"Viewers, welcome to the fifteenth week of the regular season. We are now broadcasting the last game of the week at Candlestick Stadium in San Francisco. It is also the most watched highlight of the week, the San Francisco 49ers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers.”
At this moment, the people doing the live broadcast across the United States are not Teddy and Kirk, who are familiar to the San Francisco audience, but ESPN's commentators and commentators.
After Roger Goodell took over as president, the NFL's television broadcasting rights have been truly developed. The broadcasting rights for Monday Night Games are in the hands of ESPN, the broadcasting rights for Thursday Night Games are in the hands of the official NFLN channel, and the broadcasting rights for Sunday Night Games are in the hands of the official NFLN channel. The broadcast rights are owned by CBS, while other games on Sunday game days are jointly bought by NBC and Fox.
Later, because the cost of NFL broadcast rights was too expensive, TV stations jointly purchased it.
For a simple example, in 2017, in order to build its own popularity, the Amazon platform purchased the broadcast rights for ten NFL Thursday night games for US$50 million, and also bundled a marketing package worth US$30 million. In total, the streaming rights to ten Thursday night games cost a total of $80 million——
This is just a broadcast of streaming media on the Internet, and the TV broadcast rights are sold separately.
Even the three major television stations like CBS are unable to afford the rights to broadcast Thursday night games for a full season and can only share the profits with other television stations.
In 2017, the NFL's annual revenue in the United States from broadcast rights alone exceeded US$2.67 billion; in the same year, the NBA's broadcast rights revenue was only about one-third of this amount. .
Tonight's Monday Night Game, ESPN has the exclusive broadcast rights, so Teddy and Kirk, who are most familiar to Bay Area audiences, can only sit in front of the TV and watch the game instead of being responsible for commentating the game.
The host of the live broadcast is Mike Tirico, a senior professional who entered the industry in 1988 and joined ESPN in 1991. He has extremely rich qualifications.
Since 2006, Tirico has served as the special host of ESPN's "Monday Night Game". His smooth head and chubby body have become the symbols of Monday Night Game.
There are two commentators serving as on-site commentary and analysis of today's game. One is Ron-Jaoski, a former quarterback who entered the league in 1973 and retired in 1989. He cannot be regarded as a top four player. Shooting guard, but he still achieved good results with the Philadelphia Eagles in his career.
Another one is Jon Gruden, who is a coach through and through.
Entered the league in 1986, and later became the head coach of the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He won the Super Bowl in his first season as the Buccaneers head coach. This was his peak - interestingly, the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl in his first season as head coach. The opponent they defeated in the Super Bowl was the Oakland Raiders, who Gruden served as head coach the year before.
After being fired by the Buccaneers in 2008, Gruden entered a state of semi-retirement. The "Monday Night Game" program is undoubtedly a stage for him to show off his talents and is quite popular.
It is worth mentioning that Gruden also comes from a football family. His father, Jim Gruden, has served as an assistant coach in the league for many years and has been a scout for the San Francisco 49ers for a long time; while his younger brother Jay Gruden just took over as offensive coach of the Cincinnati Bengals this year.
Tonight, these three people will work together to commentate on the game.
After Tirico completed the opening skillfully, he did not immediately throw the topic to the two guests, but brought up the most important topic today, "It's snowing in San Francisco. Yes, you heard it right, it's snowing in San Francisco." .”
"According to official reports, this is the first snow in San Francisco in thirty-five years. This is undoubtedly good news for city residents, but for the team and players, it adds more unknowns. Before officially entering Before previewing the game, let's take a look at the situation inside the stadium." Tirico cut into today's game with his unique speaking tone, leading the audience into the Candlestick Stadium scene in just a few words. This skill is indeed Eye-catching.
"John, John?" Tirico still called his special reporter on the scene.
"Yes, Mike." John-Sutcliffe appeared in front of the camera while standing inside the stadium. "Today, it snowed in San Francisco and ushered in the lowest temperature of the entire winter. Now The temperature inside the court is only 38 degrees Fahrenheit (about three degrees Celsius), and the body temperature is even lower."
Standing in the stadium, the home fans began to sing loudly, and Sutcliffe had to raise his voice, "Now the snow in the stadium has been cleared away, and there is a slight drizzle, but it has basically stopped and will not affect Until the game starts. But as you can see, everyone must be fully equipped because the temperature will be even colder due to the melting snow."
