Cyclocross - CX on TV ! Why not?

Why isn't cx on TV?:mad: The logistics are more favorable than triathlon or a stage race yet nothing!:mad: We have a national series and the US championship.:D The weather and venues can be dramatic:eek: so what's the problem?:rolleyes:
What will it take to have this happen?

It is on tv....in Belgium:rolleyes:

Why isn't cx on TV?Because nobody in the U.S. gives a crap about it, nor would give a crap about it if it were on TV.

Pretty simple, that.

Okay, in TV, programs exist to sell advertising. The advertisers are the customers, and they buy viewers. To get a show on tv, you've got to identify potential advertisers, then deliver the viewers.

So, where could cyclocross fit in? Maybe as part of a packaged show, one that has downhill skiing and bobsledding or something mixed up Wide World of Sports - style. I think Jeep sponsors a show with downhill mtn biking and similar stuff, a segment on there may be your best bet.

Even though you don't need helicopters to cover cyclocross, it's still incredibly expensive to cover sports. You'd need six or seven cameras and a production truck, remote commentator booth. That's a huge crew. And weather to deal with, it's not inside. All just stupid expensive compared to the ad revinue the programming would draw.

Also, unlike MLB or NHL or the PGA, there's no deep-pockets cyclocross league to eat the costs up front. That's why bundling it with other sports is the best option, I think. Sort of like diversifying an investment portfolio, to a potential sponsor. Either that, or work on repackaging taped broadcasts of European tv coverage to air in the us. That would be cheaper to produce, but prohibitively expensive rights-wise.

In the US, public tv doesn't cover sports, so that's not an option. Not sure about other countries.

Yeah, when you think it through, there's a reason that the only way to watch cross on TV in the US is on DVD. Selling programming direct to viewers on dvd is the most cost effective way to go.

subscribe to the UCI channel on cycling.tv, they show all of the World Cup events and usually a few others

won't cover it in Velonews, then you know the TV isn't going to cover it.. What a shame, you've got all these US riders in Europe this year and Velonews won't even take the time to show them some love!:mad:

VELONEWS
Vol. 37/NO..1 > January 2008
page 34 Cross Portland Style
page 36 Page and Trebon: No Love Lost.
page 60 has the year end (2007) cyclocross awards

I dont have my past issues here in front of me as soon as I am done with them they get traded of to a friend who subscribees to cycle sport But what I am saying is Velo has cross racing coverage mothly throught the season.

+1, Velonews devotes coverage to cross all the time, especially during the season, this includes the races, racers, and equipment

and again for about $50 a year you can watch cyclocross, track and MTB racing at the World Cup level on Cycling.tv. Every World cup race this year is on there/will be on there, I know because I wait impatiently for each event so I have something new to watch while I am on the rollers.