Americanization of UK Sports Presentation
Over the last couple of years or so it's started to really grind me of the way sports events - particularly football - here in the UK are presented to its viewers. The over-use of buzzwords broadcasters like Sky Sports use are becoming more and more Americanized. And I don't think it works in the UK. It might be considered acceptable or even the norm Stateside, but the moans and groans this side of the pond are unsurprising.
Take when you have two or three of the Premier League title hopefuls playing on the same Sunday, Sky Sports have taken to naming it "Grandslam Sunday". Sounds more suited to Tennis to me. This Sunday the Premier League draws to it's conclusion, and five teams could all potentially suffer relegation. To the neutral this is an exciting scenario where you'll let Jeff and the panel take you through all the permutations. But to fans of those clubs - Wigan, Blackpool, Birmingham, Wolves and Blackburn - those permutations have already been considered over and over. Two of those teams will join West Ham in the second tier of English Professional football. It's stated that those unfortunate enough to lose their Premier League status will cost them in-and-around the £40m mark. Sky is marketing this as "Survival Sunday". Oh please, spare us these buzzwords. Please?
We've also been given the 'benefit' of the more US style presentation in the 'WalkOn' where as the lineups are presented, the players are shown to walk towards the camera. Personally I was always happy enough with a static representation of the pitch and a block with the player's name and number. Simple but effective.
On the flipside of these criticisms there is no doubting that Sky have the absolute pinnacle of Sports Broadcasting in the UK. All the camera angles you could ever dream of, your pick of highlights at matchdays end, the pre and post-analysis of Soccer Saturday, Sunday's Goals on Sunday, commentary teams that aren't just experts, but actually have chemistry, and for those who like the numbers, in-depth statistics supplied by Opta.
Paul Merson in the studio billing games with no real significance (Chelsea - Newcastle, Arsenal - Aston Villa) as massive is cringeworthy. I've no problem with Merse, but it seems as if Sky are keen to take any spin to make even the least important games at this point in the season appear to have some significance. I don't think anybody is fooled though. Fortunatley, rather than being to dire end-of-season affairs, both were actually pretty entertaining affairs, but you have to wonder why West Ham - Wigan wasn't one of the games chosen for broadcast. One can only assume that Sky had predicted the title race to go to the wire.
Rather than all the fancy graphics and trying to oversell every game, why don't we just let the matches do the talking?
Take when you have two or three of the Premier League title hopefuls playing on the same Sunday, Sky Sports have taken to naming it "Grandslam Sunday". Sounds more suited to Tennis to me. This Sunday the Premier League draws to it's conclusion, and five teams could all potentially suffer relegation. To the neutral this is an exciting scenario where you'll let Jeff and the panel take you through all the permutations. But to fans of those clubs - Wigan, Blackpool, Birmingham, Wolves and Blackburn - those permutations have already been considered over and over. Two of those teams will join West Ham in the second tier of English Professional football. It's stated that those unfortunate enough to lose their Premier League status will cost them in-and-around the £40m mark. Sky is marketing this as "Survival Sunday". Oh please, spare us these buzzwords. Please?
We've also been given the 'benefit' of the more US style presentation in the 'WalkOn' where as the lineups are presented, the players are shown to walk towards the camera. Personally I was always happy enough with a static representation of the pitch and a block with the player's name and number. Simple but effective.
On the flipside of these criticisms there is no doubting that Sky have the absolute pinnacle of Sports Broadcasting in the UK. All the camera angles you could ever dream of, your pick of highlights at matchdays end, the pre and post-analysis of Soccer Saturday, Sunday's Goals on Sunday, commentary teams that aren't just experts, but actually have chemistry, and for those who like the numbers, in-depth statistics supplied by Opta.
Paul Merson in the studio billing games with no real significance (Chelsea - Newcastle, Arsenal - Aston Villa) as massive is cringeworthy. I've no problem with Merse, but it seems as if Sky are keen to take any spin to make even the least important games at this point in the season appear to have some significance. I don't think anybody is fooled though. Fortunatley, rather than being to dire end-of-season affairs, both were actually pretty entertaining affairs, but you have to wonder why West Ham - Wigan wasn't one of the games chosen for broadcast. One can only assume that Sky had predicted the title race to go to the wire.
Rather than all the fancy graphics and trying to oversell every game, why don't we just let the matches do the talking?
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