What would it take to make orienteering a good TV sport?

I suppose it could be an interesting sport even for couch-bound folks Afterall, the Eco-Challenge -- which has a lot in common with orienteering -- gets lots of coverage.

-- Michael Eglinski (meglin@juno.com), September 05, 1999

Answers

I'm not sure, but as a potential course designer I would have to think either pirahnas or hungry lions would have to be involved.

A note from Spike:

This message was originally posted with a fake e-mail address. This is not a good idea. The person who wrote the software and is providing the web space (at no cost to us) says that illegitimate e-mail addresses cause the forum software to have some trouble. So, please use a legitimate e-mail address whenever you post.

You will also note that the software allows me -- the page administrator -- to edit messages. I can also delete messages. I don't plan to edit or delete messages except in rare occassions. (It should be noted that I have not changed the content of this message except to add my note and to replace the e-mail address with my address).

-- Sir W. M. Swampfox (meglin@juno.com), September 06, 1999.

Orienteering on TV would probably be interesting for orienteers no matter what was shown, but I suspect a lot of work would have to be done putting cameras out in the woods to make it really entertaining for couch potatoes. Even then I suspect it wouldn't reach the popularity of Monday Night Football. There are many reasons for this. One of them is that most people couldn't see themselves orienteering, because they can't relate to orienteers. It's just too hard. On the other hand, when compared to other racing sports, an orienteering race is usually harder to predict. That could make it interesting.

I shudder to think what the first nationally televised orienteering race in the US would be like. I can imagine the TV announcers explaining in very simplistic terms what orienteering is to the public, cutting away quickly to a "human interest" story, then flipping back to show a few finishers. It could be worse than NBC coverage of such olympic sports as cycling.

PS - I think I speak for many people here. We would like to know who sent the fake email address and what that address was.

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), September 06, 1999.

Mountain bike racing is a bit similar to O' -- most of the event happens out in the forest, spectators don't usually see more than one point of the course, and parts of the event can be spectacular (e.g. a bike or orienteering splashing through a stream crossing). Mountain bike racing gets some coverage on TV. Maybe orienteering could be covered in a similar way?

This afternoon I saw an hour of NBC coverage of the US mtb champs and got discouraged. The coverage was hideous. Both of the women's cross country events were covered as "music videos" -- there were shots of bikes rolling along, close ups of chains, lots of fast cutting, and a U2 song in the background. NBC didn't even pretend to try to cover the race as a sporting event. The men's coverage was a bit better. There was much less music and fast cutting of scenes. But, the commentators distinguished themselves only by their innane comentary.

-- Spike (mike_eglinski@kcmo.org), September 11, 1999.