The WORST NBC BROADCAST DECISION of the 1984 NFL Season
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2022
- In 1984, WFIE, the NBC affiliate in Evansville, Indiana, decided that they were going to broadcast all of the available games for the Indianapolis Colts, going away from their strategy of showing the best AFC game. This decision was so disastrous from a ratings and reception standpoint that it lasted one season before WFIE changed its mind and reversed course. This is the story behind the 1984 broadcast decision that did not work out at all
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#nfl #nbc #nbcsports #colts #evansville #indianapolis #nbcnews #football #sports #highlights #nflthrowback #nflhistory #1984 #tv - Спорт
This unofficial Official Jaguar Gator 9 historian will remind everyone you made a video about another decision (or lack thereof) by the CBS affiliate in Indianapolis in 1987.
You need a life. Great video
I've always lived in Evansville, but I was only 6 years old when the Colts moved to Indy. I was always curious what AFC team WFIE showed before the Colts showed up. But I can tell you this, at least by the early 90's they were again showing the Colts again all the time, which transferred to the CBS affiliate when they got rights to the AFC. Now I'm not a Colts fan, I'm a long suffering Lions fan, but when the Colts won Super Bowl 41 they took the Lombardi trophy on a tour of the state and brought it here to Evansville. I got to have my picture taken while touching the trophy, and its something I'll never forget.
And that’s why, even with hindsight, I don’t agree that it was a bad decision. Evansville was inevitably going to, and did, become a Colts town along with most of the state except a handful of counties that remain stubbornly Bears territory. Sure it would have worked out better in 1984 if the Colts were good but it was still the right decision and the networks recognize that by showing all the Colts games now.
Come back home to Colts nation
I love how you find these very obscure stories in NFL history and then make them interesting
It was bad luck, not a bad decision. You have to assume that a new team that represents your state will gain traction.
I think this is the first video you have made where no one is really in the wrong or someone did anything stupid. The Station wanted to support the new team in the state and it didn’t work out.
Yeah, Colts were a bad horse to race back then; at least they later traded for a Mustang 🐎.
Do you have a link to it, or a title? I'm new here.
If the station had stuck with the Dolphins, guess who became the QB in 1984? Dan Marino
As someone who grew up in Indy, that first decade was pretty rough, but we were spared by many games being blacked out. Worst NFL coverage I ever had was when I lived in Toledo in early 2000s. The two local stations were primary carriers of Lions and the Browns, so you got two meaningless games with horrible teams every week, and often didn't even get the featured double-header game if either Lions or Browns played the 4 o'clock game.
Reminds me of when my sister and her first husband lived in Springfield Illinois. The Rams were still in St. Louis at that time and Springfield was almost dead center between Rams country and Bears territory. The local TV station let the public vote on which team they wanted to see. The Bears won the vote but that was the year the Rams came out of nowhere to take the league by storm. suddenly the station "discovered" some votes that haden't been counted yet putting the Rams ahead of the Bears for coverage.
Reminds me of a certain election 2 years ago, hmmm...
I remember this well. I also remember getting a lot of Colts games in the early nineties because of jeff George
@@DolFan316I'm actually reminded of the gubernatorial election in Ohio in 2010.
This is just great on so many levels. Loved "The Gambler" reference! I guess WFIE didn't have much time to count their money since they lost so much of it!
Growing up in Oakland City I watched this station a lot in the no cable era. Thanks for the memory burn
That's the great thing about the NFL, just because you live in a state doesn't necessarily mean you like or watch the team in your market. People choose to pull for various teams for different reasons and living in a city with an NFL Franchise doesn't mean it's automatic that your going to root for them.
I know that's right having lived in Jacksonville twice.
Great topic. Other cases in point semi-recently. Manning effect had Colts in Knoxville, and Giants in Memphis (both even ahead of the Titans); Bears in Albuquerque (Urlacher); Browns in Lexington, Ky. (Tim Couch); Eagles in North Dakota (Wentz). This is more common (and not entirely based on pro success at all) than most people realize.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Memphis never really cared about the Titans. From what I know, despite being in Tennessee, the population cared more about Steelers and Cowboys right there.
How about the Favre effect having the Jets in Green Bay that one year that he played in New York?
Oklahoma City showed Rams games when they could when Sam Bradford played there and showed more Browns games when Baker Mayfield was there.
@@eduardoazeredo6250As I recall, the primary reason why Memphis didn't rally around the Oilers (and, yes, I still call them by that name) is the fact that the people there knew that they would be playing there only until they could move into their permanent quarters at Nashville.
