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Mike & Mike -Do They Hate MLB?

P

pioneer71

First let me say that ESPN's Mike & Mike are very good at what they do. The are well prepared, how fun on the air and do very good interviews.
Still I feel the show should be called the Mike Mike NFL/NBA Show.

They only give lip service to MLB. Sure they talk to their baseball experts in short segments but come on don't they realize that the cities that have NBA Basketball
( for the most of them) have MLB teams in their market. I would love to listen to them but it is getting harder and harder when they talk about the NBA over and over again. Plus, they have favorite teams to talk about. In their world the Bengals hardly matter.

I can't remember hearing them talk about the Reds or Indians for quite soem time. The baseball experts do but not Mike & Mike.
Plus, I understand rooting for your favorite teams but I am sick about hearing so much about the Jets and Knicks.

Mike & Mike are very good at what you do but come on - the baseball season is really underway.

What are your thoughts?
 
We're talking about the Eastern Seaboard Partisans Network. To them, there are only four baseball teams: The Mets & Phillies in the NL, and (especially) the Red Sox and the Yankees in the AL. They have been giving other teams some coverage this season, but I wonder if that was their idea or Bud Lite's directive (who in their right mind would schedule the Rangers & Astros on Opening Night?). I suspect the latter.

Plus, ESPN has a far greater stake in the NBA than it does in MLB - this time of the year, especially. And Golic is a former NFL player, so his bias is understandable.

But nobody outside of Ohio and ex-Ohioans cares one whit about the Reds and Indians. Neither is a team with national interest. The Big Red Machine is long gone.
 
KeithE4- You make a lot of sense in your comments. But when the Reds were on their way to a Central Division title - very little talk about the Reds.


Plus, you make point that they are really Eastern Seabord programmed. Yes, Golic is a former NFL player and football is a safe zone for him but don't sell him short.
He can do more but for some reason (ESPN wanting it that way) seldom ventures out of thay safety zone. AND that 's is a shame.
 
ESPN is going to promote what they think the Mothership needs to promote. From hearing the shows on the radio, they have meetings before every show to talk about what to talk about. "Suits" are at every meeting, not just hosts talking about what interests them.
They're more interested in making money than they are in promoting sports or entertainment in the larger world. Which shouldn't be a surprise, really, that's just how it is. That's probably part of how they went from being an obscure basic cable channel to spending billions on rights and hosts and whatnot.
If you want local sports talk, don't expect it from ESPN. You might can find it from their hosts in other media formats, but not on the air.
 
The NFL is the top league in America by far. Plus we're in the middle of the draft, an event ESPN helped make popular. In 1980 they first aired it since they were desperate for anything NFL. And look where it is now.

As mentioned, ESPN also has a big stake in the NBA and their playoffs just started. Plus ABC has the finals.

They haven't had baseball playoff coverage since 2006 (I think they will have one of the wild card games starting next year). And it seems to be becoming a very regional sport (look how much WFAN in New York talks about it).

ESPN will give heavy promotion to anything they have. And they're at the point right now that even with increased competition, they still have all this clout.
 
ESPN Radio's Job One is to promote ESPN television. I'm not sure if it makes money on its own, just like sister-network Radio Disney. Both are designed to be promotional tools.

ESPN television's priorities are almost totally in the Boston-to-Washington corridor, with the exception of the NFL which is market-independent (unless the game is on NBC, but that's another subject. ::) ), Big Ten football (but I expect quite a bit of undeserved hoopla when Maryland and Rutgers join next year), and a few MLB bones thrown to LA, Chicago, and the other Top 10 markets.
 
I wouldn't limit it to Big 10 football. ESPN Radio devotes significant coverage to college football and basketball. I think the focus on these sports is in consideration of its affiliates, which skew Southeast/Midwest.
 
dyeingeye said:
I wouldn't limit it to Big 10 football. ESPN Radio devotes significant coverage to college football and basketball. I think the focus on these sports is in consideration of its affiliates, which skew Southeast/Midwest.
Click to expand...

In the case of college football, what they have to cover might be due to the fact that there is almost no Division 1-A FBS football north or east of Pennsylvania. Syracuse, UConn, Rutgers, Boston College, Army, Buffalo, and UMass are it - 7 out of 124 schools.
 
KeithE4 said:
dyeingeye said:
I wouldn't limit it to Big 10 football. ESPN Radio devotes significant coverage to college football and basketball. I think the focus on these sports is in consideration of its affiliates, which skew Southeast/Midwest.
Click to expand...

In the case of college football, what they have to cover might be due to the fact that there is almost no Division 1-A FBS football north or east of Pennsylvania. Syracuse, UConn, Rutgers, Boston College, Army, Buffalo, and UMass are it - 7 out of 124 schools.
Click to expand...

