When Andrew Marchand set out on a career as a sports writer, there was always one aspect of the business that intrigued him – the business of sports media. During his college years and when he was just starting out as a sports writer, Marchand quickly developed an interest in that particular side of sports and it would turn out to be the bread and butter of his career.
“I just have a passion for it,” said Marchand, now a sports media writer for the New York Post. “That’s always fascinated me. I don’t think everyone necessarily would want to cover sports media but for me, there’s really nothing I’d prefer to cover more.”
During his career, Marchand has covered teams like the Yankees and Mets, but he has established himself as a go-to source for fans to get breaking news and trends when it comes to goings-on in the sports media. Whether it’s local sports radio wars, who is going to get a marquee play-by-play or analyst job, or what network or streaming service is going to land a television rights deal, Marchand is consistently in the know of what’s happening and it’s a subject that fans care a great deal about.
Sure, fans want to know what’s going on with their favorite players and teams but they also have a vested interest in who they are listening to on the radio and who they are watching on television.
“I think what sometimes has been lost through the years, kind of pre-internet, is just how much interest fans have in this,” said Marchand. “If you look at the business deals, they’re for billions of dollars. The NFL just did their contracts with the TV networks and Amazon as well that will add up to $110 billion so that’s huge business and that’s a big story.”
It’s a huge story and there are many people who pay close attention to anything and everything when it comes to sports media, especially the NFL.
Of the 100 highest-rated shows on television, 75 of them are NFL games. That’s a lot of eyeballs on what is inarguably the most popular sport in the United States. In addition to who is playing in the game, what’s at stake, any star players that are in action, and the popularity of sports gambling, sports fans are also dialed into who is calling the action.
There’s been a lot of NFL broadcaster news recently with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman moving from FOX to ESPN’s Monday Night Football and with Al Michaels teaming with Kirk Herbstreit to form the broadcasting combo for Amazon’s Thursday Night Football. Sports fans have big opinions on the sportscasters they watch and listen to, and Marchand has the platform to give people the information they’re looking for.
“Everyone has an opinion about ‘I like this guy’, ‘I like this woman’, ‘I don’t like this guy’, ‘I don’t like this woman,’ said Marchand. “So, they all have an opinion and everyone can have one.”
A lot of people grow up loving sports but they realize at a certain point that maybe we’re not going to get to play catcher for the New York Yankees, right wing for the New York Islanders, or tight end for the New York Jets…well, at least that’s what I was thinking when I was 8, 9, or 10 years old. I do remember watching a baseball game on television with my father and telling him that I wanted to be a sportscaster when I grew up.
Being a sports reporter is a bit more relatable to a lot of sports fans than being an athlete.
“Most of us know we can’t do anything Lebron (James) can do on a basketball court but could you be like Mike Breen or Ian Eagle?” said Marchand. “Maybe not at their skill level because as it turns out it’s much more difficult than people realize but it’s much more relatable that ‘I can do that’ and you have an opinion on it.”
And you know what they say about opinions right?
Everyone has one and it’s no different for Marchand covering sports media. There is a similarity between covering an athlete or a team to covering a sportscaster or sports talk show host in the sense that you’re reporting on the story and the fans have an interest in what’s going on.
With that reporting also comes the potential for writing something both positive and negative about the subject. An athlete may get upset about something that is written or said about them, but that is generally regarding performance on the field, court or rink.
A play-by-play announcer, reporter or host can get criticized or lauded simply because of an opinion.
“What I’m covering is subjective,” said Marchand. “In radio, there are ratings so that kind of means something but still you can have an opinion on a show. If you’re writing about a football broadcast, there’s no scoreboard at the end. I write opinion, but I really try to make my hay on reporting. My thing always is trying to report what you can’t see or hear so that to me is where the money is.”
So, what goes into being a good sportscaster?
When it comes to being a host, a host certainly has to be knowledgeable and likeable.
“A good talk show host…you want to hang with that person,” said Marchand. “It’s not about that they know more than anybody else because, by the nature of the job, they don’t. They can be well-read and they can be informed in cases but the idea that they’re in a studio and they know more than the people that are out there every day is just ludicrous.”
There is also an entertainment element of being a good sports talk show host, but with that also comes the potential for not being truthful with the audience. There’s a saying that ‘you can’t put lipstick on a pig’ and that could also apply for hosts who try to talk about a subject that they’re not knowledgeable about.
If you don’t know anything about hockey, it’s probably not a good idea to force an opinion because loyal sports fans can see right through you.
“I personally like it if they’re honest,” said Marchand. “I don’t really like people who fake it or say things that are just wrong just to try to get a rise. I’m not a fan of that. They don’t need to be larger than life.”
As far as play-by-play is concerned, it’s all about the announcer painting the picture on the radio or being the trusted voice that supplements the images on your television. There are really no shortcuts when it comes to being a solid play-by-play announcer because there’s a lot of work that goes into it.
“Number one is preparation,” said Marchand. “You have to know what you’re talking about. Number two, I would, say is a passion for what you’re talking about because the people who are watching or listening are choosing to watch.”
In addition to sports media deals and contracts, Marchand also spends a good deal of time covering the local sports radio battle in New York. WFAN, the first all-sports radio station in the United States that launched in 1987, competes with ESPN Radio New York, which made its debut in 2001. The ratings war between the two rival stations has been well-documented for more than two decades.
“It’s not the most read thing that I do by far, but it has become to where it has a life of its own,” said Marchand. “It’s not the most fun thing to cover just because the ratings and how they’re interpreted over the years have been looked upon differently which kind of made for a grey area.”
That grey area comes from a ratings system that is a bit complicated and, in many ways, controversial because now there is a combination of fans who listen on traditional radio and those who tune in via streaming. There always seems to be a disagreement as to the true rating and what should be included.
“(The system is) made for those of us who write about it in some respects to be a judge when we really don’t want to be and we didn’t even create the system,” said Marchand. “I would even argue that the system that we use isn’t necessarily the best. If I were the one creating it, I don’t think I would use 25-54-year-old males. I think you can argue that we’re leaving out a lot of people who should be included.”
So, Andrew, what’s the solution?
“It’s not my place to change the rules,” he says. “There’s always complaining on both sides and that’s part of the job. I don’t want to be the judge on this thing and what streaming is and what should count.”
Sports media is something that caught the attention of the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand a number of years ago. He’s made a career out of being a trusted reporter for fans, as well as many of us in the industry who also crave this information.
Peter Schwartz writes weekly sports radio features for Barrett Media. He has been involved in New York sports media for over three decades, and has worked for notable brands such as WFAN, CBS Sports Radio, WCBS 880, ESPN New York, and FOX News Radio. Peter has also served as play by play announcer for the New Yok Riptide, New York Dragons, New York Hitmen, Varsity Media and the Long Island Sports Network. You can find him on Twitter @SchwartzSports or email him at DragonsRadio@aol.com.
