Say Goodbye to Tape Delay! ESPN Snatches Wimbledon Rights from NBC

Thank you for this article. Whether it is NBC or ESPN, what’s important to me is we get to see the games on TV. http://www.tennisround.com

July 5th, 2011 at 4:08 pm

NBC learned its lesson: Wimbledon prefers its event covered live

July 5th, 2011 at 4:36 pm

This is GREAT news! ESPN does a fantastic job of covering all competitive matches, not just matches with a marquee name (like NBC). They also have Darren Cahill, one of the best commentators.

July 5th, 2011 at 5:13 pm

ESPN should only stop chatting too much. it could then be a good coverage.

July 5th, 2011 at 5:54 pm

yes, kimmi-less time chatting and less time “in the studio” and with montages, etc. ha!

July 5th, 2011 at 6:46 pm

Kimmi, 100% agree. :)

July 5th, 2011 at 6:48 pm

ESPN’s coverage is along the lines of a sports desk format and not for the actual broadcasting of the matches being played. The purpose of the desk is that of analyses, interviews and discussions. ESPN does feature a few matches and they switch back and forth between those so as to facilitate their commentaries. Due to the dsk and commentators role in ESPN coverage it’s the reason they have set up ESPN3.com for only match viewing. I’ve heard the commentators state many times that all of the matches are being shown on ESPN3 for those who want to see them. That said, I don’t think we can expect ESPN to show matches in their entirety as it will defeat the role or purpose of the ESPN commentators’desk.

July 5th, 2011 at 6:58 pm

Thank god no more John McEnroe. He sounds like the rambling drunk at the end of the bar who won’t shut the f+ck up. Good riddance!

July 5th, 2011 at 7:57 pm

Hooray for ESPN! NBC’s commentary team drives me to turn off the sound part way through every GS final. I agree with RZ – Darren Cahill is terrific. Now if ESPN will just retire Dick Enberg and leave Hannah Storm at home, I will be one entirely contented tennis addict. But I worry about this increasing move to shift match coverage to ESPN3.com. We can’t get this in Canada, probably because the ESPN feed comes through TSN -and as a Mac user I don’t seem to have the option to subscribe to a package to receive the matches directly on line.

July 5th, 2011 at 8:16 pm

Word Trilby. Word.

July 6th, 2011 at 12:08 am

Trilby, you’re right about Hannah Storm. I don’t remember her being so bad during her NBC days, but she was certainly embarrassing this time around, calling Michael Russell “Michael Young” repeatedly and saying that Caroline Wozniacki was from Germany (at least she corrected herself on that latter point).

Kimmi, I agree that they talk too much but sadly that’s the way any American network will cover any sport. At least with Darren Cahill and Brad Gilbert we get a bit more about the game and strategy and less gossipy stuff, and those guys are willing to take a break from talking unlike John McEnroe and Mary Carillo.

What I’m most looking forward to is seeing different matches being played. I like ESPN’s format of switching to courts that have some excitement going on rather than NBC’s strategy of sticking with a marquee name routing a lesser player.

July 6th, 2011 at 2:24 pm

Oh come on! ESPN? really guys? Remember when the us network had french and us open. Everybody loves the carrilo robinson and mac team… now it appears thats gone. IS this gonna be on ABC? I mean they are losing viewership! In canada, we get bbc coverage once n a while its awesome. Heheh anyways thats my rant…. its not too bad i guess

July 6th, 2011 at 2:28 pm

By the way what happened to Mal Washington

July 6th, 2011 at 2:28 pm

Good riddance. Any broadcaster that doesn’t show a tennis grand slam live and especially finals should have no right to broadcast one ever.

July 6th, 2011 at 4:03 pm

Cahill is a shill for the players who share the same shoe company as he does, compromising his commentary. If he were American, everyone would jump on him for that, but since he’s an Aussie, no one notices.

John McEnroe is the best commentator I’ve ever heard in any sport. Although I’m glad more tennis will be on live, I’m sad that we’ll be subjected to the yackety-yack style of ESPN. NBC actually showed more tennis per hour than ESPN.

July 6th, 2011 at 4:50 pm

Mike, I’d prefer the BBC but we don’t get it here in the states, so ESPN is as good as it gets.

