There was a major professional climbing competiton over a week ago at the Nor'eastr and there is hardly any media coverage of the event at all. The UBC also had another big competiton over a month ago at the SLC tradeshow and again....very little media coverage. How can the sport of porfessional climbing competitions grow if there is nothing to show for these events? Even for someone who was at these events you lose interest after a couple days and get tired of searching.. If you miss out on a football game over the weekend how syked are you to see highlights a month after?
This is why competition climbing is so slow on building popularity...
(15 posts) (10 voices)-
Posted 1 year ago #
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What kind of media coverage are you expecting? I highly doubt the general public is interested in seeing 20 people attempt the same set of problems over and over when they can't even relate to the experience of climbing. I thought climbingnarc covered Nor'easter live but I could be wrong. Plus how many people do you know actually took the time to watch Arco on live stream? I think that's far bigger and perhaps better in some sense than UBC, but I don't personally know anyone who watched any of the events online(asides from myself).
Oh yeah, I get pretty syked watching highlights of people climbing a month after the event but maybe that's just me.Posted 1 year ago # -
Dickmeatandcheese-
Besides watching live and the one final problem climbed by Ethan, that is on narc, have you seen any video of the rest of the comp? or the SLC comp? that's right, that's my point. You are wrong in your thinking, dont let it happen again..
Posted 1 year ago # -
Salt Lake City coverage 2010 - http://www.vimeo.com/15086445
Instead of taking a Noam Chomsky approach towards these professional climbing events, why don't you make suggestions on what could possibly make them more appealing to the media or general public?
Maybe Jon Madden needs to be hired for a comp and see if his commentating helps people understand?
What ideas do you have "lame"?
Posted 1 year ago # -
there you go asshole.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Texas and Tyson,
Thank you, you have again proven my point. The Noreastr video came out over a week later and much later for the SLC comp, and only on this random website! You two are only hurting the growth as well, being ok with only one little site showing video?. No one can argue against the topic of this post in that more coverage of these events, ie quicker video and pictures posted of the events can only help spead the sport and make these events actually worth doing for both the organizers and sponsors.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Lame,
What can you bring to the table that helps the indoor climbing industry grow? Since you are obviously disgruntaled about media coverage, or lack there of, what do you have to offer? Money? Time? Labor?
If all your willing to offer is criticism, then atleast make it constructive.
Ranting and raving about how shitty things are doen't help anyone or anything.
Quit crying over spilled milk, Lame.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Honestly guys, though I don't love "Lame"'s approach (or tags), I do think s/he has a valid point. IMO more media and more timely media would definitely help raise the excitement levels for events and hopefully also raise the profile of the sport and it's athletes. I am constantly flabbergasted when I turn on a TV and see all the crap that they're showing that nobody in the television industry seems interested in televising climbing events. I don't have a solution, but a dialogue about possible solutions doesn't seem like it needs to be quite so negative.
Posted 1 year ago # -
You're right. I apologize for being wrong in my thinking and I won't let it happen again. Now I think all major climbing events should be shown on ESPN and they should hire retired pro climbers as commentators so people can understand how bad the starting crimps are on men's problem #3.
Oh the money to make that all happen? Don't worry about it. I'm sure we can get big time sponsors like BD, Patagonia or Metolius to help us out.but in all seriousness, I think we are moving in the right direction especially with the recent boost in number of live feeds that's available for people to look at for many of the major comps that took place around the world. It's easy to say what you want and the way things should be, but at this stage I'm not sure if there is enough interest or resource to pull off anything much bigger in terms of media coverage. Sorry to be a skeptic but I'm always open to suggestions especially if lame has anything constructive to say. Looking at his/her response so far, I'm not sure why this thread was even started. To urge people to post their photos and videos from the comp sooner?
p.s. I do like dudes
Posted 1 year ago # -
jackie, you know better than most that this dialogue has been beaten to death.
we all agree here, that yes, there should be widespread media coverage of these things. but there isnt. and talking about it isnt going to be getting it any where. we were talking about it 20 years ago and we will continue to talk about it.
until someone steps up and makes this happen, we will be talking the same sorry old song.lame, dont think you can come on here attacking people who continue to put their best foot forward for these things. people who do this for a living.
who the fuck are you anyway? ever done anything to help out? volunteer at your local ymca comp maybe?
fuck off, im sick of hearing the same shit year after year from people like you.
step up and make it happen. we will support you and even help. we have all tried in our own right. its just much harder than you seem to think.Posted 1 year ago # -
Seriously!?
@"lame" Dude consider what it is you just posted to the community that puts holds on a wall for a living! Once you've matured beyond your pubecent adolecense, and applied some critical thought to what it is that you wish to discuss, then come back and devulge your revelations.
