Access has always been prized by hiring managers in the sports media world. Who has the best rolodex? He should be our producer! Who has the best relationship with the guys in the locker room? He should be our host or reporter!
It makes sense. Access is an asset. It can set someone apart from his or her competition. Pat McAfee made that point in defending why his show is willing to pay Aaron Rodgers to come on regularly.
Access will always matter in this business, but in the last twelve months, we have seen multiple networks on both radio and television prioritize access to the point of making its product worse.
The most obvious example is Tom Brady on FOX’s NFL coverage. Now that the GOAT is a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders and active in the team’s football operations, there are limits put on his preparation for game broadcasts. It’s another uphill battle for a guy that had more detractors than fans from the outset and struggled to impress in his first season.
Does FOX care that it already employs a proven, more talented broadcaster in Greg Olsen? Nope. Access to the best quarterback ever is all that matters.
FOX Sports Radio’s unique deal with Doug Gottlieb is another example. Sports radio requires a full-time commitment. Coaching Division I college basketball requires a full-time commitment. Trying to do both means Gottlieb is bound to fail at at least one of them, and so far, it’s not hard to figure out which is suffering more.
Gottlieb has been with FOX Sports Radio for a long time. I get that the network is loyal to him. I also get that having an active college basketball coach as part of your daily lineup is a very cool thing to sell to potential affiliates.
But is there really a win here for listeners?
Unless you live in Green Bay, Wisconsin, do you care what the head coach of the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay thinks about anything?
That isn’t a shot at Doug at all. We have always been friendly. It’s a comment on the current state of college basketball. Even at the highest level, it’s a regional sport, whose popularity is largely confined to Indiana, Kentucky and North Carolina. I don’t see how it’s a win for FOX Sports Radio.
I’ve thought about this a lot in recent years – is access always valuable?
If a reporter or host has the kind of access that can produce real information that generates valuable content, then the answer is yes. I don’t think that describes most of what these guys generate though.
Adrian Wojnarowski did not mince words in his conversation with Chris Mannix about why he left ESPN. Amongst other factors, he noted that so much of what he was racing to get out as “breaking news” just didn’t feel important anymore.
That’s coming from Adrian Wojnarowski – the inventor of the Woj Bomb! He’s the reason so many of us ever set a Twitter alert at all. If he is telling you he doesn’t always have important information, then who the hell does?
When that ball doinked off the goal posts and through the uprights at Raymond James Stadium, it was set in stone that Brady and his partner Kevin Burkhardt were headed to Detroit for the Commanders and Lions in next week’s divisional round. As Awful Announcing pointed out, there may never be a better example of Tom Brady’s conflict of interest than this – the owner of an NFL team, that is currently in the middle of a coaching search, calling a game featuring an offensive coordinator widely believed to be the most sought-after candidate for any opening in the NFL.
Not only is it a conflict of interest, but outside of using his own eyes and residual knowledge, Brady won’t be able to offer very much insight on one of the most important games of the year thanks to the extra restrictions put on him by the league. This weekend’s broadcast won’t be the best Fox can do. It will be all it cares to do.
We’re in an age where access comes at the expense of actual content. The decision makers have decided that it trumps quality, and that sucks.
Hearing directly from players and coaches will always have value, but there’s a reason we gravitate to certain players and coaches.
Think about it like an audience member. You know which coaches wear their hearts on their sleeves. It’s why Steve Kerr and Greg Popovich are asked about everything Donald Trump does. You also know who has absolutely nothing to say. You have never heard Russell Wilson be interviewed and walked away feeling smarter or like you better understand what happened on the field.
It is simple supply and demand. The more access we have, the less valuable it is. Tom Brady cannot give us any insight into being a team owner and because he is a team owner, we now get less insight from him as a broadcaster. Doug Gottlieb, the coach of the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay has a syndicated radio show. Is anyone clamoring for information about that team and does Gottlieb have the necessary time in the day to formulate content that listeners do care about?
We live in an age of access overkill. I’m not sure that it benefits anyone as much as networks think it does.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
Demetri Ravanos is a former columnist and editor for Barrett Media. He is the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host of the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