Funches, there are SO many conflicts of interest when it comes to tennis commentary that Cahill is just the tip of the iceberg: e.g., Mary Jo Fernandez is married to Roger Federer’s agent and is still allowed to weigh in on his matches and interview him; Patrick MacEnroe used to captain Davis Cup but that didn’t stop him from being allowed to commentate on Andy Roddick’s matches; Chris Evert used to be Martina Hingis’s WTA mentor but that didn’t stop her from being allowed to commentate on her matches, etc., etc., etc. Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated has pointed out many, many examples over the years. I used to like John McEnroe when he first started doing commentary but now can’t stand him, mostly because he no longer has anything new to say and yet won’t stop talking.

July 6th, 2011 at 6:05 pm

This is the best thing to happen to tennis in the US in a few years. NBC has done a horrible job bringing tennis to more and more American eyeballs.

July 6th, 2011 at 6:51 pm

I like McEnroe as a commentator, we see a bit of him on the BBC. He doesn’t take kindly to being corrected. Tracy Austin was saying how Sharapova was being given a dose of her own medicine by Kvitova, and this was a new experience for her. McEnroe interrupted to say the Williams sisters had given Sharpie some torrid times. Austin dismissed this as irrelevant, Kvitova being a flat hitter, like the Sharp herself. Ensuing silence from McEnroe drowning out any other sounds…

I also liked McEnroe because he kept the ambitious pipsqueak Andrew Castle under control. No longer, alas. The other day, as Castle was lording it in the commentary box, McEnroe popped in, a bit late. Castle greeted him genially, congratulating him on his snappy attire with just a hint of condescension in his voice. McEnroe felt it, judging by his slightly grumpy response, but seemed a bit nonplussed. Castle continued as if he were the senior commentator, and McEnroe did once or twice quite sharply put him down, but you could see it was a losing battle.The oleaginous Castle is now the BBC blue-eyed boy, McEnroe an eccentric bit player. I am appalled, quite frankly.

July 6th, 2011 at 7:38 pm

Fuches,
agreed mac is the best commentator in all sports.

Up there with Bill russell and that scottish guy on the pga tour. He’s fair and balanced. And he has fun with it , with a quirky sense of humour.

I remember back in like 00 he broadcasted a whole day at the french with no one else in the booth. It was so funny…he ended up singing willie nelson songs hahaha. Does anyone remember the time he went wild on the us open and starting walking around the sites interviewing people all afternoon. This guy brings the fun!

July 6th, 2011 at 11:00 pm

I like J-Mac too, always have, because he isn’t a slave to the latest narratives. He just calls it like he sees it based on his own experience as a player but also on his love of the game. The man loves tennis. He is cool too.

July 7th, 2011 at 1:10 am

Ack! Didn’t think about the loss of Jmac. Bummer.

July 7th, 2011 at 8:17 am

Conflicts of interests an issue in the world of Sports? WTF? This bread and games diversion stuff is not supposed to be taken that seriously.

July 7th, 2011 at 10:09 am

…hope ESPN brings Bud Collins out from the cold…

July 7th, 2011 at 11:05 pm

RZ,

Well said and I agree that McEnroe has nothing new to say although he doesn’t annoy me that much. I like his brother Patrick better. With JMac it’s always the string technology, the fitness, so and so needs to put in more effort or so and so is playing more aggressive today blah blah blah. For someone who has never played tennis or just follows it casually he is perfect. Those people probably don’t want to hear Martina Navratilova because she is much more technical. She is by far the best commentator in my opinion.

July 8th, 2011 at 11:12 am

I do agree with Jane that JMac does call it like he sees it and he does love the game. If a player doesn’t give 100% effort in a match JMac will definitely call him on it.

July 8th, 2011 at 11:15 am

First of all, this is a move to broadcast Wimbledon in the USA, so in that regard it is a perfect move. I love Johnny Mac and Mary Carillo, but I absolutely hate NBC’s coverage and their tape-delayed format. Memo to NBC, it’s the 21st Century not the 1980’s, where showing tape-delayed matches was at least acceptable. I hope they eventually lose the rights to the French Open as well. I did see when Hannah Storm called Michael Russell, Michael Young, but I must say that I wasn’t annoyed, but I was just laughing so hard because she said it more than once. And as far as ESPN’s team and their supposedly conflict of interest, I think all of their commentators call it like they see it, and so does Johnny Mac. Darren Cahill was Davis Cup Coach for Australia while he was working for ESPN, but he would comment on Lleyton’s Hewitt matches with no strings attached. Brad Gilbert is currently working with Kei Nishikori. They all do a great job of sticking to their job and putting their different career affiliations on the side while they are working for ESPN.

July 14th, 2011 at 4:42 am