Post by BeachbytheBay on Aug 5, 2017 9:19:59 GMT -5
The XFL
The WNBA
Grey's Anatomy as a mid-season replacement
and about a billion other examples where market research turned out to be garbage. Its borderline junk science and older people trying to figure out the zeitgeist and whats cool within that is notoriously unreliable.
As to Miami Vice, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/miami-vice-reboot-vin-diesel-works-at-nbc-1026163
I think there was a movie a little while ago as well. Tastes have certainly changed but some things are universal and I think the original AVP party environment (with certain changes - less neon for example) is one of them.
I just don't see how you make the case that a tour full of awkward, unathletic, boring giants is more marketable than a tour full of models.
Its possible you could be right and I could be wrong, but please answer this question: What or who is cool or attractive to 15-30 year olds about the current tour?
I invoke market research as someone with an MBA in marketing and decades of experience. Not that I believe it infallible by any means, but if's far more grounded in science - analytics, linear regression models, Chi-squared testing, blah blah - than you make it out to be. The XFL could certainly have used more it, instead of Vince McMahon drawing it up on a napkin and selling it to NBC. On the other hand, the XFL did give us the "He Hate Me" jerrsey.
Funny that the WNBA gets tossed around like a rag doll on this thread - it's in something like its 22nd year, attendance is around 8,000 per game, at least half the teams are running in the black, and they recently signed a deal with ESPN through 2022. Massive success? No. Failure? Also no. And Gray's Anatomy...well, I don't know where you were going with that one.
The original AVP "party atmosphere" was a sausage fest plus the Miss Cuervo girls. That ain't flying in 2017 with sponsors. However, a lifestyle, festival-type atmosphere with, food, cocktails, music? Better. For all of the flack Leonard takes, bringing in musical acts has worked quite well at the WSOVB. And yes, 15-30 year olds think hanging out at the beach and then getting to watch Capital Cities or Kaskade is cool as f#k. But strippers trying win $200 in a bikini contest? Not so much.
Who was making a case for "boring giants?" I certainly wasn't. I was making a case that it would be folly to have separate tours. The big wave the AVP rode fizzled out by 1997, and isn't coming back. Today, the financial pie for beach volleyball just isn't big enough for different tours who would, it should be noted, be competing for the same endorsements, TV time and so on. A combined tour gives the AVP the broadest platform in terms of media coverage, sponsor $$, and - yes - marketing.
P.S. - The movie version of Miami Vice bombed in the U.S. Time to put that white linen Versace sport coat and pastel T-Shirt back in the closet.
create other divisions, like a big boob division for women. anything below a C cup doesn't qualify.
sexist? yes
piggish? yes
will it increase interest? yes
ultimately, are the matches/games & players interesting enough to grow the game?
for me personally, I'm not a huge fan of the beach game compared to indoor - I think indoor (Men's and Women's) is the most interesting team sport there is - along with basketball - indoor women's is one market I could see being viable if some promoter could somehow get a general audiance comfortable/hooked on the sport
beach volleyball is basically is more like tennis or golf in that it's basically not a team sport
IMO, the 2 person beach game isn't 'fast' enough. Not saying the athletes aren't amazing, just that the play of the sport is somewhat monotonous in terms of it's watchability. I think that's true of tennis as well, it's not the best sport to watch on the tube, and why tennis was overdependent on personality (and American success of course). NBA basketball for me became somewhat unwatchable as it trended to isolation play, and that's what's made recent champions Golden State Warriors, Mavericks and the sport more interesting
I'd love to see how the beach sport would look if they were 4 person teams on the beach. Or even mixed men/women 4 person teams. Use your imagination, an 8 team league among Chicago, Huntington, Manhatten, Austin, Miami, Bay Area, Rednick Riviera, Long Beach, San Diego, Phoenix, Seattle, Denver, Virginia, New York to name a few places, with outdoor stadiums. Would that sell? who knows, but I think it would have the potential to make the game more INTERESTING, and interesting is what sells. And could create some local geographical IDENTITY - and INTERESTING & IDENTITY help sell. the Beach game won't grow professionally until you add those two elements. The college game actually benefits because it has a built-in IDENTITY assoociated with it. Hermosa, Huntington, etc. - the only identity that exists with these professional locales is not with any players. The beach game just isn't all that interesting - I'm not saying it doesn't have it's own unique intrigue, just that the game has so much room for improvement - but the format of the game and the way the events get set up basically makes it the equivalent of a circus. Change the sport to go from drawn out 4 day events to 1-2 day (more prime time) and compact 'must watch' matches - and you'll have a better focus for the viewer. No sport makes money on lower level round of 64/32/16 matches - find a way to cut that out, and increase and hype and create grudge factors and all that - imagine - The Chicago Wind vs The Huntington Beach Riptide & the Gulf Shore White Sand vs the Manhattan Sharks - an event with 3 matches for each over 2 days - the sport needs some imagination.....or maybe not
but back to the original thread. having separate beach sections for men and women is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. If any division is needed, it's to have the women's indoor separated into pro & college/amateur
men's indoor would get lost if indoor was the only section. as it stands now, the beach section is actually just about perfect.
men and women play the same tourney's, and up and until that changes or the pro/college game grows enough to warrant it, there's no need for separate sections