You are looking at it backwards. They don't cover SEC media days in August because there is nothing to cover in the Northeast. They cover SEC media days because that is what the radio affiliates want. During the season football fills up almost all of ESPN Radio. It is what the people listening to the network want. There is no skewing towards the Northeast during this time.

I remember listening to Scott Van Pelt dedicate probably an hour to the SEC media day. He wasn't doing that because the people between DC and Boston wanted to hear that. Look at affiliates. College football is what they want. And it promotes ESPN programming.
 
ESPN Radio has different priorities at different times of the day.

Mike and Mike is their flagship national show, so they'll talk about whatever is most likely to be relevant nationally. From September to February, that's essentially the NFL. Right now, that's the NBA, the NFL draft, and ice hockey. During June, July and August, you'll hear plenty about MLB

ESPN's programs lean away from the east coast from 10am until about 7pm, because many of the major market affiliates leave the network for local programs, leaving behind the little AM and FM stations in Nebraska and South Carolina, states without any NBA, NFL, MLB or NHL teams and where college football is king.
 
Thank you for your comments about Mike and Mike and how ESPN programs to their markets.
I used to be a fan of the NBA years ago ad went to a lot of games when the Cincinnati Royals were in town with my Mom and Dad.

But today the most I will watch an NBA game is about 10 minutes.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
ESPN Radio has different priorities at different times of the day.

Mike and Mike is their flagship national show, so they'll talk about whatever is most likely to be relevant nationally. From September to February, that's essentially the NFL. Right now, that's the NBA, the NFL draft, and ice hockey. During June, July and August, you'll hear plenty about MLB

ESPN's programs lean away from the east coast from 10am until about 7pm, because many of the major market affiliates leave the network for local programs, leaving behind the little AM and FM stations in Nebraska and South Carolina, states without any NBA, NFL, MLB or NHL teams and where college football is king.
Click to expand...

Not quite. I can't speak for Van Pelt's show because I've heard maybe 10 minutes of it ever, but Cowherd does anything but lean away from the East Coast. He was Mr. West Coast when he came on board, but he is as bad with New York and Boston as anyone there. He's even come out and said he roots for the Yankees (might have been facetious, but I've heard it multiple times). Last year when the Yankees lost to the Tigers in the ALCS, he hardly said word one about the Tigers. Of course, that's what the TV side does as well.
Cowherd also puts down MLB every chance he gets. He never misses an opportunity to drive home the NFL's popularity advantage over MLB. Why he feels the need to do that, who knows.
 
quadraphonic said:
ESPN is going to promote what they think the Mothership needs to promote. From hearing the shows on the radio, they have meetings before every show to talk about what to talk about. "Suits" are at every meeting, not just hosts talking about what interests them.
They're more interested in making money than they are in promoting sports or entertainment in the larger world. Which shouldn't be a surprise, really, that's just how it is. That's probably part of how they went from being an obscure basic cable channel to spending billions on rights and hosts and whatnot.
If you want local sports talk, don't expect it from ESPN. You might can find it from their hosts in other media formats, but not on the air.
Click to expand...

They're more interested in making money? Sounds like you're a little lacking in business sense.
 
quadraphonic said:
ESPN is going to promote what they think the Mothership needs to promote. From hearing the shows on the radio, they have meetings before every show to talk about what to talk about. "Suits" are at every meeting, not just hosts talking about what interests them.
Click to expand...


This happens everywhere, it's called show prep. It's pretty common in radio and TV, not just at ESPN.
 
Mainedude2007 said:
quadraphonic said:
ESPN is going to promote what they think the Mothership needs to promote. From hearing the shows on the radio, they have meetings before every show to talk about what to talk about. "Suits" are at every meeting, not just hosts talking about what interests them.
Click to expand...


This happens everywhere, it's called show prep. It's pretty common in radio and TV, not just at ESPN.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's not only ESPN Radio, but as far as radio goes (which ESPN was the topic, so I didn't mention every other instance) it seems like ESPN has more 'focus' on promoting their own stuff, probably because they have more stuff, and because they have more people 'in the building' to have 'show prep' with. ;)
 
I thank you for everyone's input on why ESPN pushes the NBA and NFL so much.
BUT WAIT- I was in and out of my car five different times today and every time I turned on ESPN - guess what they were talking about? The NBA playoffs.

I dumped out of them each time. Do you know what was getting the most attention from local talk shows in various markets - MLB umpires making BAD calls two nights in a row.

Is ESPN Radio still ESPN or is it now the NBA Network that happens to be on ESPN?
Perhaps it is time for an ESPN Radio 1 and ESPN Radio 2. I know Mike and Mike hit on the umpires but the major story lines that went on and on were - you are correct ---the NBA.
 
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