I would like to add my 2-cents...here is a copy of a letter I have submitted to ABC Sports. It echoes what many of you have already said, and includes the same quotes in places:
“The Biggest Sporting Event in the World”
This is not hyperbole. It is an awesome feat. But what does it mean? Every four years we have the pleasure of enjoying a convergence of two events that claim to be the Biggest Sporting Event in the World. How can they both make the same claim? It’s pretty easy when you consider their qualities.
On the one hand, you have the Indianapolis 500, held every Memorial Day weekend. Over 300,000 people attend the event, plus another 325 million viewers world-wide tune in to watch the event from their homes or the local pub.
On the other hand, you have the FIFA World Cup. Having spent a great deal of my youth and early adulthood playing soccer, this is my Shangri-la. I count down the days to the World Cup. And I am not alone.
The World Cup is held every four years and attracts 350 million fans for the final game. Over the course of the entire month of the tournament, more than 30 Billion (cumulative) fans from just about every corner of the globe will tune in to catch any or all of the 63 games. That’s BILLION with “B”.
So how can they both claim the title of “Largest Sporting Event”? The Indy 500 is a one-day event; the World Cup is spread over about a month. So each is accurate to a degree. So what else do these events have in common? This year, they are both being brought to you by the ABC family of networks (with ESPN providing coverage for most of the Cup games). But to me, this where the similarities end.
ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 will be broadcasting each and every game of the World Cup in High Definition. That’s 63 games over 30 days that will be beamed back to the US in stunning HD. This is a huge undertaking that will require many trucks, engineers and technicians. I cannot even imagine the engineering aspects of this task. I am just looking forward to all that soccer in HD.
However, back here in the good ole US of A, we cannot expect to see the largest sporting event to take place on US soil in anything but Standard Definition. According to the reports that I have read, there will be about 40 stationary cameras being used around the 2.5-mile race track. There will be other remote cameras in the pits and elsewhere around the track, but the crux of the issue at hand is 40 cameras located in one facility. Not scattered across an entire country. Not half a world away. But right here in the Midwest.
Don’t get me wrong, I will watch the race even in sub-standard definition, but how incredible would it be to watch it in HD? Is it too much to ask? According to Dave Gass, director of field operations and engineering for IMS (Indy Motor Sports) Productions - who provides the “pool” feed of the race to ABC for redistribution around the world – “there is no immediate pressure to produce the Indianapolis 500 in high definition; but the possibility is out there and the HD threshold may have to be crossed sooner rather than later.” He is also quoted as saying “ABC said that it wasn't going to do [HD] for three years, but after going to NAB2003, with all the interest in high-def, I feel it's a lot more imminent than people think it is.” This is from an interview given in May 2003.
Well, it’s been three years…we’re still waiting. And there is definitely an interest in all the people who have made the plunge into HD. High Definition is more than just watching a screen that is larger and brighter. It is about being able to display a screen image that is not blurry, even when watching from a stationary camera as a car whizzes by at over 200MPH. It is about clarity. And Standard Definition just does not have the clarity that we – the HD population – desire, nay demand.
So ABC, while I am very excited about what and your ESPN brethren have arranged for my viewing pleasure this summer in the way of the World Cup entirely in HD, I think it might be about time you took a look in your own back yard and realized that there are still great things to be done here. I sincerely hope that many more of my friends who have been wishing for HD to come to the Indianapolis 500 will take a few minutes to write a letter letting you know how they feel about your substandard broadcast of the World’s Largest Sporting Event. Maybe then you can convince your “pool” provider that they need to step up to the plate as well.
