FRIEZE ART FAIR NEW YORK 2012
MILAN 2012: SALONE INTERNAZIONALE DEL MOBILE
MILAN 2012: SATELLITE EXHIBITIONS
MILAN 2012: BRERA DESIGN DISTRICT
While trying to find where to watch my beloved Pats last season after relocating to the West Coast I found the 506, a site that curates interactive Google maps of TV markets for various American sports. I rediscovered the site earlier this week via kottke and took another look.
However practical these maps may be in helping you navigate television on Sundays, they are concurrently acute cultural and possibly even ethnic cartographies.
Looking closely at a few regions for this upcoming week's FOX games you can begin to see the method and design that goes into promoting specific teams to particularly loyal or interested regions:
The Mid Atlantic, where most local teams are playing on CBS this week is a jigsaw puzzle. The Dallas-San Francisco match up is being aired in New York City & Philadelphia, possibly a nod to the camaraderie between SF and NYC or maybe a holdover from Dallas' bygone reputation as "America's Team." Meanwhile, a little further south, the local Washington Redskins are barely penetrating the Mason-Dixon line, a potential reminder that Washington is a Southern city.
In the Northwest, the Seattle Seahawks are popular for obvious reasons. But surprisingly not in Boise, ID where the Chicago - New Orleans game gets priority. Perhaps this is the long-term effect of some westward migration of Chicagoans generations ago or maybe just because people in Boise can't stand the Seahawks, I'm not sure.
My research (albeit light) also brought me to a map of NFL team loyalties called the CommonCensus Sports Map Project (below) and reminded me to re-find a Nike ad for the MLB, the United Countries of Baseball (which is more of a piece of art than actual data). The NFL clearly has an amazing handle on this game, netting wild profits from TV rights and employing a number of tactics to ensure the right games are shown in the right regions.
It's easy to get carried away and read too much into these maps alone, but I find it an interesting comment on how loyalties form and in particular the nature of being a fan in general. A lot of team loyalty is often pseudo-hereditary (I know people who are passing down season ticket waitlist numbers to their children) and who your friends are rooting for. But in the end it may just boils down to who the football gods put on your television every Sunday...
Comments
For the record I dislike the Pats, but enjoy your research. It's very interesting to consider what metrics are driving these decisions. Great post as another fall football weekend begins.
"possibly a nod to the camaraderie between SF and NYC or maybe a holdover from Dallas' bygone reputation as "America's Team.""
ease up on the presumptions there guy, you're embarrassing yourself - the Cowgirls are in the same division as the Birds and GMen, along with the Skins. The NFL frequently plays division games in the rival markets.
in philadelphia on fox they showed manchester united vs. chelsea instead of the dallass vs. SF game. the emmys preshow coverage started precisely on time.