Here’s the major sporting events you most want to see switch media partners

Last week, we asked you to rate how happy you were with the largest sporting events that have an exclusive long-term media-rights partner and whether or not you wanted to see those relationships change. 

Over 2,000 votes later, the results are below. For those of you unhappy with the broadcast quality of any of these events, we hope that better days lie ahead.

1. The Masters on CBS 

Happiness/Good fit score: 8.6

Length of relationship: Since 1956, with the end date up in the air as Augusta National notoriously does one-year agreements with television partners. While CBS and The Masters could theoretically part ways within a year, this is one of the most stable and beloved relationships between an event and its broadcast partner.

Analysis/voter comments: 54.5% of voters gave The Masters on CBS a perfect 10, the highest percentage of perfect 10 votes for any event. Low scores were also very uncommon, with only 5.9% of voters giving The Masters on CBS a score of 1-4. This is what we like to see. There is a strong consensus among fans that they are very happy with the broadcaster and the major event, with voter comments advocating for a continued relationship.

“The Masters on CBS….a tradition unlike any other. Don’t mess with it.” 

“I couldn’t imagine the Masters anywhere else.”

2. The Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament on CBS, in conjunction with Turner Sports.

Happiness/Good fit score: 8.26

Length of relationship: CBS has broadcast the NCAA Tournament since 1982 and gained exclusive rights in 1991 (ESPN had shown earlier rounds until then). Since 2011, CBS has shared the tournament with Turner Sports. The current contract runs through the 2032 tournament.

Analysis/voter comments:  CBS, with an assist to Turner (perhaps soon to be under the same parent company) takes the top two spots in our poll with an impressive 8.26 score from voters. Perhaps the timing of the vote, taking place during the Tournament, helped with the scoring. Ultimately, over a third of the readers (36.6%) gave the CBS/Turner production of the NCAA Tournament a perfect 10/10 score.  75.5% of voters gave the Men’s Tournament either an 8, 9, or 10 grade, good enough for a close second to the Masters on CBS.

“Live broadcast of the actual games is amazing, some of the best Play-by-play and color talents in the game.” 

“CBS and the Masters and Men’s basketball tournament feel right. I would not be comfortable with those moving.”

3. The Olympics on NBC

Happiness/Good fit score: 8.06

Length of relationship: NBC has aired every Winter Olympics since 2002 and every Summer Olympics since starting in 1988 with ABC doing the 1984 games.  Their current contract goes through the 2036 Winter Games.

Analysis/voter comments:   You can make the case that the event that seems most tethered to a specific network is the Olympics. Other networks air college basketball and golf majors, and thus, there is a plausible path for those networks to make an aggressive play to add the Men’s NCAA Tournament or the Masters. But the Olympics? It’s such a novelty that requires expertise, familiarity, and a massive amount of programming shelf space every two years.

The unique fit seems to be a good fit as voters believe NBC does a great job with a blended score of 8.06. 53% of voters gave NBC’s broadcast of the Olympics a score of 9 or 10. Only 8.5% of voters gave the production a low score of 1-4. While some of our staff thought the Olympics were the favorite to win this vote, a score above 8 and within striking distance of the top spot is a pretty good showing.

“No one does an event better than NBC and the Olympics.”

“With the inclusion of Peacock, I believe the Olympics and NBC are a perfect match, they are the only 10 that I gave out.”

“NBC masterfully covers the Olympics, and I would see no reason to switch.”

T4.  The World Series on Fox

Happiness/Good fit score: 6.33

Length of relationship: Fox aired its first World Series in 1996 and has aired it exclusively since 2000. Fox’s current deal runs through the 2028 World Series.

Analysis/voter comments:  We were shocked to see a tie in our results, but here we are.  The World Series on Fox is in a very clear middle tier of three events very close in scoring (6.33-6.29), after a higher tier of results, all with scores over 8.  No particular voting grade received over 17% of the vote for The World Series, with 7 being the most common, garnering 16.7%. The more skewed voting can be seen in that 12.9% of our voters gave Fox a perfect 10, while 8.2% gave The World Series a score of 1.  In total, scoring was very balanced, but the three most common answers were 8, 7, and 6, which helped push the aggregate score to 6.33, good for a tie for fourth.