If I was the Station Manager at WFIE, I would have done the exact same thing.
In Indiana, South Bend is the conflicting market. Super Bowl 41 was between the Colts and Bears. Northern Indiana was in the crosshairs of that matchup. Being opposite conferences it’s usually not an issue an in my home marks, Fort Wayne, fans of both the Colts and Bears usually get to watch our teams on the respective stations without jumping through any hoops.
Remember Tony Dungy saying he wish the Super Bowl was played in Fort Wayne instead of Miami
You don't know what brutal is, my friend.
Back in 1977. I went into the Army. Since I lived in MN. I was a purple fan. After basic & training, I was assigned to Leavenworth, KS near Kansas City. *Sounds good, right??*
Well, no. The two years I was in Leavenworth. Kansas City was 3 - 13 each year and unwatchable. You got blackouts for home games meaning the AFC (NBC) teams were the early slate. The NFC (CBS) late slate was mostly west coast teams.
When the Chiefs play afternoon (late) road games (west coast teams). Mainly we got AFC vs NFC games on CBS. Maybe a Viking game. My hope to see a Viking game was my one night on Monday (ABC) night.
Talking about 2 years of hell.
That’s interesting info about Evansville showing Griese’s games. Now that I think about it, my local CBS affiliate in central Mississippi did the same with Titans games when Air McNair played. That played a big part in him being my favorite player as a kid.
North Mississippi still gets Titans games, but we don’t get them that often anymore. I always wondered why.
I think it's because the Saints are closer to your market now.
@@runrafarunthebestintheworld The Saints have always been our local team on FOX. The Titans were CBS
The Minnesota Vikings are considered the default team of North Dakota, though quite a few Cowboys games were broadcast there.
I remember a similar situation growing up in Columbus. If memory serves me correctly, our NBC affiliate (WLW-C/WCMH (the different call letters refer to a change of ownership from Avco-Crosley to Outlet Broadcasting in 1975)) would alternate between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns. (Parts of the Columbus television market are within seventy-five miles of each.) To this day, I don't know if that was the decision of the station, the AFL-NFL or NBC. However, through some quirk, our CBS affiliate (WBNS-TV) would often show the 'Pokes during the late game. Of course, during the mid '80's especially, the station would show the Chicago Bears during the early games. This made more sense for two reasons: 1. This was during their heyday. 2. Chicago is at least geographically closer to Columbus than is Dallas. (Although, if geography were the only concern, Detroit is even closer. Thus, carrying the Lions would have made even more sense in that regard. Additionally, there is the Ohio connection, as that team started out as the Portsmouth Spartans.)
Interestingly enough, this underscores one of the unintended consequences of the merger: Had the Cleveland Browns not been reassigned to the AFL, WBNS-TV would have continued airing their games each week while WLW-C/WCMH would have continued to be able to air the Cincinnati Bengals each week, thereby negating the broadcast-scheduling issues at least as regards the same network showing both teams. And, at least prior to 1975 (as noted above), that would have been appropriate as Avco-Crosley was based in Cincinnati.
If they had chosen to remain unaffiliated and the Colts had ended up being good, wouldn’t they have just chosen to show more Colts games?
This is very similar to what the CTV affiliate in Vancouver Canada did for many years with the Seattle Seahawks. Prior to the Seahawks second run of success under Mike Holmgren & during the very dark times during the early 90's, CTV often showed the best NFL game regardless of conference. Of course Seahawks fans that lived in Vancouver could get around this by simply tuning into the NBC affiliate KING TV (or KIRO if they were playing an NFC team) due to their closeness to the border.
Before the Panthers came into the league in 1995, Washington was the main team in NC, where WRAL-5 (then-CBS in Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville) and WNCT-9 (Greenville/New Bern) carried their games. But, sometimes, on the NFC side, we’d get some Eagles, Cowboys, 49ers, Falcons, Saints, Bears and Lions games on occasion (when Washington wasn’t involved). On the AFC side, WPTF/WRDC-28 and WNCN-17 (Raleigh/Durham’s then-NBC station) and WITN-7 (Greenville/New Bern, NC) would air Oilers, Dolphins, Bills, Steelers, Browns, Bengals, Raiders, Broncos and Chargers games. For the latter, around 1995-96, a decent amount of Bengals games were shown, due to QB Jeff Blake coming from ECU
That tidbit about WITN airing a lot of Bengals games owing to Jeff Blake going to East Carolina. The part of North Carolina where I live is almost exactly between the Greenville-New Bern and Norfolk-Virginia Beach markets; and I had a similar theory about Norfolk getting more Steelers games than usual partly due to Mike Tomlin being from the area.
