OK, so it would've been nice if that new retractable roof had been available to the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club this year. Still, at some point during the hour-and-a-half rain delay during the men's singles final at Wimbledon, don't you think the people running KSDK — the Cardinals flagship station in St. Louis that was at that moment carrying NBC's tennis coverage — would've come up with a better Plan B than carrying both the ballgame and the tennis match on split screen?
And airing the audio of ... the ballgame?
With Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer deep into their instant-classic tennis match, KSDK came up with possibly the worst solution imaginable to handling its Wimbledon-baseball problem. The station — which outbid KLPR-11 in the off-season two years ago for the rights to the Redbirds' Sunday games — may have had someone on duty who didn't quite grasp the enormity of what was happening on center court. Perhaps he, or she, couldn't imagine Nadal and Federer would grind it out for another hour. Perhaps they figured, worst case scenario, there would a third straight tiebreaker to decide the match, not realizing there is no tiebreaker in the fifth set at Wimbledon.
As it was, 16 games were required to decide the match, with Nadal finally besting Federer in a thriller that John McEnroe, and seemingly every anchor on ESPN (including the ones who do baseball) called "one of the greatest I've ever seen."
And seeing was all they got to do in St. Louis — because KSDK went with the Cardinals' audio on the split, relegating Nadal-Federer to the white Bronco chase in the equation.
So slovenly was KSDK that whoever was at the switch didn't even bother to go full-screen on Wimbledon (according to this viewer) when the ballgame was in commercial. Needless to say, even when the Cardinals were trailing and the Wimbledon final was entering its nail-biting home stretch, KSDK left things just as they were.
If it's any consolation, ESPN Classic will reair the Federer-Nadal final Monday at 6 p.m. St. Louis time. The Cardinals have Monday off.
St. Louis is famously baseball crazy. If the viewers there are upset, it's because their beloved Cardinals had to share the screen with some stupid tennis match.
Posted by: Harry A Jessell | July 07, 2008 at 07:06 AM
You don't really think that a master control operator made this decision and no one in management noticed, do you? This split screen was definitely a management decision. I once worked at a station that had it's own prominent sports play-by-play contract, as well as a prominent news department. The news department was told that the station's contract with the team forbade them from *ever* interrupting the game or team-sold commercials unless it was an absolute emergency (as in: war, death of a president, or life-threatening weather situation).
Posted by: Andy | July 07, 2008 at 07:55 AM
The tennis match had a 9.8/21 from 1:45-2PM. Then the baseball game promptly soared to a 13.8/23 from 2-2:15PM. KSDK made the right call from a viewership standpoint, but considering the years of experience with Wimbledon (and the rain delays...and the possibilities of 5 sets) that KSDK has, they should have had a much better contingency plan in place.
Posted by: Ryan | July 07, 2008 at 09:16 AM
Rebecca Rahm is the name of the person responsible for ruining the finest tennis match that i have ever seen. What a joke they are.
Posted by: Paul Stark | July 07, 2008 at 10:24 AM
The TV station made the best possible decision in an impossible situation. First, they made the irght business decision as the Cardinals TV spots were much more plentiful and far more expensive. They are operating a business, never forget. Secondly, as someone else pointed out, the ratings for the Cardinals were markedly higher.
Good call tv station
Posted by: Fred | July 07, 2008 at 10:57 AM
CBS did enough split-screening in its early years of March Madness coverage to figure out that it was a bad idea. KSDK should have just chosen one event or the other.
My only disagreement is the premise that the station should have prioritized the tennis. St. Louis is fairly unique in its embrace of baseball above all else.
KSDK should have just run the Cards full screen and used an alternate outlet or a tape delay for the tennis.
Posted by: Everett W. | July 07, 2008 at 12:02 PM
It's funny that St. Louis people are whining about the tennis TV coverage. Usally they are whining about their baseball team.
Posted by: Don | July 07, 2008 at 12:52 PM
Aaron, Other than the familys and friends of the teams and players involved , You can't seriously believe that anybody on the planet really cared , can You?
