Duper Fine
NCAA Final Four -Almost A Very Boring Disaster by Dave Fairbanks
Sports fans are a peculiar crowd. I try not to be guilty of this, but even I fall into the marketing traps sometimes. Which traps am I talking about? The ones that suggest that the most well known names, the most popular teams, are what’s needed in the “big games” or no one will watch. This is a logical fallacy, of course. The only thing the big names do for the big games is make it easier on the people tasked with promoting the big game.
Would the Super Bowl have been “super” if the Green Bay Packers had played the Baltimore Ravens? Well, it might have been a great game, but it wouldn’t have been super. Only the faithful want to watch that one guy go against that other guy, or get sacked by what’s his name. The casual fans, to whom these big games are marketed, want to see the Colts, or the Saints, or the Vikings. They want Payton Manning versus Drew Brees or Bret Favre. They wanted Reggie Bush or Adrian Peterson running the ball.
Those cats are such big names that they transcend the sport itself and crossover into the mainstream zeitgeist, and that’s the stream where sports marketing executives like to fish. Truth be told, the fans want those big matchups too, even if the game with those two other teams might have been the best product that could have been on the field that day.
This same scenario almost happened in the College Basketball tournament, which is set to be trimmed to two teams by Saturday night, with the National Champion crowned on Monday. Had it not been for Michigan State and Duke taking care of their business last weekend, we could have been stuck with a Final Four that consisted of Tennessee, Butler, Baylor, and West Virginia. Say what? Instead, Baylor and Tennessee went home and CBS Sports, I mean college basketball, was saved.
Considering that March Madness is on par with any other major sporting event in this country in terms of marketability and fan appeal, would you have actually tuned in to watch Baylor versus Tennessee for the national championship? Who are those two teams? Where is Baylor even from? Even though they’re actually two very good basketball teams, they’re not “mainstream”, which means the casual fan would be tuning in to House on Fox TV Monday night instead of the National Championship Game.
Fortunately, the Big Game will be assured some level of fireworks. If Butler makes it, they’re just exciting enough to draw a crowd, even if it’s against West Virginia, who’s a damn fine team but not super-duper popular. Should Butler get Duke in the National Championship game, then you’re looking at massive television numbers, which by today’s standard is the measuring stick of success.
So, why is all of this important to us? Because none of us who watch these big games as casual fans want to feel like we’re not part of the club, not part of the gang. When we can drop big names, and talk about how good the big team is, we feel better about ourselves around the water cooler at work the next day.
After all, these sporting events have also transcended their inner circles and have become featured events in casual corners. There is no shortage of fans who watch every major sporting event each year without having watched a single game from the regular season, and that’s okay. In a world filled with eight-second sound bites and the glitz and glimmer that turn these big events into spectacles, no one wants to ever feel like they’re out of the loop.
So here’s to Duke, and here’s to Michigan State. Thank you for saving college basketball. You’ve always been our two favorite teams.
About the Author
One day I’ll get my big break… Maybe not. But at least, after all is said and done, I’ll get to say that I’ve spent an entire career, an entire lifetime, writing, breathing, and living sports. And isn’t that the American dream? Check out my sports blog. I’m always writing on the best and worst the sports world has to offer! Add me on Facebook if you want a friend who won’t shut up about sports!
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