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Message: [QUOTE="OzExorcist, post: 1065763, member: 23910"] Short and sharp version: [B] - Fact: ESPN is Very Good For Poker(TM). No ESPN = no Moneymaker effect, no huge fields and no huge Main Event prize pools.[/B] [B] - Therefore, what ESPN says goes.[/B] [B] - End discussion.[/B] There are two major problems with what you've just said. First, while you may [I]think[/I] that "people will always watch the WSOP", the figures tell a different story. The reason they did this is because people [B]weren't[/B] watching. You're approaching this as a poker fan - you'll watch the Main Event year in and year out, because that's what poker fans do and besides, the new season of High Stakes Poker hasn't been screened yet. But poker fans only make up so much of the viewing audience. The people ESPN really wants to get watching are the casual viewers - the ones who say [I]"I already know who wins that, it was in the papers months ago! Why would I bother watching it?!?"[/I]. Figures from 2008 clearly show they were successful in getting those type of viewers to tune back in. Second, the WSOP has the exact same potential to suffer from a final table full of nobodies as the WPT. More so in the Main Event, because the odds are stacked so heavily against the pros and really, there can't be more than maybe a dozen pros that Joe Public actually recognises and would be a drawcard anyway. Chino Rheem, anyone? You're right about a build up helping with that problem, but I ask you this: how can there be a build up if you don't take a break to create it? And more to the point, how can you build up anticipation for something that's already happened?!? [I][B]Announcer:[/B] "Starting next week, it's the Main Event. Who will outlast one of the biggest fields in the history of poker and walk away with the $9 million first place prize? Tune in next week to find out."[/I] [I][B]Viewer:[/B] "I don't need to tune in to find out - Eastgate wins it. It was in the papers months ago. Is there a football match on?"[/I] ESPN wants it, it's going to happen. End discussion. [/QUOTE]

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