ODY89

Does anyone know what the viewing numbers were for last year, or seen/heard/read it anywhere, especially compared to Red Bull viewing figures? Would be pretty interesting to see how much 'growth' this new organiser has brought to the sport. Anecdotally it seems like a lot of people have tuned out. I know I certainly have. I used to have a handful of friends who aren't riders who would come round and watch DH racing on Red Bull. Now I can't even be bothered to watch it by myself, let alone watch Semis and Finals. Such a shame, it was a great product. Now the product is worse and expected to pay. It would be one thing to pay for the quality/product Red Bull we're producing by the end of their run. But for what is quite a poor broadcast, it seems like a lot of money being asked for.

Yeah just so disrespectful to the winners. I'm a bit sick of the elitism that's emerging. Celebrate Bruni when he wins, which he does a lot, but don't fucking mourn like some fallen god when he crashes. It was Oisin and Ronan's career highlight, childhood best friends 1 and 2 at a world cup, and instead of seeing them celebrate we have to watch Specialised team all look sad. These broadcasts aren't getting better

@mtbcyclist: couldn't believe how little they showed of Oisin's podium (instead playing some shitty montage) and of him celebrating his win (instead just filming Bruni slump on his bike). Pretty disrespectful to a race winner, especially first time

It seems like that's the view of the media, the pits, most riders and most fans. Listening to a couple podcasts and sounds like ESO are hearing that too. Whether they change it a.is another thing. I think it would go a long way if they "we tried it, it's not been great, but we did try something at least". It's fine to admit that you were wrong, or that it didn't play out like you thought it might, I just don't see what they are adding to the race weekend, aside from the on site spectators. Needles suggestion of a LCQ for places 30-60 if they absolutely must cut riders numbers is a potential good one. But really it doesn't seem like there's that much more of final runs being shown, and the women's coverage (or lack of) is a joke

@CamT: same really. I reckon consistently since '09/'10 I've watched every race. And being in Australia for most of that time meant I had full media black out bans through Sunday and Monday until I had time to sit down and watch. Friends who weren't riders used to come round and watch with me as it was a well put together product. This year I've watched replays, but not on official channels and not with anywhere near same enthusiasm, missed the odd race here and there too. The coverage is not as good and it's a real quantity over quality. I've not watched any of the women's races either as I don't have time to cover it all and I used to watch all their races. With a young daughter it's pretty shit to see them cut the amount of female riders, so we see less women doing less riding. Laughable 'progression' of the sport - but remember when most brands talk about 'progression' what they mean is more profit, not necessarily a better sport for fans. They could be the same thing, but not always.

@earthwormjim007: and of people have been paying attention to articles on Pinkbike they would see the pattern. I don't have the specific articles to link, but there have been more than a few detailing the large multi national corporation buyouts of bike brands and wholesalers in the last year or so. The past few years have seen a huge increase in bike sales (recreation, MTB, ebike, commuter ebikes) and such massive corporations are looking to cash in. It is not too much of a stretch of the imagination to see this as an extension of that trend...

@Puddings: that is such a well articulated, and slightly concerning point, you make. Unfortunately that sounds like a scarily possibly prediction for the future of the sport

@bashhard: seems like a big old chunk of time of that calendar to run even a little.mini DH series from March to June. Or start in Feb in the southern hemisphere. Fingers crossed!

@donpinpon29: could be something in the pipeline based on what Rob Warner said at the end of the post race show, something about Red Bull having plans

@korev: she is one my favourite, and I think one of the best, riders to watch men or women, when it's wet, wild and muddy. The woods at Leogang being the obvious example too. She has this strange mixed of control and wildness, which I know doesn't make sense really