Sports Leagues that Nix Instant Replay risk losing Fans & Credibility.

Glaring errors from officials on any sports field that are visible on TV should not go unheralded.  Sports organizations like FIFA, the worldwide soccer organization, have been against using television video replay for reversing an official’s on-the-field decision. This continues to be a long-term problem.

FIFA and other sports groups have no problem taking money from TV networks for the right to broadcast events around the world. There seems to be a bit of hypocrisy here.  Sports leagues shouldn’t be able to monetize their worth using TV while dismissing one of TV’s key features, the replay. 

U.S.-based sports leagues, NFL, NHL, NBA, and Major League Baseball, also use video replay to some degree – with football using it the most of any sport and baseball the least. 

A series of referee mishaps in the Germany-England and Argentina-Mexico World Cup matches  had critics screaming for FIFA to do something about the officiating. Up until a few days ago, the only thing FIFA considered doing was eliminating the videotape replays on big-screen TVs in the stadiums where the games are  played.  

Oh. That’s solves everything. I’m guessing the viewer at home doesn’t really count for much: rioting in the streets?  Maybe the concern is only where the match is placed – not in Mexico City or London. 

Sports league executives talk about honor, credibility, and respect for games. If that is the case, why don’t they just stop all video coverage? No TV contracts; no video cameras in the stadiums. 

And what about all that revenue? Tough luck. Sports executives can then be left to talk about the honorable part of their games. Fans can leave the stadium debating — just as perhaps the officials might be doing – whether or not a certain play was or wasn’t a goal. 

When you encourage your fans through TV, with all its technology — you owe them. This becomes more important for tech-savvy younger fans.  If you don’t give them a replay — and perhaps a reversal of a crucial play — you might lose them. 

Umpire Jim Joyce cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game recently. But Major League Baseball did nothing about a glaring and obvious mistake. 

From time to time, critics and fans may scream: “We were robbed!”  For misty-eye followers, this seems to be part of any game, the lore, and the drama. But demanding consumers may want to cut down on this spillage, with the help of growing technology. 

by Wayne Friedman
Wayne Friedman is West Coast Editor of MediaPost.
Courtesy of http://wwwmediapost.com