Discovery / Warner Bros / Eurosport Talking About Covering the World Cup 2023-2030 97

It's happening.

iceman2058
6/14/2022 9:29am
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Want to hear what the future organizers and media producers of the mountain bike World Cup have to say about their plans? Here's your chance to get the full story straight from the horse's mouth. Watch the video below to hear directly from all the major players involved, including the president of the UCI and the CEO of the EWS/ESO, Chris Ball. Let us know what you think about it all in the comments!

 

Related:
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup
UCI Enduro World Cup (EDR)
UCI
97 comments

View replies to: Discovery / Warner Bros / Eurosport Talking About Covering the World Cup 2023-2030

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8p8
1 year ago
For sure they are able to make a great show, the point will be if they will..
Then I hope to ear the VOICE of the MTB, Mr. Rob :Look at he time", especially in the beginning, than I suggest to match with him the VOICE of Enduro ,Mr. Guala"THE POPE".because the commentator is crucially. Then... we will see. Ciao
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human powered suicide machine
1 year ago
Everybody wants the sport to be better and bigger but I don't think, it means the same thing for everybody and I don't think the quality of a broadcast is necessarily beneficial for mountain bikers.

In the best scenario, WB will produce a great show enjoyable to enthusiasts and mainstream audiences, for that they need to showcase a pool of 20 well-known racers battling on scenic locations years after years with the occasional outsiders (same formula than red bull rampage). Eventually, it becomes enjoyable enough for corporate sponsors to provide a decent living wage to our 20 racers-entertainers.
What does it do to provide trail access, local racing opportunities and grassroots racers support: close to nothing.
Does it make bikes cheaper and better: maybe, maybe not
Does it make mountain biking more enjoyable: absolutely not.

I have heard for 30 years that the sport needs to grow but does it really make it better for users if their sport is less a niche and more mainstream.

Genuine and honest question: is there an example of a niche sport that became more mainstream AND better for its users because of the broadcast quality.

(I'm not a specialist, maybe BMX got better because of the Olympic effect but I reckon is more because of the different federation efforts than the media exposure itself)
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owl-x
1 year ago
no cool action sports have become better by money / exposure. But DH racing is more racing than it is action sport, in my opinion so it's less of a concern than for skateboarding or bmx. I find it precious that MTBers even dare tread the freestyle waters next to bmx or skateboarding...even snowboarding LOL

but um yeah I think DH racing can weather an influx of big biz corniness better than a subjectively judged action sport...it's jockish already. Racing! I just want to watch the best riders show up and race their bikes. That's enough!
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kcy4130
1 year ago
I shouldn't be so pessimistic, but this and the pb ama have provided some fairly legit reasons to be so. It makes me wonder what sort of escape clauses are in the contract. Like if disco finds live coverage to be unprofitable and pulls the plug after a couple years, will uci be able to terminate the agreement early and give the rights to some other media company?

I, like everyone am most concerned with dh and if I'll be able to watch it anymore. But let's not forget how much xc was improved (from a viewer pov) from several years ago. I got the impression that it was mostly Redbull responsible for xc becoming enjoyable to watch, like actual mtb with some techy descents and such.
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derelict
1 year ago
That was the worst thing I have ever seen. It was 100% a corporate hype event. The repeated use of "stakeholders" made me want to throw my computer. Then, the guy, who is the motorsports guy, is shocked that a biking series has factory support? Has he never seen a Tour de France?
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mickey
1 year ago
I see lots of rage here, but not enough directed toward gravel racing. Remember that the bicycle industry doesn’t actually like mtb racing any more- and that the brands are wasting tons of money on big dumb corporate gravel stuff.

Mtb does kinda need a savior right now- the Outside behemoth is far too focused on “Participation Based Cycling” to do anything for real mtb racing.

All this hate towards the “new guys” when there is already plenty of invective that should be funneled toward the most recent media roll-up.
This forum is almost all Americans. Let’s complain about our own shitty dhi and xco national series first!
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Ahab
1 year ago
These guys are not your savior. Mans talking about biathlon as an idea to "elevate" the sport. I hope Chris Ball died a little inside hearing that because I sure as fuck did.
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jonkranked
1 year ago
i don't see the hate being misguided. it's not because they're new, its because they've already demonstrated a lack of knowledge regarding how the sport of mountain bike racing operates. plus the coverage they've put out on EWS isn't exactly confidence inspiring
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iceman2058
1 year ago
I don't know this for a fact, but I don't believe we've seen any of the Discovery-produced EWS content yet. We're probably in some kind of transition period, waiting for it all to kick off in earnest in 2023. I could be wrong, but I'd be very surprised if "taking the sport of mountain biking into a new era" translated to 2 POV videos and a decidedly mediocre highlights package...
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iceman2058
1 year ago
It's related for sure, they're all part of the same group now. I just don't think we've seen any of the "real" Discovery resources thrown at it properly yet, at least not in the sense described as these sweeping changes that are about to come. I certainly hope we haven't seen anything yet, in any case...
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jonkranked
1 year ago
@iceman2058 gotcha, thanks for clarifying. for some reason i had been under the impression they were a bit more involved with the production at this point.
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chriskief
1 year ago
Not sure about EWS, but they have been producing other cycling content already.

https://media.discoverysports.com/post/discovery-sports-unveils-unrival…

This note at the bottom may be an indicator of what to expect next year...