“Fox isn’t terrible broadcasting the World Series, but their coverage has begun to feel stale to me. It might be time for a change of scenery, as long as it’s not ESPN/ABC. “

“I personally love the World Series on FOX. It is my favorite broadcast in sports.”

“I get Fox has to “rebalance its portfolio” for NFL rights, but I really hope the World Series stays with Fox, not sure it will feel like as big of an event on ESPN/ABC or even NBC. “

T4.  The Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament on ESPN

Happiness/Good fit score: 6.33

Length of relationship: ESPN took over the Women’s Final Four in 1996 and has the rights through 2032.

Analysis/voter comments:  The most common vote score for ESPN’s coverage was a 5, which got 20.9% of the vote. Luckily for ESPN, the combined total for scores lower than 5,  (1-4), was only 18.6%.

While just about 40% of voters rated ESPN’s coverage at 5 or below, a little over 20% of voters gave ESPN’s broadcasts of the Women’s Tournament a 10 or a 9. 8 was the second most common score, with 7 and 6 both receiving double-digit % of votes. While voting was pretty balanced, results show more fans are happy with ESPN’s coverage here than pained by it.

“ESPN nursed Women’s coverage from a pre-teen into an intelligent, sassy, purposeful entity, and as a fan of the sport, I’m grateful that’s a platform they’ve always offered.”

“I think the Women’s Tournament should be given more attention at least. ABC should air more games, and ESPN overall seems to not put much effort into it production wise. It’s better than it was, but I still think it needs to improve more.”

6. The College Football Playoff National Championship on ESPN 

Happiness/Good fit score: 6.29

Length of relationship: ESPN has aired the CFP National Championship every year its inception in 2015.  Prior to that, it aired the 2011-2014 National Championships, then under the BCS structure, and additionally the 2010 Championship on ABC. Before that, Fox had three odd years in which the network did not have regular-season games, but aired the BCS National Championship. ESPN’s current contract extends through the 2032 National Championship.

Analysis/voter comments: This was by far our most balanced voting of any event. No voting option received under 5% of the total vote, and no voting option received over 16.3% of the vote. The most common answer was a healthy 8, while the least common was a 4.

On the good news side, about a quarter of voters gave ESPN a 9 or 10. On the flip side, just over a quarter of voters rated ESPN’s CFP broadcast 1-4, which ultimately dragged down the overall score to just below the tie for 4th place in our rankings.  Comments were a mixed bag, with many voters commenting on the problematic studio show programming, which was often flagged as biased towards the SEC.

“Big fan of the ESPN alt-casts during the CFP. Without those, probably closer to a 5.”

“CFP is a weird one. For the actual game presentation, ESPN does it very well. All the coverage surrounding it is absolutely terrible and toxic, though.”

“ESPN does a good job with the CFP. I still think College Gameday is the standard for pregame shows, and Fowler and Herbstreit are a great listen. “

“ESPN’s self-interested flacking for the SEC kind of ruins its CFP coverage.”

“I may riot. Literally riot. Ditto for the CFP off of ESPN, especially after seeing the FOX/BCS experiment.”

7. The FIFA Men’s World Cup on Fox 

Happiness/Good fit score: 4.64

Length of relationship: Fox first aired the Men’s World Cup in 2018 and has broadcast the last three Women’s World Cups, going back to 2015 (moving to Netflix in 2027). The deal concludes after this World Cup.

Analysis/voter comments:  The World Cup on Fox is one of two properties that land in a third tier of results in our poll, in which voters found more wrong with the broadcasts than right.

Fox’s showing with the World Cup was dragged down by 1 being the most common score, with 19.5% of the vote, and a hearty 38.5% of voters giving Fox’s production of the World Cup a 1 through 3. This disgruntled chunk of fans more than doubled the 17.8% of fans who graded the World Cup with an 8-10 score.  Ultimately, there were enough detractors of Fox’s coverage of the World Cup to place it in this bottom tier, but just enough neutral-to-content fans to keep it out of last place.

The World Cup also drew our second-highest total of optional comments among events, with all of them skewing negative and among the most charged we received.

“Regarding the World Cup, it really is at the basic level of sports commentary … they don’t treat the viewers as sophisticated soccer fans … and most importantly, it comes down to the talent .. Lalas is a troll, not a good one, and the commentary team don’t let the game breathe … too much talking.”

“Fox’s World Cup coverage as well as really all of their soccer coverage (Copa America, Euro’s) is consistently awful and way too much Alexi Lalas.”

