Professional Cycling For the Fans - will OLN implode?

I like Lance as much as the next guy, but holy crap ... OLN is just plain Lance nutty!! They're literally making me hate the guy.

The big questions is, will OLN's cycling program implode upon itself next year when Lance is gone? Perhaps we'll see them shift focus to another American ... Zibriskie?, Danielson?, Landis?, Hincape? Regardless, they're creating an enormous void to fill.

Mark

OLN is a team sponser. That could explain their feelings toward Lance.

Sure they're a team sponsor... but why not feature the full team, instead of the one guy? They are setting themselves up for failure for sure. They have to have someone people can look to, or when Lance is gone, the audience will go too. Then they'll be called ON instead of OLN...

Koffee

I agree. I like Lance, a lot, but I would really like to see more of the team. After all they are a TEAM, and even LA has said he can't win without his team. He has in the past given his team a lot of credit, but the press is so foccused just on him.

Note the number of commercials and the type of accounts. . .it looks like OLN might actually be making some money on it this year and thats not a bad thing for cycling fans. Lance is the star of this show and OLN is going to give the majority of their audience and advertisers what they expect.

And then what will they do next year when Lance is gone (or more likely, on July 23rd)?

Give fans what they want, but be smart about it.

Koffee

Lance has done a lot to lift the profile of cycling. Here's hoping cycling in the USA continues to flourish after his departure. I pray OLN or someone else will continue to cover the classics, Giro, and (miracle here) Vuelta. At this point, OLN's cycling coverage is virtually the only reason I have cable TV.

I guess you can't blame OLN for milking the last $$ out of Lance that they can, but I'm a little worried about this as well. They seem to be running this thing on star power alone instead of trying to create new fans for the long run.

What I'm afraid of the most is that next year they will dub someone "the next Lance" (some have already started doing this, in fact), creating too high of a standard that will make the new Americans' success stories look like failures in comparison. Look what happened in basketball when they labeled at least 7 different guys "the next Jordan." Some of these guys have had nice careers, but because they didn't live up to they hype they are perceived as failures.

Milk Lance, but don't do it so much that it ruins other careers.

I think OLN could so easily hype up cycling in general, and the Tour de France, during their coverage.
But they spend FAR more time talking about Armstrong than they do about one of the greatest, most historic sporting events in the world... DURING the coverage of that same race.

I think it's quite rediculous to see them all there with their livestrong bands, livestrong laptops, etc... I understand he is THE story, especially as far as an American audience is concerned, but I would expect a bit more professionalism/journalistic integrity.

I remember reading some article in a cycling magazine, i think it was jonathan vaughters, and he said something to the effect that lance's popularity hasn't filtered down to the sport enough, in terms of making it more popular (outside europe). I think that's because lance's fame isn't so much about cycling and what a great sport it is. It's mostly been about him, and his story, and his foundation etc, and his star power and the tour de france. We don't need anyone to make baseball more popular, cycling is different. Lance is identified with one race, and then there's his life story, and he's pretty much eclipsed everyone else, and the one race has become identified with him, so people still think the Tour s the only race all year. Now we're concerned about a potential vaccuum; what are they going to talk about when lance retires? Will they show more races or drop it altogether?We don't have that with other sports- athletes retire but they keep showing baseball or football or whatever.

It's true they could feature the other members of the team..we do have 3 weeks.

OLN has shown professional races weekly on their Cyclysm shows. Sure they currently are featuring Lance; he is their cash cow. Next week, next year, we will still all tune in to watch the sport we love; not necessarily the man Lance.

I can assure you that Lance will still stay connected to professional racing and most likely do some commentating for OLN??? Of course after some time away to spend with his children.

I can assure you that Lance will still stay connected to professional racing and most likely do some commentating for OLN???

Jeez-sus, I hope we don't have to look at him even more as an OLN talking head. It'll get pretty boring if he talks like he does after a stage, "Well, uhhh.......yeah.........uhh........I dunno if..........uhhh........"


:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

does anyone have the silver cycling magazine with lance on the cover? he is on just about everyother page.

you have to realize in america we see him all the time. but only him because he is the 6th time champ of the tdf im sure in other countries cycling is much much bigger than it is here.

my dad does professional pistol shooting and is never talked about. but if it was as recognized as lets say football or baseball my dad would be in magazines all the time. only the champs in smaller sports are recongnized IMO. also we got two americans kicking the frenches ass lol

-Steve

I think it's quite rediculous to see them all there with their livestrong bands, livestrong laptops, etc... I understand he is THE story, especially as far as an American audience is concerned, but I would expect a bit more professionalism/journalistic integrity.


What is unproffesional about supporting Cancer research? Wearing the Livestrong has NOTHING to do with saying "I LIKE LANCE", or at least it shouldn't. Many riders in the Peleton wore them last year. I can see if they had Lance hats or Lance T-Shirts on..

WIth 40% of the airtime devoted to Lance, and 50% devoted to commercials, that doesn't leave much for the rest of the cycling world.

WIth 40% of the airtime devoted to Lance, and 50% devoted to commercials, that doesn't leave much for the rest of the cycling world.
Yeah, well, but it is a tough world, where even the devil needs to be sponsored:

http://www.strangesports.com/images/content/101574.jpg

Erling.

They do have a lot about Lance, but hey, he was :02 back from someone considered a non-GC threat and has almost a minute on all his competition after a short ITT. Like him or hate him, he got game. How much of Jordan's last Bulls season airtime was devoted to Jordan? A lot. This is Lance's last tour, and potentially a 7th straight tour win. He IS the story of the TDF this year. I say that as a guy hoping Basso ends his reign. OLN will still show bike racing without Lance, it just won't be on 4 times a day during the next tour. I mean, can bike racing really be less popular than watching snowmobiles converted to run on the water, grass and pavement?

It's not the same thing as Jordan. And though Jordan got airtime, when he was sitting out and taking rests, they didn't continue to waste camera time on watching him sit around. There was a full squad of all stars that all of Chicago just LOVED to death... they all had quite a bit of airtime, and it was a pleasure to hear from the entire team, not just Jordan. It was the only time people knew the names of all the members of the Bulls.

Jordan was the star of the squad, but they were all given pretty good airtime. Which is exactly what OLN doesn't do when it comes to coverage of other cyclists and their teams, or even the dudes racing on Discovery.

Koffee

but lets not act like american's have ever covered cycling correctly. And this is a quantum leap better than the old abc coverage (once a week and more about wine than anything else), or the espn coverage (30 minutes, with 22 of them about wine...show the sprint and the stuffed lion). for some reason in the US cycling is a human interest story, and at least on OLN we actually get to see people suffer and the race unfold.

At least Lance is smiling and joking in the interviews for the first time. He almost appears human.

To their credit, Discovery Channel's "Chasing Lance" on Fit TV focused a lot of attention on the team that rode the Classics supporting George Hincapie, as well as on the support mechanism in Europe. Yes, they did a lot of Lance this and Lance that, but significant chunks showed that there are more riders on the team.

OLN could do a lot for US cycling if they did a five minute feature each day on how the rest of the Americans are doing. A minute each on Floyd, Bobby, Levi, Fast Freddie, et. Al., would be good for interest in their broadcasts going into the future. Find out what it's like to be a Yank riding for a Swiss, Danish, German, or Belgian squad..... that would be cool.

They could do a heck of a lot better than a minute per American.

I was thinking the same thing, though. A run down of how each American rider is doing for the day, but also a run down of their overall careers and a spotlight on their achievements. Additionally, a rundown of each of their team members.

They are so hell bent on naming Lance's replacement... but yet so little said about any other team members that no one will care once Lance does leave. They should do a comprehensive rundown of all the riders, and each day, we should get an update on how all of them are doing. Additionally, I'd like to see them interview all of them every day, even if they do just a minute or so. They give more time to Sheryl, and she's not even riding! On the other hand, Zabrieskie got about 20 seconds of interview time. What's up with that? Just lame reporting.

