The thing I find lacking in nearly all of the race coverage for IM, PTO and Challenge is the excitement factor. They don’t know what is interesting for the fans and the commentators are about as flat as a pancake. I do an extensive amount of Commentary and Live Announcing work for High Level, Track Cycling, Track & Field, and some Road Cycling with Streaming services such RunnerSpace and FloBikes and a number of Race/Event Organizers.
I was recently asked by the UCI to be part of the Live Venue Announcing Team for Track Cycling at the 2023 UCI World Cycling Championships this August in Glasgow!
I was lucky early on doing all this be it the Live Venue Announcing or the Live Stream Commentary to be paired up with the REALLY good, co-Announcers or Commentators. I learned a great deal working with them. Pacing is important. If you start at an level 8 - 9 with the Qualifying Rounds of the 200m on the Track - you don't have far to go to get to level 10 - 11!! Also - people may tune out or just find you annoying.
Ditto with Road Racing. I'll be covering the Women's Vuelta Burgos next week for FloBikes - and you can't open up a 3 hr Live Stream Broadcast going full bore - you build it up over the course of the Stage to the finale!
Same with the longer races on the Track in running - let the athletes animate it in terms of what they do, and build it all up until the final 200m to the finish!
I frequently pitch PTO, Super League, and IM on my services, but to no bites for a number of years! I got my start doing this sort of work at IRONMAN Canada years ago - both Live Announcing and Hosting the IMC Live Stream Broadcast for 3 years to 2012 - with a unique a novel format for IM Race Broadcast.
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog