Chicago Tribune column: Fox launches challenge to ESPN; Realistic about expectations

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In my latest Chicago Tribune column, I write about the biggest story of the year in sports media: The launch of Fox Sports 1 this week. You also can access the column via my Twitter feed.

From the column:

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Fox Sports 1 will make a strong debut, arguably pursuing a more ambitious agenda than NBC Sports Network and CBS Sports Network. It has a healthy menu of live content (college football and basketball, NASCAR, MLB games in 2014, the U.S. Open beginning 2015, World Cup in 2018, and a lot of UFC).

However, it goes beyond live programming. Fox Sports 1 also is developing its own studio shows to compete directly with ESPN. A new daily NFL program features former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, and at 81, Philbin will host the sports version of “The View.”

The centerpiece will be “Fox Sports Live” (daily at 10 p.m.), the network’s answer to “SportsCenter.” It will be a hybrid of anchors reporting news and highlights along with the panel-style debate that ESPN has made so popular. To give the show its own look, Fox imported Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole, who formed an extremely popular and irreverent sports team in Canada. Think Olbermann-Dan Patrick in the ’90s.

Implied in all this is the message is that ESPN is old and stale while the new network is going to be fun and offer a fresh perspective.

“We have to be different. We have to be the alternative,” said Bill Wanger, the executive vice-president for programming for Fox and Fox Sports 1. “Otherwise, people won’t change the channel from ESPN to try Fox Sports 1. Sports isn’t the news of the day. Sports is fun. It is lighter. People see it as an escape and entertainment. We’re going to give people what they need. It’s going to be in the execution and the tone of how we do it that’s going to be different.”

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And then there was this from Wanger:

This is a long-term play for Fox Sports 1. For all its bravado about being the upstart daring to take on the ESPN giant, Fox Sports 1 is realistic about what will happen when it flips the switch on Saturday.

“I’ve always said our success is going to be judged by years, not days and months,” Wanger said. “Quite frankly, our ratings are going to be pretty small in the beginning. All new networks start out small. It takes a while for people to get used to the channel. So we have no illusions of coming out of the gate and being a behemoth. We’re in for the long haul.”

 

 

One thought on “Chicago Tribune column: Fox launches challenge to ESPN; Realistic about expectations”

  1. “Sports isn’t the news of the day. Sports is fun. It is lighter. People see it as an escape and entertainment. We’re going to give people what they need.” — Bill Wanger.

    In other words more non sports related garbage trying to attract a broader audiance. In that respect Fox Sports 1 will be just like ESPN. Hey let’s have game shows, discussions where talking heads scream at each other, made for TV sports themed movies focusing on controversy!

    The dumbing down of America continues.

    Why isn’t simply giving the scores and highlights and having intelligent discussions not enough anymore?

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