The first time I cared about a race that I wasn't running in--the first time I really wanted immediate results--was when a teammate from my Cambridge, Mass., high school ran in a national cross country championship on the other side of the country. So I reached out to the only people who would know the results. I called the Boston Globe sports desk. Several times, actually. The gruff man on the other end of the line would shout to someone in the background: "Someone's calling about that Cambridge runner. We have results yet?" Finally, some time that evening, I got my answer. That was 1992, though it could have been 1972 or 1952. The telephone and the newspaper were my only tools.
Running in the Cold.
Runners have groused about the lack of television coverage for longer than I've been following distance running. And the quality of the existing coverage is just as frequently maligned. Yet while we focused our ire on the TV networks, a wave of digital technology has overtaken us. Suddenly we've got online access to most major events and many minor ones. We've entered a new age in spectating--an age of access, shared experiences and an unlimited potential. Where will it take us?
BACK ON THE AIR
As undergraduates, Matt Taylor and Mark Floriani had a couple of things in common. They hated the way television treated the sport, and they saw an opportunity to do something about it. "There was a void in terms of coverage, but technology had advanced to a point where there was a way to tell these really compelling stories," Taylor says.
Taylor spent the fall of 2005 traveling from college to college filming the best cross country teams and posting the footage on his website, Chasing Tradition. He'd film during the day, then edit and upload at night. There was no YouTube, so he had to host the videos himself. Without social media, he relied on word-of-mouth marketing. He even attempted what he calls a "semi-live" webcast of the NCAA cross country championships, with mixed results. "A lot of my day was spent responding to emails and nasty message board posts," he recalls.
A year later, Floriani followed a similar path. "I was pissed off," he recalls. "There were a lot of races I wanted to watch. A lot of people I wanted to hear from." He'd never held a camera or conducted an interview, but soon he was shooting the Bill Dellinger Invitational and shipping the footage, on DVD, back home to Texas for editing. A few days later an edited version appeared online. "We thought that was awesome!" he says.
From these grassroots beginnings, Taylor and Floriani both managed to connect with an audience. Taylor turned his project into a job, spending two seasons following Kenyan marathoners for the Chasing KIMbia series. He also produced Chasing Glory for the New York Road Runners, in advance of the 2008 men's Olympic marathon trials. Taylor's initiative and creativity were clearly noticed by others in the running industry; first he was hired by Puma to work on marketing, and now he works directly with Usain Bolt on a mobile gaming application. Floriani, too, managed to find a niche in the sport. His Flotrack website now features thousands of races and interview videos shot by his staff or contributed by fans.
Despite his own success, though, Taylor sees a sport that isn't helping itself. "The agent/shoe company/race director dynamic, because it's a closed circle, there's not much room for innovation," he says. Taylor had to innovate from the inside, working for a shoe company and an agent on the Chasing KIMbia project, and for a race organizer for Chasing Glory. Flotrack isn't a traditional media organization, either. Floriani has forged relationships with the athletes and often works closely with event directors.
Do consumers care about these distinctions? The hardcore fan who sees the alternative as no coverage at all probably doesn't. But, says Taylor, "The audience isn't necessarily growing. The only way it's going to grow is higher-quality mainstream coverage and that's totally lacking. I'm a fan of the sport and I have trouble watching an hour of televised coverage."
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Last winter we got a glimpse of what that could look like. Many of the track meets at the New Balance Track & Field Center at the Armory in New York were being filmed for the facility's scoreboard. In theory, sending that data out of the building to an audience watching on their computers was just a step away. But a video stream contains a lot of data and if it bottlenecked on its way to the servers, it surely wouldn't flow smoothly when piped out to thousands of viewers. Late last year, Columbia University ran a high-capacity fiber line into the Armory. Then the Armory staff partnered with YouTube.
With increased bandwidth, a high-definition broadcast could be sent out of the building. Then, with YouTube's servers assuming the load, viewers could access it--live--around the globe. "This year has been something of a grand experiment," says Brett Hoover, chief digital officer for the Armory. He admits they're still figuring out the financial model for their experiment, but, he says, "We have not spent a tremendous amount of money to do what we've done."
With little fanfare, a small early season meet was live-streamed from the Armory. By February, they were producing a multi-camera broadcast of the Millrose Games. Veteran commentators Tim Hutchings and Dwight Stones called the action. No human-interest stories interrupted the races, and no high-tech graphics cluttered the screen. The elegantly simple show streamed smoothly over YouTube. It was the sort of broadcast that fans have long wished television networks would put together.