Posted by: Edward Fitzgerald | July 07, 2008 at 03:20 PM
Given the importance of the Cards/Cubs and the love the city has for baseball, KSDK made the right decision. It might take a Cards fan to understand that, but that was their audience.
Posted by: Peter | July 07, 2008 at 03:48 PM
Its plain and simple...the Cardinals require that all affiliates (radio and TV) put them first. The only thing that could pre-empt a Cardinals game is severe weather or disaster. The Rams, the Blues, Wimbeldon, Tiger Woods, the second coming of Christ...all have to be tape delayed or moved or not carried at all. If KSDK had tape delayed, moved or in other ways altered their coverage of the Cardinals, you can bet the Cards would have been looking for a new affiliate at the end of 2008 (and forget ever coming back to them) No its not a dictator style approach on the part of the Cardinals. Other stations in St. Louis would LOVE to sign the same deal. The Cards are the #1 revenue maker for Sunday afternoons in St. Louis and we all knew this would happen. Get over it.
Posted by: Glenn | July 07, 2008 at 03:58 PM
You've got to be kidding me. Cards-Cubs in the middle of a heated playoff race or a second-rate sport where the players are neither from St. Louis or have most likely never been to St. Louis.
It's pretty obvious that NBC is stupid for not having a plan B but come on, who cares about Wimbledon in St. Louis. Obviously not many people.
Posted by: Chris | July 07, 2008 at 05:59 PM
I think most of the comments here underestimate the level of popularity tennis has in St. Louis. No, it's certainly not anywhere remotely close to Cards popularity, but definitely enough to warrant a better Wimbledon "Plan B" (such as moving tennis to my46, as has happened in similar situations).
Quite a few ticked off tennis (and tennis/Cards) fans: http://www.ksdk.com/sports/story.aspx?storyid=149491&catid=6
Posted by: Max | July 07, 2008 at 06:23 PM
Hey thanks for the credit on correcting your "article" :)
at least you fixed it.
(Hey, thanks for checking back! On major corrections I try to give credit. Yep, the strikethrough was thanks to Jeff.--AB)
Posted by: Jeff | July 07, 2008 at 09:53 PM
Yes Baseball is very important here in ST louis but there are plenty of tennnis fans and maybe people who were not fans previously may have appreciated seeing a little of the best match ever & become fans......
Posted by: george | July 07, 2008 at 10:19 PM
It's tennis - who cares? A Cardinals baseball game is much better to watch - even when they lose.
Posted by: Joe Barnes | July 08, 2008 at 01:24 AM
This is typical St. Louis tv broadcasting. All the stations there are very sure that local coverage should always take precedence over national or international happenings. I wonder why they even bother to become network affiliates in the first place.
Posted by: Gary | July 08, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Come on ya'll. It's the midwest, corn crib, barley and oats and pork bellies. St Louis enjoys dust and the diamond. The green lawn of Wimbeldon tennis is far removed from the great expanse of the american midway. Besides it's doubtful few in greater St Louis would even know how to keep score of that tennis match. Game set and St Louis !!
Posted by: Stephen | July 08, 2008 at 04:21 PM
I'm really unhappy with KSDK for not doing a better job with the conflict with the Cardinals and the epic Wimbledon final. Yes, I'm a Cardinals fan, but I'm also a huge tennis fan, and had to struggle to even know what was going on in the Wimbledon final since there was no audio, but just a tiny screen of the tennis, along side the beginning of the Cardinals game (which included the audio).
This was one Cardinal game of 160 for the season. There's only ONE Wimbledon final for 2008.
Sorry, very poor judgement by KSDK!
Posted by: cardinalandtennisfan | July 12, 2008 at 04:57 PM
How can an intelligent individual even remotely consider deciding that an ordinary baseball game should take precedence over the final match, and indeed final minutes, of the Wimbledon Championship? The two greatest tennis players currently playing battling it out for more than a trophy or prize, but for the number 1 position in the world and, for Roger Federer, a place in history along side Pete Sampras. When one compares the epic nature of this monumental event with the droll monotonous proceedings of a routine baseball game, one should clearly see that “the greatest match ever played” might be a bit more important.
Posted by: curtis | February 09, 2009 at 05:00 PM