Who Comes Up With These Schedules??
Posted by WLS:
Granted, there are certain limitations on the ability of the political parties to schedule their election year conventions. But, this year more than any other that I remember seems to call for giving strong consideration to shortening the events to 3 days — especially given the staged and anti-climatic nature of conventions these days.
So, what are the conventions competing against this year?
Well, Obama will be giving his acceptance speech in the evening on August 28, 2008. That same evening 26 NFL teams will be playing their final exhibition game in prepartion for the season starting the first week of September. Nearly all the games are set for 7:00 or 7:30 starts, and most teams have local television packages that will broadcast the games.
McCain will be giving his acceptance speech in the evening on September 4. That happens to be the same day the NFL kicks-off its regular season with a nationally televised game between the Redskins and the NYGiants, starting at 7:00.
If the conventions each ended on Wednesday night, there would be no conflict with the NFL. So, I ask again, who comes up with these schedules?
I blame the Petranos’ dedicated lawsuit against the Navy frogmen who shot at their horse.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/9/2008 @ 7:03 pmMcCain is in a worse bind. With final pre-season games the only drama is whether anyone gets hurt.
Sean Hackbarth (fbaee7) — 7/9/2008 @ 7:06 pmI’ll be watching the Democratic convention hoping for a repeat of Chicago ’68. I’ve already made up mind to vote for McCain so … you know ….
nk (4212e6) — 7/9/2008 @ 7:49 pmI don’t think either Party wants to give up what they view as free publicity for an entire week. The real question is how many of the networks will be willing to give them that coverage.
I suspect we’ll see a continuation of what happened in 2004 when the networks were more willing to break away from the convention to show its regular programming. This is especially true of networks like NBC that can broadcast the highlights and leave the details to MSNBC.
DRJ (cfa65f) — 7/9/2008 @ 8:53 pmSo, Mr. Potential Major Network Ad Buyer, we have a slot open for each of the political convention acceptance speeches, that or a pre-season NFL game. Which one sounds like something your company would go for? Really? Well, how about sponsoring a highlight soundbite thingy of one of the candidates? Okayyy, NFL it is. You know for a little more coin we could drop you into a time-out spot ‘Skins vs. Giants. Both? You got it, Boss.
Say, you gotta man in the prez deal? Whoever wins? Sounds good to me.
allan (5d9c3d) — 7/9/2008 @ 10:06 pmI honestly believe that the conventions should not be televised by the legacy networks. Only in the event of real/unexpected news should they even cut in.
However, if there were to ever be an actual “open” convention, by all means the balloting should be universally televised across all platforms/networks. Other than that? Fuhgeddaboudit.
Ed (d17ceb) — 7/9/2008 @ 11:59 pmMcCain should try to figure out a way to get his speech broadcast at halftime of the games. If not, he may only have about 78 people watching.
JD (75f5c3) — 7/10/2008 @ 8:01 amFrankly, given McCain’s abilities in front of a teleprompter, it might just be the case that he was purposely scheduled to deliver his acceptance speech at the same time as the NFL season kickoff.
WLS (1cdbde) — 7/10/2008 @ 9:07 amI imagine about a third of the crowd physically present will have a pocket radio or mini-TV on hand…
Republicans love their foots ball.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/10/2008 @ 9:20 amThe Redskins and the Giants are based in states more Democratic than California and Maryland. I would assume that fans of the Redskins and the Giants would lean Democratic, so it is not that big of a deal for McCain.
Michael Ejercito (a757fd) — 7/10/2008 @ 10:10 amTruth be told, it won’t matter. Unless they promise to have Miss America read their speeches, naked, no one will watch anyhow.
Kevin Murphy (805c5b) — 7/10/2008 @ 3:12 pmI think I will watch the DNC, for the fireworks that will be sure to interrupt if any of the delegates have been persuaded to switch…
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/10/2008 @ 3:15 pmWhy would I watch anything for three days for which I knew the ending literally months in advance. What? McCain didn’t win? I’ll smoke a joint and listen to music.
howard432 (cc8b85) — 7/10/2008 @ 3:52 pmI’m not so much worried about McAmnesty as I am about Obama. Because for all the peace, love and harmony, there are whole segments of the Democratic Party who would rather vote for McCain than for Obama.
Like this one.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/10/2008 @ 3:58 pm