Cubing should be live-broadcast

[antoineccantin]

Idea for next cubecast?

Nats live with commentary!

 

[Stefan]

There's no way cubing is going on ESPN in the near future.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7152108

 

[mrpotatoman14]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7152108

I apologize for my bad wording. I'm sure the basics of cubing will be shown on "documentary" type programs. However chances are it won't have it's own slot on ESPN for the sake of watching speedsolves.

 

[Dene]

Yes, that would be fantastic, let's put cubing live on ESPN where only Americans (probably not even every state) and maybe a select few other countries in the world can view it... great idea...

 

[Kurbitur]

would be great to broadcast some event so people like me that won't be able to attend worlds can still watch. Also then would every solve be recorded and you could find your solve and watch it and like post it on youtube if you're proud of it (even put your name on it?).

 

[sneaklyfox]

It could have commentary paired with slo-mo replay.

 

[BlackStahli]

Totally agree.

Even when I was a non-cuber, I would have found cubing more interesting than the spelling bee - and the bee gets broadcasted by ESPN.

I think doing some sort of broadcast (that is easy for non-cubers to find and access) of cubing would be interesting, good for the community, and is a good idea that should be looked into.

^^
But the spelling bee has been around for a really long time. Cubes have only been around for what, 30 years now? Only ~15 years if you don't count the time it lost popularity after 1982. Maybe ESPN will broadcast cubing in a decade or something

 

[speedcubingman]

This would be nice. Get some commentators like from Espn saying, 'oh just a beautiful xcross. what a ravishhing f2l. oh wait, seems to have a lockup on oll. pll skip pll skip pll skip pll skip! lets see that in slow mo!!"

would get so many watchers.

oh my gosh this made me lol

 

[marthaurion]

Yeah...I dont really see live-broadcasts of a competition catering much of an audience outside the speedcubing community to be honest. Yeah, it sounds cool for us, but there has to be a way to draw in other people outside of our little circle...

 

[jla]

This would be awesome. Enough said.

 

[asportking]

I can't see this ever happening on something like ESPN (at least for a long time), but a livestream of large competitions with commentary would be really cool.

 

[blade740]

If you took high-level solves, added an instant replay, and had knowledgeable commentators, it could definitely work. The average person doesn't know cubing terminology, but if it weren't for TV commentators most people probably wouldn't understand baseball jargon either. I've been waiting for this for years: Kir as the play-by-play announcer, Bob Burton with color commentary, Andrew Kang on the floor with post-solve interviews, and of course there's no shortage of possible guests. You could break it up with short explanations of cubing concepts, methods, et cetera (to help make it more accessible to non-cubers). The world juggling championships have been shown on ESPN2 several times (and not just a quick feature, but actual honest-to-god coverage), so why not cubing?

The biggest reason that cubing as a sport doesn't enjoy that sort of popularity is that there's not enough sponsorship. But there's no sponsorship because there's no visibility. And there's no visibility because there's no sponsorship. If the World Championships were televised, it would mean a lot more people seeing the sport at its best. And with more eyes on cubing, the possibilities for actual sponsorship, not only for competitions but for individual cubers, grows incredibly. To my knowledge, there are no full-time professional cubers. Just about everyone that competes regularly does so at their own expense. I know I've probably spent thousands of dollars over the years traveling to competitions, and I haven't even left the USA. And yet top Starcraft players make well over 6 figures a year.

So what's it going to take to make this happen? Well, first of all, we need a show. ESPN doesn't have any commentators that know jack **** about cubing, so they're going to have to come from the community. We'll need high-quality footage, of course: just final rounds will do. It doesn't even have to be done live: there's nothing stopping us from editing together a broadcast after the fact. We could even make it into a DVD and sell copies as a way to raise some more funds for competitions. Something like that will show what this sport can really be, and then we can take that and use it to sell the idea to networks. Who knows, maybe it'll turn our nerdy hobby into a productive career, and one day top cubers will actually get recognition from those outside the sport.

 

[Ranzha]

As far as Mistar Nelson's DVD idea goes, if we can get a D-Faze-esque film made out of Nats with footage from each day from multiple people, then we could have ourselves a decent shot.

 

[Hunter]

that is easy for non-cubers to find and access

IMO, this would be the biggest issue. I think a cubing 'show' would have to be presented to non-cubers from a media source they already know and use; however that might be done... I doubt a non-cuber would find this sort of thing on their own.

 

[Weston]

I have been streaming my practice sessions on twitch.tv to give myself pressure. I usually have 4-5 viewers too lol
They seem to be pretty interested

 

[RaresB]

I have been streaming my practice sessions on twitch.tv to give myself pressure. I usually have 4-5 MILLION viewers too lol
They seem to be pretty interested

That's where it will be one day... Hopefully

 

[Cheese11]

I have been streaming my practice sessions on twitch.tv to give myself pressure. I usually have 4-5 viewers too lol
They seem to be pretty interested

You should share whenever you stream. I would love to watch you practice!

 

[PandaCuber]

I have been streaming my practice sessions on twitch.tv to give myself pressure. I usually have 4-5 viewers too lol
They seem to be pretty interested

where? when?

 

[seth5124]

This would be nice. Get some commentators like from Espn saying, 'oh just a beautiful xcross. what a ravishhing f2l. oh wait, seems to have a lockup on oll. pll skip pll skip pll skip pll skip! lets see that in slow mo!!"

would get so many watchers.

i'm just picturing someone doing that with someone like Feliks. "and he's off with a nice simple cross, and now he's st- Oh he's done."

 

[Akash Rupela]

This must happen. I also thought about something like this a few months back. And if there is anything that can take speedcubing to a new level (except the few documentaries or some people in talent hunts), IT IS THIS .