I think in some cases they couldn’t compete against Sky . Both the ECB and R and A moved away from them for the money and think they the Beeb weren’t committed enough or didn’t present it well - the latter weren’t keen on Lineker covering the golf for example. I definitely agree it’s strange to see the top 2 and strong favourites going into the event being rewarded for not winning but being popular really . I wonder if KJT would have pushed them further had she won gold in an Olympics? Some have pointed out Alfie Hewitt probably had the most successful year but he isn’t mainstream or known well enough .
I think I read somewhere that the Beeb were essentially offered free highlights package for some of the golf (i would assume the majors, or whatever majors aren't already covered to a degree by the BBC) and turned it down. That seems an impossibly stupid decision
Can understand people moaning about Earps winning if someone was robbed like but it's been a shit year for British sport. Would have had Tom Aspinall win it personally.
Pretty laughable that Mary Earps won it (albeit not remotely surprising in the current climate), but admittedly it was a poor field. Certainly no standout candidates.
Leon Edwards was arguably the most successful and outstanding British athlete this year but I doubt they'd ever nominate an MMA fighter.
KJT should have won it 100 percent. Didn't watch it, which ,may be a first? Glad Dalglish was honoured.
I remember they had a year left on their F1 deal and they walked away from it too, leaving C4 to take the highlights. I'm not suggesting the BBC spend all its massive budget on sport, but I reckon a third of it should be spent on stuff like that that people actually want to watch.
Absolutely agree with both posts but mma is far too niche at this point in time in the UK. Neither would’ve had any chance of winning it but a nomination (both are definitely worthy) could’ve created a lot more buzz around the sport, and given it more credibility. Both are excellent ambassadors for mma as well, in their own different ways. I’d still have to go with Leon, even though I’m a massive fan of big Tom. He’s defended the unified WW title twice this year. And WW is always stacked. Unfortunately for Tom he’s gonna have to wait for him jones to get fit/retire before he can grab the actual title. Leon’s the best mma fighter this countries produced so far, and rightly a current p4p top 5. By the time toms finished his career, I fully expect him to far exceed any previous British fighter. He may be the guy that does get a SPOTY nomination because he’s also a really likeable fella
That has been the case with the BBC for many, many years, but it's now a problem across terrestrial television. The only reason that the FA Cup and the Six Nations Championship are currently available completely free to air is because the BBC and ITV joined forces to secure those rights and the way the games are scheduled indicates that the BBC is very much a junior partner in those enterprises. The only way you are going to get a lot of sports rights back free to air is if it is legislated for and I can't see the sports governing bodies liking that idea very much.
And the Government have a protected list of events but that included the Olympics which the BBC have pretty much lost most of their rights to. As you say they are seen as the second hand now Discovery own the main rights.
I think a lot of people had taken their eye off the ball around the time the Discovery deal, which we shouldn't forget is a Europe-wide one, went through and its implications in the UK market only really began to be properly understood once we finally got to Tokyo a couple of years ago. I suspect there'll be even more chuntering about that by the time we reach Paris next summer. The idea of a protected list of events, particularly those that are live and free to air, is a noble one. But the current one is much, much smaller than it used to be and I think the explanation for that can be summed up in one word - football. Recorded data since the turn of the century shows that the vast majority of the biggest audiences for live sport are for major championship football, usually involving England. But, at the same time as that, sports administrators saw the amount Sky particularly coughed up for football and didn't want listed status getting in the way of them being able to sell their rights to the highest bidder, cricket being a case in point.
Absolutely this. Commonwealth and World Gold Medal winner wasn't she? Best (or one of) female athlete on the planet right now. But I guess the "push womens football" agenda was too important, two years running now
Nothing against the lionesses and women's footy whatsoever, or Earps. But it has totally lost it's shine. Maybe Anton du friggin Bec will be short listed next year?(joking obviously) That's how much of a joke the BBC is in danger of becoming?
If we are doing it for people who actually won something notable her and Alfie Hewitt could have won but no doubt Athletes doesn’t have the appeal it used to and how many people actually know who Hewitt is .
