In retrospect, I should have probably just asked him directly first.
After I put a blast out asking if anyone would want to see Penn State’s game with Washington in IMAX on the Stuff Somers Says media empire’s dime, Eric Sion, one of my closest friends and by far the biggest movie lover I know, happily took me up on the opportunity.
For context, Eric is also a Penn State alum and fan. (You may also know Eric from this photo.) He’s, however, a bigger Marvel movie fan – usually catching the latest release within hours of it coming out.
Eric’s been to a movie theater a time or two but never for a Penn State game.
The cost was around $25 for the ticket and I sent him an additional AMC gift card to pick up some food while he was there. The cost was a much cheaper option than a ticket at Beaver Stadium.
He said the experience was a bit odd – as people were more polite than what you’d find at a usual viewing party. It was more decorum akin to movie theater decorum than sports bar viewing, with less yelling and cheering but polite clapping. The lights weren’t all the way down either, which was probably a safety measure as people were coming and going throughout the game. Plus people – unlike during a movie – were using their phones.
Overall, the room wasn’t exactly full but there were other Penn Staters there, including our mutual friend and podcast superfan Maddy Pryor.
He also said that NBC didn’t provide anything different in the broadcast experience for those watching in theaters. Others reported that the sound, particularly on Washington’s missed kick, was mixed well. However, the commercials were just still shots of shows coming soon to Peacock with a jingle that got stuck in his head through the drive home.
The White Out IMAX experience was all a part of NBC’s recent push to put more sports in movie theaters. They did something similar with the Olympics this past summer and the effort is part of a slowly rising trend of gathering-point viewing experience as – like they did last year – ESPN will show the College Football Playoff in theaters across the country.
As someone who primarily attends home games in person, the appeal of going to a movie theater is lost on me for away games, too. Part of that is that I also enjoy the creature comforts of home and I, like Eric, don’t like letting people see my emotions during games. (In college, Eric once tried to kick me out of his apartment once during a Penn State game because I was “being too loud.”)
However, you have to credit NBC for trying something different here. It felt more unique than anything any of the other Big Ten rights holders have tried.
That being said, upon a rewatch (or first watch because I attended the game) of Saturday’s contest, it felt like NBC is not pushing the envelope as much as they could be with Peacock.
Maybe it’s because that’s what works on TV but overall, there was nothing defining about the viewing experience in the app. There was nothing – aside from the announcing crew – that made it stand apart from what you’d get on any other NBC broadcast. If anything, without a pregame show, there was even less. In general the broadcast missed the reverence that Penn Staters — and maybe even the country — hold for the White Out. A cool pre-game video, even leveraging NBC’s talent of Michael Robinson or Todd Blackledge, felt like a miss. On Sunday Night Football, those at 30 Rock have shown they can generate some emotion for the game, while also staying relatively unbiased as showcased in this piece featuring Michael Keaton.
A core issue with Peacock is that – unlike Netflix or even Hulu – it’s still relatively foreign of a streaming service. If it weren’t for our household love of The Office and the fact it’s included in our internet package, I’m not sure I’d go out of the way to get it. I certainly haven’t ponied up to get Paramount+ which offers relatively the same – minus exclusive sports that I care about. (The Champions League would be beneficial if I was a bigger soccer fan.)
But I’m sure Penn Staters and Big Ten fans would do a little bit less collective grumbling if there were more exclusive reasons to tune in. Unlike with linear or cable, there are even more opportunities for a student section stream – including a decibel meter for how loud it gets – or skycam-only broadcast – even if there wasn’t inside Beaver Stadium Saturday night, which also felt like a miss. These broadcast types have been a successful addition to ESPN with its Megacasts that kicked off this whole push in the first place. Adding those in to the streaming service would fight the reluctance to push a few extra bucks over – particularly when the lift for them is relatively low.
Plus, elevating those opportunities on the big screen could have also improved Eric’s viewing experience as well.
Eric said – depending on the opponent and his confidence of a win – he’d go again because it did provide a communal aspect much cheaper and easier than driving to a game from New Jersey.
And sorry but this was an on-my-dime thing only once and no, I will not expense your gas either.
You can watch our entire conversation with Eric below.
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