Conversations with Larry: Why no Prime-Time TV for 2023 USATF Outdoor Champs, NBC Sports?

In one of the most exciting USATF championships, there is no prime-time TV. Surely, you can see two hours on CNBC and Peacock. And yes, you can see everything on USATF.TV, well but when it is LiVE on CNBC, but no NBC network.

Michael Johnson noted in a tweet that it was because of metrics (see below)

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Companies like NBC make decisions based on sound metrics for business success. Something is telling them televising USATF champs on their terrestrial channels is not good for their business. All organizations have a responsibility to do what’s best for their business. The IOC… https://t.co/GEG3JeHC1Y
— Michael Johnson (@MJGold) July 3, 2023

NBC TV is promoting its coverage of Budapest 2023 and Paris 2024, which it spent billions to get rights for, yet, with the number two sport in the Olympics, they blow off USATF champs just one year prior to the Olympics.

We are told that USATF TV is up six times in its new users, but they are charging for national championships, which concerns me.

Here is my Rant on the lack of Prime-Time TV for the 2023 USATF Champs. What do you think? Email me at runblogrun@gmail.com or sent me a message on Twitter, or IG; my handle is @runBlogrun.

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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