@@hrtvfan2870 Makes a lot of sense
I never thought official jaguar Gator 9 would ever do I story about a city near me🤣.
They would have been much better off just following the Miami Dolphins after the 1980 season.
They would’ve been better off just spiking every game into the ground.
Man my home market, I never heard about this despite watching their news everyday.
I live in Kentucky which has no NFL team. My favorite team is the Miami Dolphins ever since they joined the league in 1968. Tennessee has the Titans, and when they and Miami have the same time slot I lose. The NFL can only fit so many people into a stadium, and its unfair for millions of fans in surrounding states to be blacked out from their favorite teams. Cable TV, and internet streaming services charges are ridiculous too. Paying to be blacked out is a joke.
For a while I lived in western Kansas. Fans there were split between the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs. God bless both of 'em.
The eastern part seems to be pro-Chiefs, and the western part pro-Broncos. Makes sense anyway. And they're in the same division as well, playing each other twice every season.
However, it's more than likely that after the change of coaches in late 1986, and bringing Eric Dickerson to the Colts in mid-87, things started to change in the Evansville TV market. It must've been accelerated when Marshall Faulk was drafted as he started tearing up the gridiron...
That TV blackout for games that didn't sell out was the stupidest idea. As if fans made the last day decision to spend hundreds of dollars and drive hours away to see a game in person because it was blacked out.
Of course this station was choosing The Colts. It's not like it's an expansion franchise.
We're seeing how a *MISMANAGED EXPANSION* franchise is runned in Cleveland.
Runned or Ruined?
Lots of fun watching stars like Art Monk, Charlie Joiner, and Roy Green carve up the football field in this video! Thanks '84 Colts!
Hi Daffy, this is Gluserty from Lebeau's Leblog. Yeah, after purchasing the type of phone everyone uses, I haven't visited many of my old sites, plus that Sawgrass Marriott job took a lot of my time in & out of the building. Anyway, I agree, the 1984 Colts at least created highlights for others.
@@gluserty Good to hear from you! Hope all is well!
@@cardboardbelt Meh, so much nonsense at the Sawgrass Marriott from March (paid extra money because our "team" had no one in the upstairs kitchen, then there was a corporate takeover... major junk) until my last day on the 1st. Otherwise, I'm living.
I have to ask you though: what do you think of the name Washington Commanders? I don't think it's bad on its own, but I just feel all that business was blown away out of proportion.
@@gluserty The name change doesn't hurt my feelings in general, but I'll have to see how "Commanders" grows on me. My first response was that it sounded like one of the teams the Globetrotters used to beat up on.
I always felt like if the organization had acted back in, say the mid 90's, they could have kept the name. Just get rid of all of the native American imagery and references and suggest that you're named after a potato or a peanut. Work in a sponsorship. Hey, Ohio State's nickname is about a nut.
@@cardboardbelt Good call Daffy, and it isn't as if anyone is jumping in line to back Daniel Snyder. Ha ha, the nickname does remind me of Generals as well ( I would've preferred the old "Federals" USFL name, "Monuments", or "Congress"; hey, Congress is a team, of sorts🤔).
Make sense and thats explains why LA kept seeing the Raiders in 1995
I live in southeastern Virginia or the Hampton Roads market . We get three different teams in the pre season . Tonight we get the Carolina Panthers on the ABC station. Tomorrow night the commanders play the Ravens. It will be aired on two stations at the same time. Yet on radio the only team airing in the area is the commanders. We've had Panthers from time to time. We've never had the Ravens (or colts) ever air in our area on radio.
7:43 This might’ve been the best jab you’ve ever done on a team in your short tenure online.
Leave it to you to find another way to take another shot at Frank Kush.
Frank Kush - 4
49ers - 1 (Kevan Barlow)
Only the NFL could screw this up.
Appreciate the extra spotlight on the Colts as of late, even when we’ve done some pretty reprehensible shit.