About 85,000 people watched the stream, and that number has since doubled as people watch clips of individual races. It's not a network television audience, but it demonstrated what's possible.
In the handful of years since Taylor and Floriani began posting videos, many consumers have become accustomed to watching short videos or even feature-length films online. As quality has improved, demand has followed. More than 2 million people watched this year's Super Bowl online, a record for a live sporting event. YouTube--once the world's leading curator of funny cat videos--is poised to become a major broadcast provider.
How to Run Twice a Day Without Injury
Every four years the Olympic spotlight shines on our sport. For a full glorious week, broadcasters, who have paid billions of dollars for this right, train their cameras on the track and the roads. They also take the opportunity to show off their newest technologies. Might they be giving us a glimpse of the future?
Just eight years ago, from the Athens Games, NBC offered the first HD Olympic broadcast and the first Olympic highlight videos available online. If that latter statement sounds surprisingly dated, remember how different the tech landscape was in 2004, pre-iPhone, pre-YouTube.
While HD was the new toy then, select 2012 events will be broadcast in "Super Hi-Vision" on special screens throughout London. The format, 16 times sharper than HD, could, one day, be a more consumer-friendly option than 3D. Speaking of 3D, 200 hours of footage, including the men's 100m final, will be available to broadcasters.
Of more interest to the average fan, though, is news that the games will be streamed, in their entirety, online. In a few weeks you'll be firing up your HD TV, flipping open your laptop, or switching on your smart phone to access a mind-numbing 3,600 hours of coverage (compared to 400 hours from the 2000 Sydney Games). In a surprising March announcement, NBC revealed that it would be partnering with YouTube to provide its live streaming.
BACK ON THE AIR
Unfortunately, when the London Games come to a close, the curtain drops on distance running. The sport fades into the background but for a few rare moments. One of those moments is November's New York City Marathon, which for the first time in nearly two decades will be broadcast live nationally.
Mary Wittenberg, NYRR president and CEO, sees online coverage satisfying the existing fan base. "But national TV remains critical for broadening our reach," she says. "Broadcast television still gets a larger viewing audience." (The marathon's new five-year deal with ESPN includes both television and online coverage, and they anticipate it will be an HD broadcast.)
Those few hours of television time aren't enough to tell the 47,000 stories that Wittenberg sees in the race, though. In recent years, NYRR has become more of a content-creator itself. "We're in a unique position. We have the scale. We're large enough to have the resources to start something and keep it going," she says. Wittenberg looks at the National Football League and Major League Baseball, both of which have their own TV networks, and sees NYRR in the same category.
During the week of the marathon, NYRR produces its own "Race Week Live" program. The format resembles ESPN's "College Game Day" shows for football, with a live audience crowding around the Columbus Circle set. Wittenberg imagines a day when they've created a platform to help other organizations in the sport do the same. "I could see us evolving into a weekly show," she says.
Beyond the traditional broadcast format, Wittenberg sees evolution across digital mediums. "Running is especially well-suited for mobile technologies. [We have] the ability to track not only the front of the race, but everyone," she says. "We'll get to where you can watch your own runners by fixed camera points." Many events have experimented with finish-line cams, but what Wittenberg describes is a customizable experience where you could cycle through camera locations along the course at your own discretion.
Last fall I followed the New York City Marathon by subway and smart phone. When my subway paused on the Manhattan Bridge, I refreshed my browser and saw updated mile splits for all the runners I was following. I clicked over to Twitter and swiped through my feed, reading on-course observations and viewing nearly-live snapshots. When I reached Central Park South I joined a mass of other smart phone owners leaning against the barricades to wait for the leaders. By the time they appeared I knew who had surged and who had faded. I had as much data as the members of the press holed up in the media center.
SCI-FI
With our digital devices becoming more powerful and more portable, the remote and live spectator experiences are merging. Is it unreasonable to think that a tablet could customize its owner's viewing experience? Tap to switch to a different camera, or change audio tracks. Pinch to zoom. Swipe across the screen to spin through a social media feed. Aim the device's camera at the infield to get a real-time measurement of the longjump or sense if a runner false started. Tap to replay what you just saw. When I asked a few people to look into the future and tell me what they'd like the spectating experience to become, the variations in their answers highlighted the exciting moment we're at: Everything seems possible.
The Armory's Hoover has modest wishes. "I love all the bells and whistles," he says of sports broadcasts. The digitally projected first-down marker in football and the world record line that leads swimmers across the Olympic pool appeal to him. "I'd love to see some of that."
