Sports Media Spotlight: Big Ten Network is unmatched when it comes to college wrestling coverage

Kudos to the Big Ten Network for covering the nation’s deepest and strongest Division I wrestling conference with the quality it deserves — even amid pandemic restrictions.

That’s an impressive achievement and BTN gets to cap its abbreviated though top-notch season during the Big Ten Wrestling Championships from the Bryce Jordan Center. Sunday’s action begins at noon with consolation-round bouts on BTN+ for those who subscribe and moves to the main network at 4 p.m. for championship matches.

All season long BTN, has done well with its televised wrestling coverage. It has produced strong supporting digital programming as well, including “On the Mat,” the network’s behind-the-scenes wrestling series.

With so many sports networks these days, and so much talent controlling cameras, choosing pictures and commentating on sports, stark differences between productions have become rare. That general leveling of the field makes BTN’s wrestling productions even more impressive this season.

It’s just clearly better than the competition.

Despite my best efforts, it was hard to watch the ACC Network’s wrestling coverage last week without making a comparison — and noting the glaring difference.

Now, make no mistake, the difference between, say, ESPN’s top college football game on a Saturday night and something Fox Sports 1 or CBS Sports Net produces as a secondary game during the season is stark. Still, the field in all sports has generally evened out. So when something like BTN’s wrestling quality emerges, it’s clear — and deserves credit.

Commentators Shane Sparks, Jim Gibbons and Tim Johnson were able to provide commentary on multiple matches on the same night this season because they watched all the matches from afar. Their consistent virtual presence helped enhance the network’s performance, too.

They’ve been remote for the conference championships as well, but that will not hamper BTN’s efforts. Kudos to them, across the board.

Former Penn State All-American and national champion Bo Nickal was scheduled to be part of BTN’s coverage of the championships. While the main commentators are not in town, he’s one member of the broadcast team who will be inside the Jordan Center. It will be interesting to see what insights Nickal provides, and what opportunities he gets.

Mic matters

Unfortunately, there’s one problem with top-notch college wrestling coverage. That’s the microphones worn by the mat officials, and the talkative officials themselves.

While TV types love such technology, because it provides access fans cannot get in the stands and sometimes provides an interesting highlight or moment, it’s really just more of nothing. Sometimes what viewers hear seems confusing, too.

For example, officials invariably implore wrestlers for “some action” or to “improve their position.” Sure, they’re trying to keep things moving and they know active wrestling makes the sport better.

Really, though, who’s out there going through motions or just hanging on at the championship level? And how easy is it for the official to say something like that as opposed to a 165-pound wrestler trying to take some action while being prevented from doing so by an opponent? My guess is it’s easier than it sounds.

Similarly, some officials’ continued efforts to get wrestlers “in the middle of the mat” seems silly. Urging competitors back to the middle is counterintuitive to dramatic and exciting moments when points get scored at the edge of the circle.

If the whole area is legal for competition, who cares where the two competitors are inside the circle as long as they’re competing or not retreating?

Maybe the officials could just watch for point-scoring moves and violations and use their whistles when necessary? Beyond that it would seem silence could be golden.

Doubting Draft

A couple of different reports have Mike Greenberg drawing the assignment to host NFL Draft coverage on ESPN — and that does not sound like a personnel move that will better serve viewers.

He’ll be OK, but a drop-off from Trey Wingo, who left ESPN last year.

For as much as Greenberg offers a do-everything standard on ESPN, he’s clearly better at some things than others. His morning TV show has gotten better and found its stride. His midday ratio program remains just average. Because of ESPN’s power and his experience Greenberg gets good guests, but the radio show sometimes seems more a caricature of a sports-talk radio show than something striving to provide consistent, high-quality information.

Again, Greenberg will be OK on the draft, but it’ll feel cliched compared to what viewers got in previous seasons.

Regarding Rece

Standout host Rece Davis, the face of ESPN’s “College GameDay” football and basketball shows, signed a multiyear contract extension earlier this week.

Along with “GameDay” duties, he’ll continue to host coverage from events like the College Football Playoff National Championship, the NFL Draft on ABC and the NCAA Men’s Final Four, in addition to select play-by-play assignments for college football and basketball.

So Super

Disney’s media rights agreement with the NFL keeps “Monday Night Football” on ESPN (and maybe ABC at some point) and puts the company back in the rotation for a Super Bowl — and that game (and pregame show) that could appear on both networks.

Various reports about the still-to-be-signed deal put the rights-fee increase at about 30% for Disney. That’s expected to be a lower percentage increase than what CBS and Fox pay for their NFL packages, but it’s still a hefty investment.

It was a deal Disney probably thought it had to make in terms of relevance. While the company could’ve spent a lot less and probably cornered the market on college football and maybe even got a piece of the NHL contract, the NFL matters so much — and attracts ratings and viewership at such high levels — that having it as part of your broadcast portfolio ensures relevance.

It also ensures access to game highlights, and ESPN and its news programs and studio shows need that content as well.

Tuner tidbits

• Fox Sports lead college basketball and college football play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson was named as the 2021 recipient of the Jake Wade Award, presented by the College Sports Information Directors of America. The honor is presented annually to the individual in the media who has made an outstanding contribution to intercollegiate athletics. It’s clear the PR folks like Johnson, who has an ability to make every game seem big.

• Despite the weather delays for the NHL games in Lake Tahoe a couple of weeks ago, the Sunday night matchup between the Bruins and Flyers became the most-watched regular season game in NBC Sports Network’s 15-year history with the league. It attracted 1.019 million TV-only viewers. It was the most-watched, regular season NHL game in 19 years.

• In an abbreviated, different season, the NBA will combine its All-Star Game and related activities into one more efficient package Sunday. The game tips at 8 p.m. on TNT. It will be preceded by the Taco Bell Skills Challenge and the Mt. Dew 3-Point Contest beginning at 6:30 p.m.

• The sports shutdown in March 2020 is explored in “The Day Sports Stood Still,” a feature-length documentary from HBO Sports, Imagine Documentaries and Fuqua Films. The film debuts at 9 p.m. March 24 on HBO.

• The NIT will play all of its games, beginning March 17, in the Dallas area and the field will be limited to just 16 teams this year. All games will be televised by ESPN or ESPN2.

• Overall TV advertising declined 8.9% in 2020 to $66.7 billion, down from $73.3 billion in 2019, according to Kantar. Cable TV saw the largest drop, down 16.6%.

This story was originally published March 7, 2021 at 9:00 AM.