Yeah, like ruin four great quarterbacks
One of the first to view another of your brilliant films...This is another reason why these should be required for any so-called football historian, especially when you mix in broadcasting quirks in. You are a freakin' machine dude! With the Rams moving back to LA a few years back. Evansville is no longer surrounded on all sides. Now its just Cincy to the Northeast, Indy to the North and Nashville to the South but still a broadcast nightmare
The Fox affiliate for Springfield and Champaign in Illinois, WRSP/WCCU, would show as many Cowboys games as possible when Tony Romo (who went to college at Eastern Illinois University) was the starting QB for the Cowboys, although being a secondary market of the Bears (and the Rams when they were based in St. Louis) limited their ability to do this. I'm not old enough to remember if then-NBC affiliate WICS/WICD (now an ABC affiliate) did the same for the Patriots when Tony Eason (who played for Illinois in college) was their starting QB.
They should have stopped showing Colts games midseason knowing that they were bad and that the ratings were down
Harrisburg, PA probably had the worst situation of any city. The NFL used to designate it as a Ravens market because Baltimore was geographically the closest team and it was within the circle where games could get blacked out if they didn’t sell out. Because of that the networks were required to show the Ravens even if it conflicted with the Steelers or Eagles, and endured abuse and threats from fans every time it happened.
I read that the Steelers' ratings in Harrisburg were three times greater than the Ravens.
Harrisburg used to be split, because the Redskins had training camp in Carlisle, the Colts had a following, and obviously the Eagles and Steelers.
The Colts left, the Redskins moved their training camp away, and that left the Eagles and Steelers.
Collateral damage from 'Indiana Kush and his Dolts of Doom'....
There one thing I don’t quite understand. You talked about how non-affiliates had a choice in what to broadcast. So why couldn’t they have been “let’s go with the colts for about a month but if they start to suck let’s switch it up to other games options”?
What I got out of this video is that 1.) Griese was a far better QB than people want to believe and 2.) it's astounding the Cards didn't beat the Colts by 40 like the video made it look.
I live in Indianapolis, but most of my relatives live in the Evansville area. My parents moved from Evansville to Indianapolis when my mom was pregnant with me.
I always wondered why my older cousin who lived down near Evansville was a Dolphins fan. Now I know why.
Now in MONROE LOUISIANA airs saints, Cowboys Any other team when possible!
Good to know that there are Bears fans outside of the Chicago vincinity. 🐻🔽
Evansville is slightly closer to Nashville than it is to Indianapolis. WSMV Nashville used to be available in some areas of the market. It also as a market has a fairly large coverage area in Kentucky and Illinois.
I know that the Colts have a decent following around the Champaign Urbana area. It’s slightly closer to Indy than it is to Chicago. Also those two markets share the area along the western indiana boarder.
The Raiders factor (winning a SB prior to and then after a relocation) my have put expectations a bit too high
Damn he didn't have to say that about the area of Virginia where I live (Central Virginia)
I'm not gonna get on WFIE for going with the Colts in '84. What I don't understand is why the NFL restricted the Colts' preseason network to Terre Haute and South Bend (the latter has traditionally been a Bears stronghold) aside from their new primary market, Indianapolis. The NFL sure was stupid about TV back then.
Up until 1972 NFL season, the NFL did not allow the broadcast of home games within 75 miles of the stadium whether or not the game was sold out. And, until the 2012 NFL season, if the game wasn't sold out, it was blacked out. That really doesn't help when the team has a series of terri-bad seasons.
Fort Wayne was in the mix ... but in the early 1990's... WKJG did not air a regular season Colts due to a fan vote by the station ... and the Colts called them next week telling them they were obligated to show Colts games regardless
@@MarkAHoltz I know all about that as a longtime Bucs fan. I didn't get to watch many hone games on then-CBS affiliate WTVT and legacy NBC affiliate WFLA-TV (briefly WXFL in the '80s due to FCC rules back then) unless the Bears or Dolphins came here prior to '97. Until then, the Bucs' ownership put out a putrid product that turned fans off.
@@DJWestrick I guess the Colts claimed the Fort Wayne as a secondary market.
My mom grew up in the Indiana portion of the Terre Haute market, and there was actually some local opposition to what they viewed as politicians in Indianapolis forcing an NFL team down the throats of Hoosiers on short notice, and there was fear that an NFL team in Indianapolis might hurt attendance at Indiana University men's basketball games, even though the pro football and college basketball seasons didn't start overlapping until well into the pro football season.
Can anyone tell me what the Baltimore stations showed in 1984? This is pretty relevant for the context of this video.
Probably Washington. When I lived near Baltimore from 1989 through 1993 Washington was the primary game.
As for the AFC games probably eithan random game or Pittsburgh since Washington is on the NFC and Indy and before they left Baltimore at this point was in the AFC.
Jaguargator 9, was there any controversy surrounding the 01 bears season and the changing kickoff times for several of their games when they got hot?