Interview all the winners of the jerseys out there. I want to know what's on their mind, if they were aiming all along to win that jersey, how do they feel wearing it.

I would love to hear from the coaches of as many teams as possible. What, they can't take some time to talk to the coaches of the top 5 or 6 teams at least and discuss (loosely) a strategy?

Of course, I'd like to see a ton more tech talk. Physiological talk from the experts.

I'm just saying all this because dood from Fit TV stops in every now and then. Maybe he has some kind of pull with coverage and can work on some specials or something along those lines. If so, it would be great for them to see what we do want and work off some ideas for some kick ass future shows.

Koffee

In OLN's defense, it's the best TDF coverage ever in the States. I'm thankful for that. They ride on Armstrong's back to show what (IMO) the largest percentage of viewers tune in to watch... Lance, Lance, and Lance. I hope they make lots of money because I would like this coverage to continue in future years. If I have to put up with too much LA... it's OK by me.

As for Zabrieskie's interview... I think he was trying his best just to get away from the mic! He has NOT seemed very comfortable answering even simple questions. Plus, he's nice and "laid back".... where's the controversy? (FWIW, I have the same uninteresting demenor) Lance... love him or love to hate him... it's hard NOT to have an opinion on him.

The "5 minutes on each American" suggestion is a fantastic idea! Email OLN... can't hurt. Didn't they pull the plug on those idiotic American "cycling fans" Gum started following last year? Wasn't that because of emails?

It's all in the marketing appeal.
For instance in Germany, its all Jan Ulrich. Even though the team has many more stars and capable heirs to the Yellow Jersey, the sponsors still want to see the Kaiser.

Lance had done a lot to raise awareness of cycling here in America. I get non-cyclists all the time asking me questions about the Tour De France. Many are interested in taking up cycling and some have already. I surely hope that momentum continues post the Armstrong era. And I hope his marketing appeal continues to draw fundraising for cancer research and treatment.

*SNIP*

The "5 minutes on each American" suggestion is a fantastic idea! Email OLN... can't hurt. Didn't they pull the plug on those idiotic American "cycling fans" Gum started following last year? Wasn't that because of emails?

I think you got a misunderstanding there... he was saying a 5 minute segment, focusing one minute on each American. 5 minutes per American would be more appropriate. God knows, they spend enough time toggling between useless Sheryl shots, dribble about uninteresting France facts, and the flashbacks from past tours. Not like I don't mind the flashbacks, but they have way too many.

Koffee

i'm sure when someone else wins the tour six times in a row, OLN will cover that guy just as much. 'specially if that guy is an american, what with OLN being a US company...?

there isn't enough lance in the world for me, but i sure am glad i haven't seen those OLN brown shirts since the first day. They made troutie and bobke look like UPS drivers.

God knows, they spend enough time toggling between useless Sheryl shots,

I don't think OLN has control of the video feed....

In OLN's defense, it's the best TDF coverage ever in the States. I'm thankful for that. They ride on Armstrong's back to show what (IMO) the largest percentage of viewers tune in to watch... Lance, Lance, and Lance. I hope they make lots of money because I would like this coverage to continue in future years. If I have to put up with too much LA... it's OK by me.

As for Zabrieskie's interview... I think he was trying his best just to get away from the mic! He has NOT seemed very comfortable answering even simple questions. Plus, he's nice and "laid back".... where's the controversy? (FWIW, I have the same uninteresting demenor) Lance... love him or love to hate him... it's hard NOT to have an opinion on him.

The "5 minutes on each American" suggestion is a fantastic idea! Email OLN... can't hurt. Didn't they pull the plug on those idiotic American "cycling fans" Gum started following last year? Wasn't that because of emails?

I PRAY that some of these other Americans - Hincapie, Landis, Zabriskie, Leipheimer, Horner - SOMEBODY - have a strong enough tour this year, and/or are clear GC contenders next year - otherwise, what possible U.S. coverage of the TdF could we expect from the Only Lance Network after Armstrong retires??

I don't know about who OLN will fawn over next year, but I do know that I'm totally sick of LA. Going into the 7th year now I think is quite enough of 90% LA coverage, 10% the rest of the world's cyclists.

