#5: The 2006 World Series.
The 2006 World Series came on the heels of a very unimpressive and generally uneventful baseball postseason. The NLCS between the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets rivaled the 2004 Hornets/Heat NBA Playoff series as the most boring 7-game series in sports history, while rainouts and tragedy marred most of the playoffs.
The World Series between the Cardinals and Tigers started with a thud on FOX, as game one netted a record low 8.0 rating. Game two, which featured a stellar (and later controversial) performance by Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers, rebounded significantly with a promising 11.6 rating. After that, the final three games toiled in mediocrity ratings-wise, with each game scoring a 10 rating. While that’s higher than many NBA Finals games, it was a new low for what used to be America’s crown jewel sporting event.
#4: OLN/Versus.
Nobody expected huge ratings for NHL games on OLN. But the extent to which ratings plummeted was staggering. WNBA games on ESPN2 achieved better ratings than NHL Playoff games on OLN, and while that is mainly due to the distribution difference between ESPN2 and OLN, it served as a major embarrassment for the league.
The two Stanley Cup Final games televised by OLN had viewership of fewer than 700,000 homes, numbers that were eclipsed by nearly every other championship sporting event. While the NHL has a dedicated partner, it also has fewer eyeballs than ever watching its product. The OLN/Versus deal expires after this season; if the NHL renews with the network, it might never return to prominence.
#3: Tom Petty and The Pussycat Dolls
ABC always finds a way to embarrass itself and make NBA fans cringe. This year, the network subjected viewers to Tom Petty during the 2006 NBA Playoffs, whose music is far too mellow for an energetic sporting event. “Runnin’ Down a Dream” was played ad nauseum throughout the playoffs and Finals, and put viewers to sleep more than it got them pumped up for basketball.
As if Tom Petty wasn’t a big enough mistake, ABC debuted a new intro for NBA games for the 2006-07 season. The performers? Pop group The Pussycat Dolls. Their song, “Right Now”, had little to do with the NBA and was not well received.
#2: Tony Kornheiser
After Al Michaels did his best Roy Williams (the basketball coach) impression and weaseled his way off of ABC’s pay roll and into 30 Rock, ESPN was faced with a vacancy in its Monday Night Football booth. The network decided to keep Joe Theissman and add veteran play-by-play man Mike Tirico along Washington Post and Pardon the Interruption host Tony Kornheiser.
The addition of Kornheiser made waves almost immediately. Pundits wondered if the acerbic, witty columnist would bring back memories of Howard Cosell, while others predicted he would crash and burn like Dennis Miller.
As it turned out, Kornheiser did neither. Kornheiser was boring and unremarkable, asking questions of Theissman that made him look like a football novice. And while the ratings for Monday Night Football were spectacular, the booth was generally and vociferously criticized.
#1: ESPN Mobile
ESPN began promoting its new mobile phone service on Superbowl Sunday, with an expensive commercial featuring several star athletes, and didn’t stop promoting it until the whole thing crashed and burned in spectacular, embarrassing fashion.
During 2006, ESPN Mobile was stamped on everything, and everything was stamped on ESPN Mobile — even the face of the recently deceased Kirby Puckett on the day of his death. Even as the phone service was constantly promoted on all of ESPN’s platforms, with commercials airing during every sporting event and at one point even featuring ESPN personality Trey Wingo (and who wouldn’t be convinced to buy something by someone as charismatic as Trey Wingo?), sales were exceptionally low. Sports blog Deadspin cited the Sports Business Daily as saying that ESPN Mobile lost 25 million dollars, while the Wall Street Journal reported that fewer than 10,000 had signed up for the service through May.
