Random thoughts:
This is exactly what the TV producers faced in every race for the past 25 years. Each race boat team and class are convinced that they are more exciting than anyone else. Please consider the following:
1.Each helicopter/camera team costs quite a bit of money, since the sport can't afford more than 2 or 3 at an event, the odds are that most of your "money shots" will occur with no camera pointed in your direction. While you can certainly increase the number of cameras that cost to cover every boat for the entire race is prohibitive. On boards help but there is a cost there as well in editing and shot sheets.
2. The concept of showing "The most exciting parts" when dealing with 8-10-12 classes is NOT good television for the average viewer and only confuses him or her. Bottom line the only thing better than showing two classes...is showing one class.
3. You may think that you are down right amazing after vaulting 15-20 feet in the air.... but without a competition context it means nothing to the average snook (not to mention the fact that your props are out of the water and therefore your horsepower is not pushing you forward). In addition video flattens waves and also the height of your air unless the pilot and camera man get into some hairy NNRT like positions. At the end of the day nothing you could do with an F-1 boat comes close to those Extreme Motorcycle jumping guys anyway. The point is, to misquote a political pundit "It's about the racing, stupid!".
4. Interviews and personality development is a major piece as well. For a number of years (20) I had the role of conducting most of the pre and post race interviews for the various networks (pretty good feat considering I also flew all of the races to create the story, and had to race to and from the airport). The problem was always the same.... bland vanilla comments or over the top screaming. Very few people gave good candid comments or referred to other racers with anything but platitudes. "I love good ol' Ralph...He's a great competitor" is something that nobody wants to watch or hear. "Ralph is crafty and I wonder if his lower units will pass inspection"...is LOT more interesting...but nobody said it. Watch Tony Stewart...He's a genius at creating interest. .... or Michael Waltrip, who has low talent but high fan appeal. The point is neither of these guys are constantly shouting "In your face" nonsense, but both of them glue people to the tube and speak candidly to the camera. The sport needs good guys and bad guys but most of all it needs people who consistently race each other and who become familiar to the viewer. Again, you can't develop those relationships with a bunch of classes separating the key players.
As I read this thread I see the same old issue. Guys in 12 classes all talking about getting sponsorships based on TV coverage..... This why you have burned through so many corporate backers....... Because there is not enough bang for the buck if you don't solve the competition model....before....you do anything else.
This is not the first time that Offshore has been on TV in fact it has been on for almost 30 years and on at least 8 networks..........Something has to change because doing the same things will yield the same result.
T2x