What is unproffesional about supporting Cancer research? Wearing the Livestrong has NOTHING to do with saying "I LIKE LANCE", or at least it shouldn't. Many riders in the Peleton wore them last year. I can see if they had Lance hats or Lance T-Shirts on..

Are there no other cancer research organizations to support? Are there no other worthy causes? It's all part of the Lance-O-Rama that is OLN coverage. Christ, we didn't see a peep of CSC until halfway through their Team Time Trial run today and they were TEARING it up!

I should note, that I'm wearing my livestrong band as I type this. I have lost grandparents to cancer and my Mother is 2 year cancer survivor. The LAF does great things for people.

I dunno, I guess if I thought their coverage was a bit more balanced I wouldn't care all that much about the prominence of Livestrong. I still don't really, I guess. I just find it odd.

Well, jan did do a lot for cycling in germany- it still isn't as big as soccer or F1, but after jan won the tour, cycling in germany really took off. Same with Denmark- after Riis won the tour, denmark's cycling scene has exploded. They never had pro teams before that. But in europe, cycling was still more popular than it is in the US and didn't need as much encouragement.

All I know about OLN is when I see promos of stale old Survivor 1 and shots of some beefy steer kicking its legs about, I'm going to "un-favorite" OLN on my cable favorites.

I like to think of Lance as ... I guess like a "gateway" rider. I got interested in the Tour this year for the first time because I wanted to see the Great Lance Armstrong ride. But when Zabriskie won, I thought hey, I'd like to learn about him. So I read what I could online. Then I heard about other riders who had won, and about the importance of the green jersey, and all kinds of interesting facts. Of course, I get most of my still newbie knowledge about the Tour and its participants from the web, since OLN mostly talks about Lance as mentioned throughout the thread.

I figure that maybe they are trying to suck people into watching by giving them what they think they want - Lance coverage. And admittedly, I would not be watching the Tour this year if it weren't for Lance. But I'd also like to learn more about Zabriskie and Boonen and Hincapie and other names that keep being mentioned in light passing on the coverage.

And I'm really getting annoyed with the Survivor plugs. We know Richard wins and that he runs around naked a lot - what's the point in watching it now?

we didn't see a peep of CSC until halfway through their Team Time Trial run today and they were TEARING it up!

OLN has no control over the video feed, the use the same exact feed that is supplied to everybody.


I know a lot of people think OLN is only about Lance, but take a look at Eurosport's live text coverage of the TTT. The last note says:

So, with Lance Armstrong back where he belongs in yellow, we'll wrap up our live coverage for the day.

http://www.eurosport.com/home/pages/v4/l0/s18/e7203/live_lng0_spo18_evt7203_mtc96204.shtml


FechtMan - OLN was a sponsor of the team last year. The OLN logo was on th US Postal jerseys.


Anyway, at the rate that OLN has been reducing it's coverage, we'll likely have no coverage at all next year.

Anyway, at the rate that OLN has been reducing it's coverage, we'll likely have no coverage at all next year.

That wouldn't be so bad. At least we wouldn't have to eat LA 24/7.

Sponsorship fueled oversaturation of Lance aside, Lance is a GREAT champion and deserves his annual spotlight on cable TV. Despite his retirement and absence from future tours, because of his influence on creating TDF viewing interest, I'm pretty sure that viewership trend will continue. The TDF is a genuine spectacle in and of itself. Competition is competition and something any true sports fan can't get enough of. I know I'll be watching OLN next year to see these crazy sprinters crash and burn yet again, plus the pink outfitted "huge, hulking mass of a man" Jan Ullrich "dieseling his way up those hills churning that massive gear." Then there's Dave Z. Gotta see what happens next year!

Lance gets plenty. No one is saying Lance doesn't get enough. He just gets so much, that it's at the expense of the other riders, and OLN will have nothing to fall back on when Lance is gone.

Koffee

I don't object to OLN showcasing Lance. Lance seems to have contributed much to cycling. This is just my opinion. YMMV