Sutcliffe turned around, got out of the way, and motioned for the camera lens to capture the players warming up on the field. "Now the coaching staff and substitute players have all put on long down jackets. We often play in Fox Castle and Green Bay." What I saw was something I didn’t expect to see in San Francisco.”
"It is worth noting that the Steelers seemed to be very adaptable to such a situation. They put on hats, gloves, and down jackets, and the entire warm-up seemed orderly; on the other hand, the 49ers were a little slower than half a beat. , their warm-up activities also started thirty minutes later than expected. This gave people an illusion, as if the home and away games were reversed."
After Sutcliffe presented the entire picture, Tirico's questioning voice came to his ears, "Quarterback, where are the quarterbacks of the two teams? How do you feel now?"
"Quarterback?" Sutcliffe repeated, and then explained, "Ben Roethlisberger is still suffering from some injuries in this game. His left ankle is still protected, and he also wore it during the warm-up period. He didn't dare to make moves, which became one of the uncertain factors in this game; on the other hand, Lu Ke was also affected by the weather."
Sutcliffe found Lu Ke among the crowd, but due to the distance, the camera lens could not capture a clear picture. He could only start explaining directly, "After the warm-up, Lu Ke conducted a simple passing training. , but there was still a slight deviation in the passing effect. Then, he hesitated again and again and chose to wear gloves. The training effect was slightly better, but it is temporarily impossible to predict what kind of error will occur in the actual game."
After Sutcliffe's live report ended, Tirico immediately looked at the two guest analysts and first asked the former quarterback Jaworski, "Lon, playing in such weather conditions, for four What impact does shooting guard have?”
"The first premise is that this is San Francisco, the home stadium of the 49ers, and their weather is famous for being like spring all year round. After understanding this premise, let's analyze it." Jaworski talked freely and expressed his views.
"The quarterback's passing touch is very delicate. After wearing gloves, the contact between the fingertips and the football becomes dull. During the passing process, the sense of control and force will be deviated, and even The rotation after the shot will also change." Jaworski's thinking is extremely clear, "Lu Ke is a quarterback with delicate control and accurate passing. After putting on the gloves, it has a greater impact on him. , and at the same time, it also has an impact on the receivers.”
"Relatively speaking, Ben is more adaptable to such weather, and the delicateness of ball control is not what he is good at. Therefore, purely from the weather point of view, the Steelers did win a little bit of luck today and got San Francisco. help." Jaworski made the final conclusion.
Gruden chuckled sullenly and said half-jokingly, "The right time, the right place, the right people, and now it seems that the Steelers have taken away the first two."
…
Not only are the three commentators in the studio paying attention to the situation at Candlestick Stadium, but the entire North America is also paying attention. There is still some time before the game starts, and it has already attracted more than 20 million viewers. I turned on the TV and locked the ESPN channel, looking forward to today's focus showdown.
At the same time, social networks suddenly became lively.
"It's snowing! Does this mean the Steelers are going to sweep the 49ers?"
"This is wrong. It's obviously the home court of the San Francisco 49ers, so why does the game look like Pittsburgh? Does even God want Ben to win this game?"
"What's going on? It's snowing for the first time in thirty-five years, and then San Francisco is hosting the Steelers, a defensive beast? Is this the wrong script?"
"I think today's game could have turned into a disaster, with both teams punting all over the field and ending up with a low score. God, don't do that. I'm still looking forward to a game. It’s a battle.”
"Snow fight? Rain fight? Did I switch to the wrong channel? This doesn't look like San Francisco."
"It's over, it's over. Last time in Baltimore, the 49ers' quarterback acted like he was sleepwalking. Today in San Francisco, we encountered such weather again. Is it going to completely collapse?"
"Haha, the Steelers will win!"
"Why does everyone think the Steelers are going to win? Oh, sorry, I didn't see it snowing in San Francisco."
The bustling discussion spread quickly on the Internet, and the ratings of the program began to rise. More and more eyes were directed towards Candlestick Stadium, and the unexpected impact of a light snowfall has just begun. Just the prologue.
…
After the warm-up activity, Lu Ke did not stop exercising immediately. He still stood on the edge of the court and continued simple passing training. He needed to adapt to such weather. His entire muscles seemed to be stiffer than usual, and The fingertips feel a little duller, so the whole feeling of controlling the pass needs to be readjusted.
He must be familiar with passing the ball in such situations, otherwise, today's game will become a complete disaster. But Lu Ke had no intention of surrendering.
