TV coverage is up to speed...
By John Dickinson on 8th Jun 07
With ITV4 currently doing such a sterling job with its Isle of Man TT coverage we take a look at TV and motorcyle sport in general.
QUITE rightly, motorcycling as a sport has done an awful lot of complaining about the treatment received from the National mainstream media, both written and televised. In recent years though, while the national daily press continues to treat all motorcycle sport with disdain - World Superbikes at Brands Hatch brings in 120,000 spectators yet warrants only a couple of paragraghs in most dailies - television coverage has actually improved beyond all recognition.
This was brought home to me forcefully on Monday night with the Isle of Man TT coverage on ITV4. If you can access this channel, there's still time this week to check it out as they have an hour scheduled for each race day.
Time was when the only national coverage the TT got was when there was a tragic accident. Our wonderful popular media never showed any interest whatsoever in the races themselves but they made sure they had people on the spot in order to make a big fuss when there was a fatality and could dredge up a screaming Stop this carnage! headline.
Being a Morecambe-based publication, we at T+MX naturally have an interest in the Centenary TT as our local boy John McGuinness - who occasionally pops into the office - is the star turn and duly won Monday's Superbike race - his 12th Island victory - that was postponed from Saturday. The TV camerawork was absolutely fantastic, with lots of on-board footage from different bikes and angles and from the safety of the couch I found myself getting mesmerised by the sheer speed. You really do get some idea of what it is like to sit on a motorcycle travelling at 170mph for long periods of time on normal' public roads. And John Mac must frustrate would-be critics beyond despair. He is everything they don't expect in a racing motorcyclist, a quiet, decent, clean-cut, family man. Nothing to criticise there then...
OK, the TT has little to do with off-road - although an awful lot of competitors do have an off-road background, including Mr McGuinness, and when you see some of the TT TV footage you can clearly see that it comes in handy. What this exposure does do, as does Superbike and MotoGP, is raise the profile of motorcycling and motorcycle sport in general. And anything that does this has got to be A Good Thing. It means a step into the general public's good books. If they have enjoyed just a whiff of the excitement that motorcycle sport offers they might not be quite so quick to knock-it in future.
Considering the years and years of bad press that the event put up with, with only the bad news headlined, it is a testament to the TTs true value that it survived everything the establishment threw at it.
Moving along, mainstream' TV remains obsessed with the non-sport that is Formula 1, but MotoGP, because of the simple fact that it is actually genuinely exciting and competitive, despite its relative lack of exposure, continues to gain ground in the public eye. Again, this is positive and does us all a lot more good than harm.
Now, I have been less than enthusiastic about motocross on TV in the past but the coverage of the MXGPs over the last couple of seasons has been a revelation. The big problem that MX has with regards to being a TV ratings winner remains the weather, something it has no control over whatsoever. When conditions are right, MXGP comes across to Joe Public exactly as we would wish - as a thrilling, exciting and skilful sport. When it rains, as a TV spectacle it is less than successful. Overall though, it is light-years ahead of what we have had in the past and has turned thousands of us into instant Grand Prix experts' able to discuss the subtleties of style between Josh Coppins, Steve Ramon etc, without even leaving the tea table.
Nothing comes close to witnessing any event live of course but when the alternative is nothing, an hour's motorcycling on the box watching an MXGP, MotoGP, AMA Supercross or the TT does no-one any harm and may even do some good.
Motorcycling has come a long way since we were forever portrayed as being dirty, greasy, uncouth neanderthals - and an ideal target for politicians looking to score a couple of cheap hits if the popularity was needing a bit of a boost - like Mr Stringer and his sweeping Registration Bill. He doesn't care how hard his ill thought-out bill hits genuine sportsmen - he's just looking for a few cheap votes.
Let's have more bikes on the box, the more people we have on-side the better...