of anything else. Perhaps the reason why some people aren't looking at it that way is that they are simply thrilled that Jon Meterparel has been booted into touch. That has been a popular move and the consequences of additional cutbacks isn't viewed quite as negatively as some of the others. It some ways it may have been a smart decision, masking a move that appears to be less than professional with a popular decision to get rid of the unpopular Meterparel. I wonder if people would feel the same way if Meterparel had been doing the TV broadcasts and Adrian Healy had been cut from the radio? That would depend on Healy's popularity, and may, or may not, have put a different slant on it. But ElJefe, when an organization continues to cut back and the "product" has suffered everywhere but on the field, that is still a troubling situation. Read some of the other posts about the changes in ticket catagory availability, about the attempted creation of artificial ticket demand, about the lack of marketing, about what passes as customer service, about the way season ticket holders are treated. The list goes on and on. Granted, it is a big positive that we can watch or listen to all of the games if we have the right cable system and can receive the over air stations where we live. Perhaps that is your bottom line, and it doesn't matter to you that it is simply another example of the cutbacks and the appearance of being less professional.
If the change coincides with O'Donovan leaving, I think that's just coincidence. I think the cutbacks got serious when Miami and Tampa were contracted away and Garber laid down a mandate to all the remaining teams - improve the bottom line and reduce losses. With the failure of those franchises, as well as WUSA, it's hard to argue that he was wrong (especially during a painful economic recession). I think a lot of people feel that more investment would bring more revenue, but it's a risky strategy that could kill the league if it didn't work (ex. WUSA).
Look, I agree with the fan concerns about all the other issues that have been brought up where the Krafts have diminished the Revolution fan experience through the dissolution of the separate Revs front office and having the Pats running the team, through the dopey seating configuration at Gillette Stadium, and through the inferior customer service offered to Revs customers by Pats employees. I get all that and I agree with all of that. However, I don't even think that this is even in the same league with all that other stuff. The economics of radio and TV broadcasts in Major League Soccer is that merely having the game on radio or TV is the major expense. You gotta pay for a two-hour chunk of time on a TV station or radio station. You gotta pay for the production of the game, which includes several cameramen and several more people in the truck. You gotta pay to get the signal from wherever the game is being played to the TV or radio station. All of that runs into the five figures. And that's before you even pay for announcers, which runs in the low three figures plus travel expenses. Glenn Davis, who currently does the MLS play-by-play for HDnet, has been doing soccer announcing on TV for about 10 years now. He's worked all sorts of broadcasts, from MLS local broadcasts to Copa America PPVs from South America. He's prolific, and not because he wants to, but because the money for each one of these gigs is so meager. He'll earn a couple or three hundred bucks for a single one. And even after doing all of these play-by-plays, he still coaches youth soccer in Houston and writes a weekly column for the Houston Chronicle. So in the end, merely putting the pictures and sounds over the air costs tens of thousands of dollars per game, while paying an announcer costs a few hundred. Jon Meterparel, whether he was competent or not, was never a big item in the Revs broadcast budget. He was the $200 floor mats in the $40,000 car. And when he gets cut, it's allegedly more evidence of Bob Kraft's penny-pinching to the detriment of the Revs fan experience. Now maybe it's just me, but I think that if he really wanted to save money on broadcasting, he wouldn't have bothered with the few grand a season that he was paying Jon Meterparel. He could save a few hundred thousand by not broadcasting home games, only road games. That's what most every other MLS team does. I'm someone whose team's owner has sprung for nine road games to be broadcast on local TV this season and no English radio. All told, 12 road games will be on national and local TV, along with a home game or two on national TV. It's not everything I could ever hope for, but I don't have a big problem with it. And yeah, I'd very much like for the Burn to have the same broadcasting coverage that the Revs have. So while you can convince me that Bob Kraft has been penny-wise-pound-foolish in other areas of running the Revs in the past few years, simulcasting is hardly the most convincing evidence. After all, it's pretty much complaining that someone gave you a brand new Lexus and didn't spring for the floor mats.
You people need to stop complaining and listen to El Jefe. You should feel lucky to have Kraft dishing the money out so you can watch all the games on TV. Some teams in the league don't even get that, including current MLS Champs (at least the first year they won it they didn't). The Revs aren't the Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots or Celtics, they aren't goin to get the coverage that they get. Be happy with what we have, our time will come.
I tihnk this is a perceptive point. One thing that Craig Tornberg talked about the one time I met him, and something he's voiced in interviews is the desire and need for the Revs to simplify their operation. Simplification means less money and less effort for their staff. Unfortunately, simplification may mean cutting back on certain things and perks that fans may like. We'd hope that simplification doesn't mean a lack of attention to detail but I think this philosophy may go in line with the things you brought up.