*Live cycling will be available to stream on discovery+ in the Denmark, Finland, Italy, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and the UK. Eurosport’s linear channels will serve 50 markets in Europe with streaming on the Eurosport App. GCN+ will offer streaming and added content in 208 territories.

Pricing for GCN+ - Purchase an annual subscription for £39.99GBP/$49.99USD/$59.99CAD or a monthly subscription for £6.99GBP/$8.99USD/$11.99CAD.
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veefour
1 year ago
Safe to say we haven't seen any Discovery produced content yet, we'd be paying by now if that was the case. What is worrying is that Jack Moir and Jesse Melamed can produce more compelling entertainment with their GoPros than ESO can with their resources.
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iceman2058
1 year ago
UPDATE: we've been asked by the ESO to take down the slides that we previously shared in this post. Those slides were part of a set of working documents meant to inform the team managers and other internal stakeholders of the plans and processes in place, and were not meant for public consumption. They stressed that they will of course endeavor to keep the fans informed as soon as the relevant key decisions are actually taken and enacted.
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Ahab
1 year ago
I'd want it taken down too if I were them. That deck really showed their asses about how unprepared they are.

Tick tock tick tock tick tock
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jonkranked
1 year ago
wanted to add, in all fairness to Chris (who oversees the EWS), he was being asked questions that need to be answered by Discovery
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Ahab
1 year ago
To be unfair, they should have known a lot of those questions (mainly about paywalls) would come up and should have prepared CB with better responses
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MatadorCE
1 year ago
LMFAO Corporate translation: "you mean these simpletons are capable of seeing through our marketing BS? how many of them are there? Oh boy, we better get these taken down before they look further behind the curtain!"
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JerseyMojo
1 year ago
The whole fake studio green screen setup looks awful.. If they can't even get the announcement video looking polished, they've got no chance!
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veefour
1 year ago
I'm interested to see where they're going to hold the test event DH race in Europe in February.
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jonkranked
1 year ago
so has anyone made buzzword drinking bingo for this video? or are we worried that would result in alcohol poisoning?
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ride_stuff
1 year ago
I'm less than a minute in, and wow that terrible intro!
Reminds me of a multimedia project I did in grade 10 (& I didn't get a good grade...)
Was it just me, or did the GOAT look real uncomfortable participating?
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StudBeefpile
1 year ago
Obviously all this is speculation but damn I'm worried. Loved that you could watch the full replay whenever. Living in the PST time zone I would normally wake up, go for a quick ride and then watch the full replay at my leisure. As long as you stayed off social media it was like watching live.

Also bummed that we wont be hearing Rob, Elliot or Tracey any more. Whats the chance that they find some dude who have never even ridden a bike to commentate this?
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jonkranked
1 year ago
unfortunately gilbert gottfried passed away.

"JESUS F**KING CHRIST PEOPLE CAN JUMP BIKES LIKE THAT? HOLY SHIT"
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veefour
1 year ago
Listening to Carlton Kirby commentating on road racing tells you all you need to know regards their attitude towards informed commentary.
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Ahab
1 year ago
That video was weird and these slides are terrifying. 2023 is tomorrow and their shit is not together.
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Salespunk
1 year ago
All I can think of is Olympics coverage. "And now back to the studio" after we see 2 minutes of coverage.

This is going to be ugly from what we are seeing so far. No live coverage, instead some highly edited hits reel with 40% of the 30 minute show dedicated to commercials.
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Alexptdmg
1 year ago
Sounds like it could be what happened to XC at first when it became Olympic. Short small loop in the cities so it can be covered the whole time and easy crowd to gather around. Made it all cyclocross style instead of big loop in the back country.

Xc is in a better place now, but it almost took 30 years since that switch to the Olympic sport.

There is catch 22 here because everyone talk about athlete and prize money being higher, but also everything needing to stay free to watch and no adds. Where would the extra money come from if everything is free?

The hope is that their “work group” of expert know the sport enough to bring it in the right direction, but so far It s not looking good...
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sspomer
1 year ago
are people bummed about the ads on a red bull broadcast? i can't say i've ever noticed them in a way that detracted from the watching experience.
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smelly
1 year ago
Nope. Barely notice them, and when I do at least they’re not for type 2 diabetes medicines
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owl-x
1 year ago
the scheduling pdf seems to put the max races at nine.

and worlds.

that's better than six.
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bizutch
1 year ago
Remember when the US Open first arrived & was a fully open 2 class race for anyone who wanted to try to qualify for top 60. No sanctioning body, bigger prize money than USAC was offering.

If Red Bull wants to keep the racing, they just need to jump on that format & offer far more prize money. Problem solved. Just gotta get those (stereotype) murdering Saudi oil barons to shift capital from the LIV golf tour to us.
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bizutch
1 year ago
By "Test Event", the only thing you need to read into that is URBAN!!! That is the only way for a monster corporation to capitalize on a niche sport. And if it's February, they're eyeing a city race in South America likely. Or is there southern European or African urban hill I'm forgetting about that will have a megapolis type feel?
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ollypops
1 year ago
Now if I was Red Bull I’d be making all sorts of events like Hardline to showcase dh racing in a better way on better bigger techy tracks built by the best riders in the world and that could easily become the more popular discipline if it gets more viewers and ultimately sponsorships for riders
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