With that many things going on, Leiweke subscribes to the traditional-teamwork theory of achievement, and he professed a preference for watching a great team with character as opposed to a team of great characters.
Thus the schism between the so-called purists, who by their very identification suggest those who disagree have motives that are less than pure, and the new guard, who see traditionalism as a synonym for fear of change.
The rating game
In Burnett's view of sport, this evolution toward a story-driven formula is inevitable because TV ratings for sports events, by and large, are trending downward.
Adding fuel to his argument is an online survey by Octagon, the sports-marketing agency that is co-sponsoring the two-day conference here with Street & Smith, publisher of Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal.
Conducted two weeks ago among 250 males between the ages of 13 and 34, the survey -- surprise, surprise -- shows that boys and younger men are more amenable to a blurring of the line between sports and entertainment. The younger set (13-24) were much more enthusiastic, for instance, than the older group about the addition of music to sports programming and the presence of celebrities as an enhancement to sports viewing.
"As the competition for viewers continues to increase," said Octagon CEO Rick Dudley, "we will see more and more crossover programming.
"The challenge will be to deliver the right mix of programming to as large an audience as possible without jeopardizing a sport's integrity."
Preserving a sport's integrity means keeping it real. This doesn't mean tinkering is prohibited. A 24-second shot clock here, a designated hitter there, and the sport tends to survive intact. But overpromise and underdeliver, as NBC did with the XFL, and failure is guaranteed.
Just a good yarn
So I hope Burnett will forgive my reluctance in welcoming to the sports world a guy generally considered to be the king of "reality" TV. Burnett says he never considered his shows to be reality, just good storytelling with the boring parts cut out.
What's frightening is that some people are already saying, "Imagine what he could do for sports," while others fear what Burnett might do to sports.
The sports world abounds with great stories, and packaging a competition around a compelling individual saga is a proven way to reel in the casual fan. The would-be tinkerers must remember that, to the serious fan, every game is a good story unto itself -- with a beginning, a middle and, ideally, an end not spliced together in an editing room.
Good sports is always entertaining. Good entertainment isn't necessarily sport.
RSS