" LeBron James' TV show The Decision played to 7.3% of U.S. television homes, according to early ratings from ESPN, making the sit-down program in which he revealed his next NBA stop the network's top-rated non-NFL show of 2010." says USA Today online this morning. The article continues " ESPN says the decision attracted more than 300,000 unique viewers on ESPN3.com, one of the largest audiences ever for a non-World Cup match."
I'm not a basketball fan although I pay passing attention to my hometown team, the Portland Trailblazers, now that they've cleaned up their act. So I didn't rush to my local to watch LeBron James initiate a new era of unreality television. If I understand it correctly, James' organization purchased the time, but even if I'm wrong about that, I read that ESPN fell all over itself to get this show. No surprise there.
What I immediately began to wonder about , though, was how long it might be before the light bulb goes on (if it hasn't already) above some ESPN cranium. If we can garner one out of every fifteen US homes to watch a famous athlete announce his "mulling over" where his career will take him next, why wouldn't we start doing these shows as a new segment of "celebrinews" . Particularly when considering the potential in the international marketplace. LeBron might not draw on the bigger stage, but what if we were featuring the next moves of Cristiano Ronaldo or Wayne Rooney or? Well, the picture is easy to draw. Even with the obstacle of player contracts as they are currently negotiated and owned, the one off show featuring an adored sports personality has great potential to be a new way to make money. And isn't that increasingly what it's all about?
Doesn't affect me particularly since I don't watch television much. But it could increasingly trivialize sport and exacerbate its already limited connectedness to local communities. People in Cleveland were apparently heartbroken and felt betrayed by James' decision to leave. They might want to get a reality check. A look across the Water to the supporters' protest against Man U's American owners and nation-sized indebtedness might do it. Wearing Newton Heath colors is an insignificant protest against the financial machinery. And in Cleveland, the dismay of fans just becomes another 'human interest' story for the "news" to cover.
My guess? We'll see a famous footballer smiling into the camera, looking somewhat chagrined, while announcing that he's going off to play somewhere new. For more money. On a 'show' with a great advance push. Within a year or so. And fans, some fans, will gnash their teeth and act as if it all meant something.
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