Spartan Race and OCR Back on TV - Here We Go Again....Again...

Being on the obstacle course racing (OCR) circuit the end of this summer (Summer of OCR) and without Internet for much of the time, I seem to have missed this announcement! (PRESS RELEASE: CASTING BEGINS FOR NEW NBC COMPETITION SERIES ‘SPARTAN RACE’).  I did know something was happening since I had received two invitations from one of the show's producers to apply...one after I had already (politely of course) declined.

It's obvious that both NBC Sports and Spartan Race believe that these races can be transformed somehow into good TV.  And no doubt this is an important part of the growth plan for Spartan.  Personally, the only successful TV programming I've seen is the recent BattleFrog College Championship.  NBC Sports recently aired the latest Spartan Races produced in 2015, along with one from 2014.

Again, I have to remind everyone (before the hate mail begins), I love OCR and I'm waiting...and waiting...and waiting...for the time when we can actually watch these races in real time, but the 2015 versions of Spartan races were only marginally more entertaining than the initial TV offering Obstacle Course Racing on TV...well, it's a start!.  Maybe it's me, but the NBC shows completely fail to convey any sense of the excitement of doing an OCR race or even some real drama of the race itself.

While I don't pretend to have the answers, I'm hoping that the producers can come up with something better than what we've been subjected to so far.  Or maybe I've missed the point altogether and what the masses do want are more off-the-course drama and tidbits of the racers thoughts about what was going on during their run.  It seems though that before you care about the behind-the-scenes 'fluff', you have to care about the race and the racers.

Which brings me to the next point.  Are they still trying to build an audience without a following?  (The Present and Future of Obstacle Course Racing...and other secrets of the universe (Part one). Right now, the only people that are likely to be interested in OCR TV are the racers themselves.  Well, that and their families I suppose.  And that's fine...in the sense that you have to start somewhere.  But what about an audience outside that group?

Not everyone that watches NASCAR races a car themselves.  The same can be said for any other professional sport.  The major difference is...you can go watch them in person!  Of course, you can go watch an OCR event too.  But to watch even a relatively small part of any race you need to be in reasonably decent shape and willing to hike around the venue a bit.  Most people aren't really all that into it enough to do that.  Not yet anyway.

However, that leads us to the next seeming 'obstacle' to building a solid fan base.  At most races, spectators are charged just come in to watch!  Ok, now I get that most professional sports do charge to get in.   But they have a product that people want and are willing to pay for.  OCR is still at a point in it's development where it should be doing anything it can to get feet on the ground at the events [note to self: the Olympics don't care about federations and committees...they care about who's going to watch!!].  It also seems that the more people you have at the event, the more merchandise and food sales you'll have...in addition to the basic goal of building some real fan interest.  Although, to be honest, even being on site there is no practical way to watch the race, nor does there seem to be a general desire to watch anyone other than that family member or friend that's racing.

I do realize of course that there may be more practical reasons behind the decision to, in effect, keep the number of spectators low.  Available parking space at events is generally an issue and actual festival space at the venues is, in all likelihood, inadequate to accommodate any significant increase in the number of people.  

It will be very interesting to see how they do end up developing this show.  I'm still hopeful they will concentrate more this time on the actual racing.  Unfortunately, history would indicate that someone, somewhere along the line, wants this to be more reality TV instead.  Well, hope springs eternal...and in the meantime, I'll still go out and enjoy the races themselves!!

What do you think about OCR on TV?

As Lombardi Once Said "What the Hell's Going On Out Here?"....And How Does That Relate To The World Of Obstacle Course Racing

2013 has been another interesting year in the world of Obstacle Course Racing (OCR).   The phenomenal growth continued and looks to be off to a great start for 2014.  Although the industry has seen a number of new races come and go.  With some never getting past the announcement phase, while other races managed to collect entry money without ever actually putting on a race.  This past year also saw the first filming of a race by a major sports network.  That was NBC Sports filming the Spartan Race Championship in VT last September.  Although the resulting TV program was not quite a thrill-a-minute [Obstacle Course Racing on TV...well, it's a start!] it was a big step towards building a fan base for this emerging sport.

Speaking of championship races, there was another trend developing late in 2013.  Where last year saw new races growing like weeds, the new trend seems to be for Championship races.  So far, besides the already established Spartan Race Championship, there were announcements from Warrior Dash, OCR World Championship and well, another race called OCR World Championship.  Strangely enough, neither OCR World Championship race actually exists right now and don't seem to have the OCR racing community support at the moment.  Go figure!....growing pains I guess.

