|
ESPN didn't really like to take other crews before, and now in the era of budget cuts and elimination of the sportscaster/anchor as a draw, I'd have been surprised to see them take anyone other than Will Buxton. Add even then signing him as a pure grab for some trackside interviews. How much racing does the various ESPN bits do worldwide? I'll admit I know nothing about ESPN outside of the US and was actually surprised anyone else would have wanted the "world-side leader" as they love to tag themselves.
As for FP sessions and even qualy, I expect those in the fall to magically disappear from broadcast on fall Saturdays. Maybe if they are early enough to miss the 14 hours of pregame coverage for college football but I couldn't imagine they would boot Big 10 noon games to ESPN2 for qualifying sessions. And to boot Sportscenter on a Sat or Sunday morning to ESPN2 or News to cover an 8 am US Eastern time?? Most of the season avoids that it's not like ESPN has had a great run of success the last decade, at least NBCSN has tried.
Hopefully this means they have ripped the 500 from ABC's terrible coverage finally. There is supposedly a TV announcement coming soon from Indy so who knows.
Personally hoping FOM/FIA agree to marketing a tape delayed on-demand streaming service on their own or Netflix/Amazon distributed. I rarely watched the races live as it is so waiting until Monday evening or later is fine by me.
|