But until then, STFU!
Posted 1 year ago # -
The Unified Bouldering Series is a step in the right direction in my opinion; Outdoor competitions with live internet feeds. Hopefully, they will continue with more outdoor events at mainstream venues, fairs, block parties, etc.. as alternative entertainment. This would expose climbing to more people and could generate grass roots interest.
The top athletes, at least a few of them, need to be promoted through other outlets. Alex Puccio on the cover of outside magazine is a good start. I have always thought major sponsors that want to promote an edgy product, like cell phones, cereal, energy drink,etc.. could be interested in a climber or climbing to help promote a product with an edge. Other sports have top athletes that lead the way and we need marketable climbers presented to sponsors outside the climbing industry to help grow the sport.
Since we don't have a lot to offer a major sponsor, the athletes need to be promotable to cross this barrier. The competition record, looks, attitude, and speaking ability all play a roll for a tv commercial, cereal box, or print adds.
More outdoor main stream venues and/or promoting athletes to sponsors is the way to go, in my opinion.
Posted 1 year ago # -
More coverage:
Posted 1 year ago # -
Pardon me for ignoring the banter in previous posts and returning to the original topic of media coverage in the competition realm, here goes...
1. The NFL is, and always will be, the best example of a professional sports league who has harness the power of the media. However, we in the climbing industry, would be foolish to look to the NFL as an example. The two models simply don't line up. Instead, we should be looking to analogous alternative sporting and leisure events who have successfully pioneered inroads with the media, professional surfing and poker come to mind.
2. In order to generate media coverage for the sport of climbing in the United States, a single entity must stand to profit from said media coverage (see: capitalism). Once a single entity (it could be USAC, the UBC, or anyone really) stands to profit from increased media coverage, they will have the proper motivation to invest in pursuing that media coverage.
3. If a single entity, such as the UBC, wants increased media coverage beyond the climbing industry they would have to make some not-so-subtle changes to their competitions in order to make them "media friendly." The first, and arguably most important, change would be establishing a position for a media consultant(s) and hiring one or more media liaisons. This is standard in the biz, because "the media" does not and simply will not understand competitive rock climbing. That hurdle is quickly overcome by the work of a liaison, whose sole job is to spoon-feed information to media outlets as varied as print, television, radio, and the myriad forms of "new media."
3a. Making the competition atmosphere "media friendly" will almost certainly include a soft media make-over for almost every athlete in the sport. Men will have to groom a little, take off their sunglasses, take off their hats, and speak to the camera. Woman will have to feign a greater desire to compete with (and defeat) their peers, take off their sunglasses, and speak to the camera. Human interest is an enormous part of sports coverage for a very good reason. The moment that viewers begin to know/understand/relate to an athlete, they are invested in that athlete's performance. This same phenomenon can be seen in all forms of successful reality TV in America, where individual personalities create the engine of media coverage. Snookie anyone!?
3b. Another crucial component to making competition climbing "media friendly" is for videographers, photographers, and commentators/journalists to TEACH the mainstream media how to properly cover and showcase the sport. In the initial stages of coverage, this will mean that media packages will have to be completely produced and polished "in house" by those from within the climbing industry and then hawked to media outlets by climbing-savvy media liaisons. You cannot expect anyone in the mainstream media to understand climbing, or understand how to present the product. But if you do the hard work for them, they will almost certainly air/print your coverage.
4. Regardless of what goes on during the actual competition, a creative team of professionals has to cover the event with a "media friendly" end-product in mind. This means that they would be boiling the competition down to a 22-24 minute sporting drama in an editing room, developing human-interest stories for individual athletes to be made into print journalism in appropriate markets (which might start as humbly as that athletes home town/state), or some other goal. This media package, after assembled and polished, can then be tagged with sponsor IDs and shopped around to media outlets.
For instance, it would be quite easy to make a "reality TV" style sports documentary of the UBC season, following the top athletes from their training regiments all the way to the podium. This footage would be edited in-house by those who understand the sport and then sold to cable outlets that might otherwise have no interest in covering the events themselves.
Anyway, I will stop my rambling list here. There is more to be done, but none of it involves reinventing the wheel. It is a simple matter of motivating a single entity who stands to profit from media coverage. Then investing in the creation of that media "in house." And then, selling and/or distributing that media to the masses through the proper channels. And last but not least: using that increased media coverage to lure in more sponsorship dollars, which can be used to create more media saturation during the next season. And so the cycle continues.
Rock climbing film crews do exist, and they have become increasingly sophisticated in the last decade. Media consulting firms already do this sort of thing on a regular basis. The single entity that stands to profit simply needs to hire these two components, and put them to work.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Great post nos, I agree.
Posted 1 year ago #
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