Then there was the announcement of a new OCR sanctioning body [USOCR].  Interestingly, this sanctioning body seems to have come to being by self-proclamation...kinda like the big-bang.  Not that I have any objections to this or questions about the qualifications or motives of these individuals.  It's probably a good and necessary step in the growth of the sport.  Just seems like this should grow (as my son might say) organically as OCR matures.  A coming together of the major competitors.......to bring order from chaos, so to speak.  But again, what do I know.  Some are born great, some have greatness thrust upon them and some just declare themselves great and leave the proof as a class assignment.

There's an interesting dilemma here too.  One of the major OCR promoters isn't even a race!  That being Tough Mudder.  It's not a race...it isn't timed...so how do you have a champion when you don't even have a winner!! [Although there is a "World's Toughest Mudder" competition, which is run in a different manner than their other races].  This could actually get sticky (no pun intended...no really!) at some point for Tough Mudder.  Without timed events, they can't be used as qualifying races for any of the so-called championship races.  So they may be left as the only major competitor with a "let's just have fun" attitude.

Last April I was prognosticating on the future of OCR [see The present and future of Obstacle Course Racing (Part1) and The present and future of Obstacle Course Racing - Part Deux)] and a major shortcoming of the races is that virtually no one could see them. At the time, there were a few obstacles visible to spectators, but the vast majority of the race was out of sight.   At the Spartan Championship in Vermont, there was definitely a huge improvement in fan viewing. Quite a number of obstacles were near the festival area, including Barbed-Wire-lite...so named (by me) because of it's shorter length, 2 foot clearance and relatively dry condition. Looks impressive, but not too scary to the non-racer (read: parents, non-racing spouses, kids, etc) and barely an inconvenience for the experienced racers.

So fans were able to get a view of their racers although most of the race, even this one, still takes place off stage. And how do you know when your racer would come through that area?  Go grab some food and you may have missed them...and not even know! That's double tough when you're talking about a course where the WINNING times were near 4 hours.

Another thing that hasn't changed noticeably from last year is that you still can't really track the "elite" racers at the event. At Vermont, most everyone racing was out on the course anyway as the winners were coming in.  Unavoidable in this particular instance I guess.  There really should be a separate day for the elites to run this Championship race...maybe...someday [note to self - see multiple new championship races announced recently].  But I suppose, one thing at a time.  First, they need to figure out how to cover a race and make it exciting.  Someone out there has to know how to do that!

Obstacle Course Racing on TV...well, it's a start!

At the Spartan Championship Race in Vermont last September, one of the highlights was the filming of the event for television.  And NBC Sports was there...filming away.  This was a major development in the sport.  For anyone that has been following Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) for a while, one of the key elements to stepping up the game is attracting a fan base.  And a key element of attracting a fan base is that you have to have a means of covering the event.  I was very interested in seeing how this played out.  Obviously it wasn't going to be live coverage of this race...but it was a start!

Last April I was talking about the future of OCR [see The present and future of Obstacle Course Racing (Part1) and The present and future of Obstacle Course Racing - Part Deux)] and a major shortcoming of the race is that virtually no one could see it.  At that time, there were few obstacles visible to spectators.  However, the vast majority of the race was out of sight.  Makes it tough to root for your racer when you have no idea where they are...or where anyone else is for that matter.

With TV filming then, would that help promote the sport and provide some race coverage ideas for the future?  I know I was excited to see the final product.  I saw this as an opportunity for people to see what these races were really all about.  Up to now, anytime they showed a race it seemed to be the same few obstacles popping up.  Spartan Race seemed to be excited initially too.  But for some reason the showing was postponed until a later date.  Five or six weeks later in fact.  Well, that happens I'm sure.  What surprised me though, as the new release date approached, was that Spartan Race did not seem to be promoting the show quite as emphatically as it had immediately after the race.  And for anyone who follows Spartan Race...that was odd.  Very odd!!

One reason for this may have been a change in their marketing staff.  But as important as this must have been to them, someone at Spartan Race would have noticed it wasn't being blasted around the Internet!  Another reason is more likely though.  It seems reasonable that Spartan Race had a chance to see the final product before release.  And I can't imagine they were particularly thrilled with it.  Not that it was a poor job by any means.  Just disappointing.  At the very least it wasn't able to bring across the grueling, mind-numbing nature of this course in particular or any excitement about the race itself!  Of course I wouldn't know how to go about doing this either...but I'm not a TV producer.  I saw the same exact format used on one of those "survivor" type races and, I'm sorry to say, it was dull.  Dull....dull....dull!  And these races are not dull!  Brutal...torturous...painful...inspiring...fulfilling...but not dull!!  No race should come across like that...ever.

So, there's still some work to do on this.  A lot of work apparently!  OCR is a new and exciting sport and only needs the right person to bring it across on screen.  The Super Bowl has nothing to fear....yet.  On a positive note though, there appears to be change happening in OCR.  Another step in the maturing of OCR perhaps.  More on that thought in the next post!