Shooting game as spectator sport...

[Slavex]

Svetlana over in Europe covers the stage with cameras to record her and anyone else of interest at major matches she attends. The production value of the end video is amazing and more exciting than most I've seen. But, given her wealth, it's easy for her to do. It would be nice to see a major network invest even 1/10th the budget they put into poker tournaments for IPSC/USPSA matches. It would not be hard to have almost live coverage with good angles on targets, and hit factors/scores being shown as they happen. Proper squading would enable excitement for an entire show no problem. If it was shown after the match a good production team could wrap up a major match in a couple days easy. But again, money.
I shoot a variety of matches and I've found that so long as I had a vested interest in the match, I didn't mind watching the other people shoot. Even when I shoot our local sniper champs, watching the other guys on the Agony stage was enjoyable, and that is 45-60 minutes, minimum, of laying behind a gun with 10 shoot target exposures and unknown number of no shoot exposures. In fact I think it was better to watch than do. But to the non competitor it was probably worse than watching grass grow.
There really is no reason our sports shouldn't be as exciting to watch as say golf or tennis, if produced properly. But it would take a lot of money and good luck to pull it off commercially.

[BaiHu]

....It would not be hard to have almost live coverage with good angles on targets, and hit factors/scores being shown as they happen. Proper squading would enable excitement for an entire show no problem. If it was shown after the match a good production team could wrap up a major match in a couple days easy. But again, money.
......
There really is no reason our sports shouldn't be as exciting to watch as say golf or tennis, if produced properly. But it would take a lot of money and good luck to pull it off commercially.

Maybe my noobness is showing, but why wouldn't Bianchi, IPSC, USPSA, etc be interested in approaching major gun, ammo and apparel manufacturers to front the money in exchange for advertising? This seems like a no brainer to me. Well known shooters could host and walk the viewer through the basics of the rules, well known competitors would draw the crowd. I must be missing something.



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[jetfire]

It's a money issue. The richest handgun tournament in terms of sponsorship dollars is Bianchi Cup. MidwayUSA kicks them something like 100k every year. It would cost another 100k on top of that to do a show on Outdoor Channel with the level of production values you're talking about, and even then the ROI for that 100k isn't great, because ratings on OC aren't awesome. The real trick would be to get a show on Fox Sports 1 or ESPN, but that'll happen when me s*** turns purple and smells like rainbow sorbet.

[BaiHu]

I follow you, but why wouldn't the gun companies, ammo mfrs, etc also kick in?

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[Chris Rhines]

I follow you, but why wouldn't the gun companies, ammo mfrs, etc also kick in?

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They do, to some extent. Most of these companies don't have much in the way of advertising cash to spend on sponsorships, and the ones that do want a better ROI than you get from sponsoring a non-televised match.

[jetfire]

I follow you, but why wouldn't the gun companies, ammo mfrs, etc also kick in?

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The biggest reason is risk. Let's say that I'm Glock, and I have Glock money to market stuff. I know that if I spend X00,000 on print/web/TV advertising that I'm going to reach X-number of potential customers. That's a fairly easy and safe ROI calculation. Now, compare that to spending the same X00,000 dollars to sponsoring the television production of a match match like Bianchi or Steel Challenge, and I have no idea what I'm going to get for my money. The thing is that the current shows that cover those matches do a good enough job and get good enough ratings on OC that it's not worth the risk of investing large amounts of money to get better coverage and exposure in the mainstream market.

Most gun companies don't need "mainstream" appeal, as it were. It would take a sponsor like Chevy, Budweiser, or Red Bull coming on board with the shooter sports to drive that, because they would have a financial interest in attracting their existing extreme sport customers to the shooting sports.

[Slavex]

I would wear a ballerina outfit (except for the shoes) to get Redbull to sponsor a major match. In the US market it amazes me that the big networks are still scared to showcase the shooting sports. Look at the big match they just had over in the middle east, sporting clays. First match ever in Dubai, I think it was, a million in prizes, $350 entry fee that is refunded when you show up for the match, cars, trucks and cash prizes down to at least 30th place. Food, drink, everything free including ammo and targets. All funded by sponsors.

[jetfire]

I would wear a ballerina outfit (except for the shoes) to get Redbull to sponsor a major match. In the US market it amazes me that the big networks are still scared to showcase the shooting sports. Look at the big match they just had over in the middle east, sporting clays. First match ever in Dubai, I think it was, a million in prizes, $350 entry fee that is refunded when you show up for the match, cars, trucks and cash prizes down to at least 30th place. Food, drink, everything free including ammo and targets. All funded by sponsors.

The shotgun sports are completely different than the action sports even in the States - there are cash payouts in the six figures here for shotgun stuff.

[Urban_Redneck]

The tech is easy.

The vocal, if not hysterical, sub set of the general population that sees action shooting as a blueprint to "mass" shooting is what (put) keeps shooting on the tier 3 channels. Advertisers, producers, and networks, are naturally adverse to negative publicity and threatened boycotts.

Case in point- the average city dweller has a deep visceral hate of pigeons and the filth they rain down upon structures, statues, and their best clothes. However, relocate that pigeon to a box in the center of the ring to fulfill it's destiny, and you are barbarians worthy of pickets, demonstrations, and smear campaigns.

In our present culture of outrage, the loudest voice calls the tune.

YMMV

[BaiHu]

Thanks. All of that makes sense.

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