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tennisIlove09 · Feb 13th, 2003, 07:48 PM

ESPN locks up French Open through 2006

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Associated Press

ESPN signed a four-year contract extension Thursday to cover the French Open through 2006.

ESPN and ESPN2 will air a total of more than 80 hours from this year's tournament starting May 26. ESPN will show both women's semifinals June 5 and one men's semifinal the next day.

Last year's women's semifinals, won by Venus and Serena Williams, averaged a little more than a million TV homes for ESPN. That made the telecast the most-viewed French Open show ever on cable.

NBC will show the men's and women's finals, as it has every year since 1983. The network also aired the French Open in 1975-79.

tennisIlove09 · Feb 13th, 2003, 07:49 PM

let the terrible coverage continue

Cybelle Darkholme · Feb 13th, 2003, 07:49 PM

[quote]Last year's women's semifinals, won by Venus and Serena Williams, averaged a little more than a million TV homes for ESPN. That made the telecast the most-viewed French Open show ever on cable

and they say the sisters are boring!

CJ07 · Feb 13th, 2003, 07:54 PM

Simplify · Feb 13th, 2003, 07:57 PM

Well, DAMN!!

Meesh · Feb 13th, 2003, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tennisIlove09
let the terrible coverage continue

I couldn't of said it better!!!!!!!!

Simplify · Feb 13th, 2003, 08:08 PM

Hmmmm, lets seeeeeeeeeeeee. It appears they will be averaging more hours per day than they did for Oz. Which makes sense because FO matches tend to be longer, and they will need more hours to cover "Agassi Open Part Two."

selesfan · Feb 13th, 2003, 08:10 PM

Venus Forever · Feb 13th, 2003, 08:11 PM

miranda_lou · Feb 13th, 2003, 08:21 PM

Now, I know the ESPN commentators aren't the best in the world BUT, without ESPN we wouldn't see ANY French Open coverage except for the weekends on NBC. Remember, the USA network dropped it like a hot skillet and no other American network wanted it. ESPN was kind enough to pick it up. Personally, I appreciate that they did. We may have to put up with hours of Andre, Venus and Serena but all together even they won't take up 80 hours.

I'm sure we will occasionally see other players.

Plus, remember we now have the GREAT

Mary Carillo. And because Chrissy has been kicked to the curb, we will see Mary during the ENTIRE tournament.

What fun.

Linnie · Feb 13th, 2003, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Simplify
.......they will need more hours to cover "Agassi Open Part Two."

You took the words right out of my mouth!

Havok · Feb 13th, 2003, 08:27 PM

as long as it's not 100% american players it's all good. but who in the world am i kidding. ah well, hopefully my faves will play american players. well on a positive note, we have Mary Carillo comentating

woohoo

Simplify · Feb 13th, 2003, 08:34 PM

Quote:

without ESPN we wouldn't see ANY French Open coverage except for the weekends on NBC

Another network would have covered it.

Quote:

Remember, the USA network dropped it like a hot skillet and no other American network wanted it. ESPN was kind enough to pick it up.

If I remember correctly, ESPN outbid USA.

Quote:

I'm sure we will occasionally see other players.

You're right, ONLY occassionally. Now that I think about it, there will be even LESS time devoted those other players because chances are that 'ol Petey will be playing. And if so you KNOW they will give him airtime; especially early on because they probably think he may not be around for long, so they will try to show him while they can. LOL

RAA · Feb 13th, 2003, 08:40 PM

whatever, sometimes I'm happy that ANYONE covers tennis here in the USA.
its ridiculous how thin the coverage is..
grrrr.

miranda_lou · Feb 13th, 2003, 08:55 PM

Quote:

If I remember correctly, ESPN outbid USA.

No, they did not!!! According to sportsbusinessjournal.com USA dropped the French (the contract was up and they declined to renew) and the French went looking for another American network to carry it. They were asking for a lot of money and no network thought it was worth the price. ESPN put in a bid that was rejected so they dropped out. It wasn't until about THREE WEEKS before the tournament began that the agent for the French Federation went back to ESPN and made a deal with them. Supposedly the deal was worth LESS than what ESPN had originally bid.

In fact, in sportsbusinessjournal.com it was known as the "French Farce" because the negotiations were handled so badly by the French.

I think I still have the hard copy of that paper. I'll look for it and if I find it I will type part of the story into a post. It was a very long article and it was talked about for days. Someone on another message board alerted me to what was going on last year and I took out a three week trial subscription just so I could read about it.