“Fox’s World Cup coverage is aimed at the lowest common denominator. Rather than teaching the game or discussing talks, Fox talks down condescendingly to its audience. And the sports washing in Russia and Qatar was shocking in its scope and execution.”

“FOX World Cup coverage is legitimately embarrassing. Especially given how good ESPN’s was in 2010 and 2014. Alexi Lalas is actively hurting the growth of soccer in the United States. I am cringing at the thought of what they will come up with this summer. “

“Fox and the World Cup have just never really made for a good fit. They force US-based commentators into the booth during games rather than taking advantage of some of the amazing talent both NBC and CBS use for European coverage. A little bit of Alexi Lalas goes a very long way. The biggest mismatch of talent and event in sports.”

“FOX’s World Cup coverage stands out for the sheer contempt with which they treat the viewer. They operate under the assumption that no American has ever watched a soccer game.”

“Fox has absolutely ruined the World Cup and stymied a chance for the USMNT to grow in popularity by building a studio show around bitter former players that openly root against the team.”

8. The NBA Finals on ESPN/ABC

Happiness/Good fit score: 4.50

Length of relationship:  ESPN/ABC took over the NBA Finals starting in 2003 (previously with NBC).  ABC/ESPN will retain the exclusive rights to the NBA Finals through 2036.

Analysis/voter comments:  Coming in last place was the NBA Finals, thanks to the most common score being 1, which received 20.7% of the vote, which registered as the highest amount of 1 votes across all eight events. Further dragging down ESPN’s score was 28.3% of voters giving the NBA Finals a 2-4 score.

Only about a quarter of voters gave the NBA Finals a 10, 9, 8, or 7, with another quarter giving it a middling 5 or 6. Ultimately, the votes were spread pretty evenly across the board, but that’s not what you want to see, given that close to 50% of the voters scored the event a 4 or lower.

The NBA Finals received the most comments, almost 2x as many as the World Cup. These comments were nearly universally negative, with about 1/3 suggesting the Finals move to NBC.

“NBA on ESPN is absolutely terrible. I’m not sure their analysts actually like basketball. “

“Breen is a pro’s pro, but ABC’s overall coverage has fallen since they got rid of Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson. It also just feels like they’re broadcasting a regular-season game. There’s nothing special about it. Hopefully, adding Inside the NBA changes things, but I feel like NBC would do a much better job.”

“The NBA Finals NEED to move off ESPN. ESPN is now CLEARLY the third-best platform for NBA games behind NBC and Amazon Prime. It should at least rotate every few years between ESPN/NBC (Don’t think you can put the Finals exclusively on streaming). The network has taken Inside the NBA and regulated it to basically a few marquee events and the playoffs, and Mike Breen is carrying a bad broadcasting crew. The network should have never dumped Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson.”

“The NBA Finals would be seen in a greater light on NBC. The ESPN booth has failed to gain traction since the departure of Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy, with Mike Breen being the only person who gives it any sort of big-game feel anymore. NBC would make the event feel truly special again, instead of littering the broadcast with too many ads and annoying us with Stephen A. Smith and Kendrick Perkins, who are simply yellers and don’t give any coherent thoughts about the game.”

“NBA finals could definitely switch from ESPN to NBC. For ESPN, the game has always felt like a sideshow. For NBC, the game was always the main event, and it felt like it, too.”

“NBA renewing with ABC/ESPN was so disappointing. The Finals have not felt like the Finals for several years now and would be better served elsewhere.”

“What ESPN has done to the NBA Finals (and its NBA coverage in general) is an absolute joke. Signature championship events (in any sport) should have big game feels and make the viewers feel like they are there. Starting lineups with the PA announcer and the national anthem should be something the network prioritizes from the beginning, not something they have to get shamed into sort of caring about halfway through. Also, most fans aren’t watching the hour-long pregame show. When the actual event broadcast starts, have the game broadcasters set it up in a way that even casual fans can understand. NBA on NBC was great at this back in the day — they’d come on-site to the announcers, highlight a key player or matchup from both teams, show the starting lineups, and away we go. We don’t need a panel of 5 washed-up players trying to out-hot-take each other the whole time. Less is more.”

Awful Announcing thanks our voters and hopes the sports media rights gods give you the change or consistency you have voted for!