Floriani's future includes a melding of digital media. "Imagine people on their phones taking pictures and that popping up as the races go on," he suggests. "Everyone will be able to be adding content instantly." Presumably, everyone would also decide how they filter and view that information onslaught.
Wittenberg hopes for a day when the competition story can be better told, "when you can better watch what's happening in a race, but also what's happening to a runner." What's their heart rate? Level of stress? How are they performing compared to their potential?
"In my head it's as easy as going back to 'Star Trek' and being on the holodeck," says Ross Krempley, founder of the social media and online broadcast site Runnerspace. "You're not really at USATF indoors, but you are there. You can be in the stands, or you can go down trackside. You want to jump into the race, you do it. You're in the starting blocks with them," he says. "I feel like that could be here in 20 years. I just hope I'm still in shape."
Unfortunately, when the London Games come to a close, the curtain drops on distance running. The sport fades into the background but for a few rare moments. One of those moments is November's New York City Marathon, which for the first time in nearly two decades will be broadcast live nationally.
Mary Wittenberg, NYRR president and CEO, sees online coverage satisfying the existing fan base. "But national TV remains critical for broadening our reach," she says. "Broadcast television still gets a larger viewing audience." (The marathon's new five-year deal with ESPN includes both television and online coverage, and they anticipate it will be an HD broadcast.)
Those few hours of television time aren't enough to tell the 47,000 stories that Wittenberg sees in the race, though. In recent years, NYRR has become more of a content-creator itself. "We're in a unique position. We have the scale. We're large enough to have the resources to start something and keep it going," she says. Wittenberg looks at the National Football League and Major League Baseball, both of which have their own TV networks, and sees NYRR in the same category.
During the week of the marathon, NYRR produces its own "Race Week Live" program. The format resembles ESPN's "College Game Day" shows for football, with a live audience crowding around the Columbus Circle set. Wittenberg imagines a day when they've created a platform to help other organizations in the sport do the same. "I could see us evolving into a weekly show," she says.
Beyond the traditional broadcast format, Wittenberg sees evolution across digital mediums. "Running is especially well-suited for mobile technologies. [We have] the ability to track not only the front of the race, but everyone," she says. "We'll get to where you can watch your own runners by fixed camera points." Many events have experimented with finish-line cams, but what Wittenberg describes is a customizable experience where you could cycle through camera locations along the course at your own discretion.
Last fall I followed the New York City Marathon by subway and smart phone. When my subway paused on the Manhattan Bridge, I refreshed my browser and saw updated mile splits for all the runners I was following. I clicked over to Twitter and swiped through my feed, reading on-course observations and viewing nearly-live snapshots. When I reached Central Park South I joined a mass of other smart phone owners leaning against the barricades to wait for the leaders. By the time they appeared I knew who had surged and who had faded. I had as much data as the members of the press holed up in the media center.
SCI-FI
With our digital devices becoming more powerful and more portable, the remote and live spectator experiences are merging. Is it unreasonable to think that a tablet could customize its owner's viewing experience? Tap to switch to a different camera, or change audio tracks. Pinch to zoom. Swipe across the screen to spin through a social media feed. Aim the device's camera at the infield to get a real-time measurement of the longjump or sense if a runner false started. Tap to replay what you just saw. When I asked a few people to look into the future and tell me what they'd like the spectating experience to become, the variations in their answers highlighted the exciting moment we're at: Everything seems possible.
The Armory's Hoover has modest wishes. "I love all the bells and whistles," he says of sports broadcasts. The digitally projected first-down marker in football and the world record line that leads swimmers across the Olympic pool appeal to him. "I'd love to see some of that."
Floriani's future includes a melding of digital media. "Imagine people on their phones taking pictures and that popping up as the races go on," he suggests. "Everyone will be able to be adding content instantly." Presumably, everyone would also decide how they filter and view that information onslaught.
Wittenberg hopes for a day when the competition story can be better told, "when you can better watch what's happening in a race, but also what's happening to a runner." What's their heart rate? Level of stress? How are they performing compared to their potential?
"In my head it's as easy as going back to 'Star Trek' and being on the holodeck," says Ross Krempley, founder of the social media and online broadcast site Runnerspace. "You're not really at USATF indoors, but you are there. You can be in the stands, or you can go down trackside. You want to jump into the race, you do it. You're in the starting blocks with them," he says. "I feel like that could be here in 20 years. I just hope I'm still in shape."
Marc Chalufour is a former managing editor of Running Times and a former communications manager for the Boston Athletic Association. He is now the senior editor at AMC Outdoors.