Between Milwaukee and Green Bay, I still remember the NBC/AFC station carrying a whole lot of Raiders and Chargers game (and because the Packers were eh before 1990 a lot of my early football watching consisted of that Coliseum track in my peripheral vision all the time). I think if the Colts would've been surprisingly good in '84 this might have worked out...but you gotta get good to have consistent coverage from the out-state stations in your state.
With the Packers playing most games in the early (1pm ET/12pm CT) window, the NBC affiliate would tend to take the late window games, which more often than not would be something from the AFC West (or a Jets road game).
@@LeviRamseyWNBC-TV (channel 4) did televised local NY teams like the Jets and Patriots, and they had no problem of being blacked out.
@@Musicradio77Network which has what, exactly, to do with the games shown on NBC in Wisconsin?
indy was bears turf before the old drunk slunk out of baltimore like a coward in the night.
Irsay didn’t want to move to Indy, he wanted to move to a city closer to home and the NFL wouldn’t let him.
They show the Packers here in Milwaukee instead of the Bears even though we are a little closer to Chicago. What really surprises me is Roanoke picks Washington has their home market instead of Carolina even though Roanoke is closer to Charlotte than it is to Washington DC.
Packers used to play 3 home games in Milwaukee.
Here in Racine they show the Packers on the Milwaukee Fox/CBS stations and the Bears on the Chicago stations...with the exception of the news, Bears games are about the only programs they don't black out regarding the Chicago Fox and CBS stations.
@@TheSjuris Yeah the key word is used to.
@@dvferyance their season ticket packages still reflect that.
Washington has had the NFL sonce 1937. Carolina came along in 1995. That gave Washington a 58 year head start. All of Virginia was/is Washington's market.
Been a lifelong Buccaneers fan that lives in New England and Tom Brady has been the biggest blessing. For the greatness obviously but I also get to watch every game that isn't in conflict with the Patriots. Which is almost every game.
Living in Upstate SC, you’re going to the Panthers on TV. Sometimes Falcons if not Carolina. The AFC teams nearby are possibly the Titans but Jaguars are the local AFC team. Before the Jaguars, the local team would have been the Dolphins. Before the Panthers, Falcons were always on CBS before Fox got the NFC rights in 1994.
Oof, they could have had Marino's 1984 on every week if they had just stayed with the Dolphins.
GEAUX LSU GEAUX JOE BURROW #9
This reminds me before the Raiders came to Vegas we always got the best games
you should do a video on the history of offensive and defensive corodinators. when did the oc take over from the qb calling all the plays. same with the defense
I think that the NFL decides, or at least has a LOT of influence, in what games are shown where.
From 1973, when the blackout rule was lifted, through 1984, the Youngstown, Ohio stations carried the Steelers.
Boardman, Ohio native Bernie Kosar signed with the Browns in 1985 and that was it for showing the Steelers every week.
The NFL has put Youngstown as part of the Browns' primary market. Erie, Pennsylvania belongs to the Bills and Harrisburg, PA is the Ravens' market.
In each city, the Steelers are secondary.
The Steelers get Pittsburgh, Altoona, PA, Wheeling-Steubenville and the rest of West Virginia.
Habitual criminal Art Schlichter at 8:30.
In 1981 CBS Sports gave the Hoosier State 49ers-Steelers because the Bears were 3-6 and on their way to last place in the NFC Central
It wasn't easy to get from Evansville to Indianapolis at that time. They're currently building I-69 to make it easier to get there. I'd like to know what games Shreveport showed, considering it's closer to Dallas but in the Saints state and was previously similar to Evansville in that regard.
eastern s d is vikes land. western s d is bronco land. broncos have a vast land. co, wyo, mont., utah, part of nev., idaho, neb., n mx. u p of mich. is pack land. western corner of mi. is chicago land. and despite what cards think az. is boys land.
A Jacksonville Jaguars fan talk shit about the Indianapolis Colts. Biased?
8:53. If you were a ref, would you call a foul on the Cardinals?
That is the worst decision ever.
So that’s why, WNBC-TV (channel 4) in New York City at the time did televised the AFC game where the Jets played, but they don’t showed the Colts over there. New York City was a larger TV market to show NFL games on TV.
NBC seems to be appearing a lot in videos 🤔
I so happy to live in San Francisco...never have to deal with thIs with The 49ers... aka "America's Team...!!!".GO 49ERS!!!👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆
Funny how they still suck, at least this year
👍👍