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Interesting article examining SEC bias / amount of coverage on ESPN Gameday

SuperD

SuperD

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Author essentially used a stopwatch to track how much time was spent covering the SEC and it worked out to be 4 times as much coverage compared to the next most covered conference (which incidentally was the B10). That was at the Gameday episode in Baton Rouge, so he then tracked the episode at West Viriginia and the SEC still got more than twice as much air time as the next conference which was the B12 this time (and I think after the news on the prior episodes results came out). So yeah people's perception of the ESPN SEC hype machine is not that off base.

http://awfulannouncing.com/2014/col..._campaign=college-gameday-clock-west-virginia
 
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If the hype shows (and that's what CGD is) spend lots of time talking about certain teams/conferences, most people will think those teams/conferences are good without consideration of any other info. Glad someone is keepin track.
 
i met a girl in florida last week who's thesis was written on SEC bias in the media
lovelove.gif
 
The allegations seem to really push Fowlers buttons since he has responded on the topic via twitter and i think in the article comments as well, but its really tough to argue the numbers, especially when you have SEC matchups with a ranked vs unranked team getting way more coverage than match ups between two ranked P12 teams, although I get that you can argue relevance when they are teams in the top 4. The problem is all that chatter results in hype/talking up of the unranked team they are playing which ends influencing the perception of the conference as a whole.

Ultimately its good to see this topic getting coverage since it may force ESPN to rein things in a little bit.
 
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SuperD said:
The allegations seem to really push Fowlers buttons since he has responded on the topic via twitter and i think in the article comments as well, but its really tough to argue the numbers, especially when you have SEC matchups with a ranked vs unranked team getting way more coverage than match ups between two ranked P12 teams, although I get that you can argue relevance when they are teams in the top 4. The problem is all that chatter results in hype/talking up of the unranked team they are playing which ends influencing the perception of the conference as a whole.

Ultimately its good to see this topic getting coverage since it may force ESPN to reign things in a little bit.
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Don't hold your breath.
 
heh. Fowler's arguments in the comments are lacking. Hope they track this all year. Not to mention insporstcenter on saturdays.
 
everyone wants to be associated with winners. Sports have always been like that, why would the premiere sports network be any different?
 
**** espn! I hardly ever watch CGD or SC anymore. Can't stand them. I probably would watch more if CU was good though.

I turned on SC the other morning at work. It was ALL Lebron ALL the time. I turned it off after about a half hour of that crap.
 
buff190 said:
**** espn! I hardly ever watch CGD or SC anymore. Can't stand them. I probably would watch more if CU was good though.

I turned on SC the other morning at work. It was ALL Lebron ALL the time. I turned it off after about a half hour of that crap.
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This. I watch PAC12 networks. I think Yam and Neuheisel are very good. Conway and Aliotti are good, but need refining. Plummer...I just find him awkward and difficult to watch.
 
buff190 said:
**** espn! I hardly ever watch CGD or SC anymore. Can't stand them. I probably would watch more if CU was good though.

I turned on SC the other morning at work. It was ALL Lebron ALL the time. I turned it off after about a half hour of that crap.
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This may be the only benefit to CU being bad right now, is that I can forego GameDay. It used to be must-see, now it's a test of how much SEC boasting one can tolerate. If CU were ranked right now, I would watch all three hours just to see the ten minutes they discussed the PAC 12.
 
BuffUp said:
everyone wants to be associated with winners. Sports have always been like that, why would the premiere sports network be any different?
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Then why the 10 minutes on Will Muschamp and potential replacements at Florida? Doubt they are giving 10 minutes to Michigan which is the number 1 program in all time wins.

If ESPN wants to cover all SEC all of the time, then that is their right. But if they are covering SEC much more heavily than everybody else, while screaming at the top of their lungs that they aren't, then I am annoyed because they are lying.
 
BuffUp said:
everyone wants to be associated with winners. Sports have always been like that, why would the premiere sports network be any different?
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I can't tell if this is tongue-in-cheek or not. The issue is that there is little evidence aside from rankings which suggests that the SEC is a superior conference, and those rankings are driven by hype.
 
I can see Fowler standing up for his journalistic integrity, and his co-workers maybe, but it's so obvious ESPN Corporate ultimately directs the content, and they are definitely in bed with the SEC long term.

Even ESPNU was basically the SEC Network in training for the last several years. Why move those studios to Charlotte when they've been doing almost everything out of Bristol all these years? One of the 4-5 shows that channel's been running this whole time was SEC Storied. They've been building towards this summer for a long time.
 
College football Live today seems to be going out of their way to not talk SEC today. Lots of B12 talk.
 
SuperD said:
Author essentially used a stopwatch to track how much time was spent covering the SEC and it worked out to be 4 times as much coverage compared to the next most covered conference (which incidentally was the B10). That was at the Gameday episode in Baton Rouge, so he then tracked the episode at West Viriginia and the SEC still got more than twice as much air time as the next conference which was the B12 this time (and I think after the news on the prior episodes results came out). So yeah people's perception of the ESPN SEC hype machine is not that off base.

http://awfulannouncing.com/2014/col..._campaign=college-gameday-clock-west-virginia
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My take...
I would look at the "hype" in a different, maybe less cynical way. Where is college football most popular? By any measure, the southeast, right? ESPN makes money by selling ads and selling content to cable providers. Higher ratings equal more money for ESPN, of course. They are in business to make money like any other business. ESPN's college football bread is buttered in the southeast. Mediocre teams like Tennessee have twice the attendance of even top level teams in the p12. Why would they not focus on the SEC? I used to live in LA and UCLA's fan base doesn't treat football as life or death like they do in the southeast. ESPN is entertainment first. The are not some kind of non-profit journalistic entity with a mission to find and report the truth in an unbiased manner. It's all about entertainment. Don't be confused because the studio shows kind of look like "the news" with guys in suits sitting behind desks. This is not the The MacNeil/Lehrer Report.

It's obvious what they are doing, but I don't have a problem with it. ESPN is giving the masses what they want.
 
I don't know why Fowler would waste his breath. ESPN blew its load on 'journalistic integrity' when it came out that they first forced SC anchors to talk about Tim Tebow and then told them they couldn't talk about him anymore. Anyone who think ESPN is 'journalism' at this point needs to have their head examined.
 
CarolinaBuff said:
The ESPN hype is so bad that now it's even affecting the computer rankings:

http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s=cf&sub=FBS
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/fplus
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/
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Carolina, I don't think anyone is saying that the SEC isn't good, particularly at the top. The bias comes in the amount of coverage the conference gets from the network that also happens to run the SEC network. It also shows up in the conference pumping the mid-level SEC teams as being great too. Heard someone on ESPN the other day say it was ridiculous that Missouri wasn't in the top 25. Really?
 
J.R. Ewing said:
Carolina, I don't think anyone is saying that the SEC isn't good, particularly at the top. The bias comes in the amount of coverage the conference gets from the network that also happens to run the SEC network. It also shows up in the conference pumping the mid-level SEC teams as being great too. Heard someone on ESPN the other day say it was ridiculous that Missouri wasn't in the top 25. Really?
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The SEC is good. But in my opinion they are not as good as the rankings of their teams would indicated for the last several years.

Argument: But, but, but...a sting of national championships!
Rebuttal: The inflated rankings permitted SEC teams with the same record to play in those championships.

Argument: But, but, but...look how high they are ranked in the polls!
Rebuttal: My point exactly.

MY Argument: The rankings seldom hold water when tested in out-of-conference play.
 
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