Saturday, January 4, 2014

How ESPN Made This a New Years to Remember - For All the Wrong Reasons

The name Disney is synonymous with entertainment. A couple months ago, Gayle shared her story of how Disney takes young performers, nurtures and trains them for a week, and then gives them a chance to perform at Disneyland with the Disney Performing Arts Conservatory. At Walt Disney World, bands from across the country can be seen marching down Main Street in a pre-parade or entertaining the crowds, along with show choirs at Downtown Disney. Some of these young entertainers go on to become the singers and dancers you now see in the 3 o'clock parade.

Now, I would like you to think of the time & effort that these performers put in. Daily shows and rehearsals, weeks & months of practice, and years of voice and dance lessons. They are truly dedicated to their art, and you better believe how proud they are to say they perform at Disney! Then, there is the unsung hero. The parents who, week after week, year after year, have paid for the voice lessons, sat through never ending rehearsals, driven to every practice, and dried the tears or offered a consoling hug when their child didn't make the cut.

I am that parent, and so are many of you. We know how our heart breaks when our young entertainers are not chosen or recognized. We know all to well the efforts and sacrifices these kids make for their art. The early morning, the late nights, the weekend rehearsals and shows while their friends are out goofing around. They are committed and we couldn't be prouder.

By now you may be wondering where I'm going with this. I am reaching out to you to share our story, maybe as an outlet for my disappointment, but hopefully to add more voices to bring about change.

My daughters play in a nationally recognized high school band. This year the band was invited, along with 8 others from across the country, to play the halftime show of the Gator Bowl on New Years Day. What these kids had to do in 3 months to make this happen was quite a feat. Fundraising, (close to $1,200 per child), weeks and weeks of practice after school and during Christmas break, then 3 days before New Years they boarded the bus for a 20 hour ride to Jacksonville.

The bands sat patiently in the rain, waiting for their chance to take the field and show everyone what they had worked so hard for...but we never saw it. ESPN (owned by Disney), could not find it in their hearts to show even 30 seconds of these kids. Disappointed is not nearly a strong enough word. Just what message are we trying to send to these kids? Thanks for all your hard work, but unless your friends and family could afford to come, they will never see you. 

One parent sent off an email to ESPN:

"We have twin boys who are in the Marist HS band from Chicago who participated in the Gator Bowl. They traveled 20 hours by bus to attend this event and spend every day playing music that supports the school football team. In addition to this being a daily elective class that prevents these kids from taking other classes, they put in time after school as well. They work as hard as the football team yet your station chose to spend half time showing your prattling announcers rehashing plays that we have already seen. They are going to continue prattling on about this in post-game coverage so I don't know why you couldn't spend the half time to cover the bands that spent enormous amounts of time and money to attend your event? I was extremely disappointed in all parties involved for taking advantage of these kids. Everybody from the stadium owners, promoters, Taxslayer to ESPN benefit except the kids who provide entertainment during half time. Pretty greedy, pretty sad."

And this was the response:

"We appreciate and applaud these entertainers for their hard work and talent, but exposure of them before games and at halftime can't be guaranteed. Our pre-game and halftime features have proven to be very popular with our fans and they've come to depend on tuning into ESPN, The World's Biggest Sports Fan, to catch up-to-date scores and sports news. We do appreciate your input and will share it with our executives."


I like football as much as the next guy, but really, what a weak response. If we had been told upfront that they would not have the "glory" of a minute or 2 on national television, the band may not have made the trip. That was the highlight for all the effort by the students, directors and families. Shame on you ESPN for taking advantage of these schools and the free entertainment they provided for you. This is not how Disney would treat their performers, and they should know how you misrepresented your halftime offer.

If you have found your self in a similar situation or would just like to make sure this doesn't happen to future young performers, the contact information for ESPN is https://r.espn.go.com/members/contact/tvindex Please let them know the time, talent and dedication of the entertainers they invite to perform should not be so easily overlooked.


Kelly is a Disney Gal who loves finding fun and adventure on the High Seas aboard the Disney Cruise Line. Whether it's pampering, para sailing or the unlimited Diet Coke, she enjoys all the ships have to offer. She is currently wearing down Commodore Tom to allow her to blow any of the ships' musical horns. As of now, he is disinclined to acquiesce. To learn more about Kelly, click here.

7 comments:

  1. Kelly I am so, so sorry that after all of your hard work and the work of every family and student involved the story ended like this! Thanks for sharing this and hers's hoping other families have happier endings!

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    1. If we all pull together we can get this changed for future performers.

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  2. I have sent a comment to ESPN voicing my disappointment in not covering even a few minutes of those hard working kids. However I doubt that they even care. Money speaks and cash is King-------where have you heard that before?

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    1. Thank you for sending your comments to ESPN. We need to make them care by showing strngth in numbers. We are their viewers too.

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  3. My former high school, Lakeville North High School, was also a participant in the Gator Bowl. When I was a student we marched at the Holiday Bowl, and also were not shown on TV at half-time. Sadly, this is the way of sports. The majority don't show collegiate bands either, and if they do they do so with giant ads plastered over the top of the band. I agree that there needs to be a change. We are subjected to terrible half-time shows at NFL games, yet we are forced to miss the quality half-time shows put on by high school and collegiate bands, color guards, drill teams, and more. Let's start a chain reaction.

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    1. Thank you Lin! There are so many options here. If they can't give the band a few minutes of air time (like they told the kids), they could do a split screen or show them when they cut away to commercial breaks. They had no trouble focusing on the same cheerleader during the breaks. Things need to change!

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  4. Kelly, what a well written blog! Father of the twins.

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