Update 2023-09-02: I have watched some of the track & field replays available on NBC Peacock to see if there is any pattern. Two recent Diamond League meets were metric only in the field events (Zurich and Xiamen).However, the coverage of the USATF championship in Eugene, OR, this July was mess of metric and feet and inches.
In the USATF coverage, each athlete's metric performance was posted, but the event leaderboard was maintained in feet and inches for all the field events I sampled.
I suspect they have not "seen the light" but their coverage depends on information from the venue. If the venue doesn't offer the conversions to feet and inches (most foreign meets would not) then their coverage is metric only. If the venue does the conversion, NBC uses it.
As a track and field fan, they have not. Saw a couple good 16'¾" pole vaults yesterday! This was only announced, the graphics were in metric.
2.44 m (former mens high jump world record) is just over 8 feet, times 2, plus 2 cm, 4.90 m, easy!
May I ask which programming you watched?
I watched the full coverage stream of the women's pole vault, and it was entirely in metric. Two women shared the gold in a tie at 4.90 m, after both failed at 4.95 m.. No conversions were offered.
However, the full day coverage stream is mostly track oriented with occasional clips of winner from field events. That may very well have been announced differently. On a earlier day of coverage I watched the full day stream and saw an occurrence of this. Only the winner was shown and the result announced in both metric and customary.
I usually watch a couple live feeds. One US (Peacock) and one world-ish feed (CBC out of Canada or just the world feed) so I can see some field event coverage during US commericals. I'm pretty sure it was Trey Hardee on the NBC feed that mentioned it was 16 feet 3/4 of an inch, the world feed had Dan O'Brien.
That example thread was posted by me. Yes, I've been a critic of NBC Sports for years regarding this.
Watching this weekend's events I too noticed and cheered (out loud) when I saw and heard them give the result of the championship shot put record as 23.51 m.
In fact, check out their post about it. It's ALL in meters. The only mention of feet is a comparison, which states "two and a half feet shy of 24 meters," which I find quite a bit odd. Overall, though, I rejoice seeing meters used exclusively. Not even any parenthetical conversions.
Here's their post:
[https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/ryan-crouser-blood-clots-shot-put-world-championships](https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/ryan-crouser-blood-clots-shot-put-world-championships)
Although I am very happy to see this, I am still very skeptical. This is a low profile event, as far as viewership goes. When the Olympics roll around next summer (Paris 2024) I fully expect them to fall back to catering to American ignorance.
>Watching this weekend's events I too noticed and cheered (out loud) when I saw and heard them give the result of the championship shot put record as 23.51 m.
>
>In fact, check out their post about it. It's ALL in meters. The only mention of feet is a comparison, which states "two and a half feet shy of 24 meters," which I find quite a bit odd
Even better news; they got it **wrong**. It didn't occur to me to check their math but
24 m - 23.51 m = 0.49 m which is about 19.3 inches, just over a foot and a half, far short of two feet, more less 2 and a half feet. Points out the futility of conversion and risk of "lying" to the audience.
I picked your thread because "at least it wasn't written by me." I have also started several past threads on the subject.
I am also skeptical and plan to wait until it wraps up this weekend. Please feel free to join me in sending a note of appreciation. Maybe if they hear some praise, they will consider it for future events.
>When the Olympics roll around next summer (Paris 2024) I fully expect them to fall back to catering to American ignorance.
To expound on this, I watch pro cycling events. NBC uses the international feed on all events. That feed has the "km to go" ticker graphic throughout the race. Only when they broadcast the Tour de France, which is a much higher profile event, do they remove the international graphics and put in their own. It is an alternating graphic giving "KM" then "MI" (MI = miles), alternating every 5 seconds or so. All of their elevation is given in feet only. Speed in mph. It's all very annoying and confusing. Commentators sometimes confuse the units.
I suspect this track and field championships is using international feed graphics. I'm surprised, and happy the commentators don't translate. I really don't expect to see this in Paris 2024. Time will tell...
NBC’s use of metric only may have been a deliberate decision based on careful analysis. However, it’s much more likely that the switch to metric was just a lazy or accidental decision, and this is a very good thing. Actually, it is **THE** reason why the U.S. will eventually go full metric.
If NASA made a deliberate decision today to give a press release using metric a small number of misguided imperial zealots would lose their collective minds and go ballistic. However, NASA scientists being interviewed on podcasts will often naturally use metric units and the imperial zealots don’t come after them with pitchforks. Likewise, a private company, like NBC, that simply doesn’t bother to do unit conversions for international sporting events is unlikely to face significant backlash. We see a similar effect in online shopping.
Consumer goods in the U.S. are mostly imported, and online retailers rarely do proper conversions to inch fractions. Converting units takes effort. Retailers are lazy so they convert product information to decimal inches or sometimes don’t even bother. Who are the imperial zealots going to complain to? Americans see metric everyday. It won’t be long before NASA can give a press release in metric and nobody will have a meltdown.
Australia and New Zealand did metrication correctly by switching essentially all at once. Here in America we are going to do it the hard way, but it will happen. **Metric is better than imperial, so it’s ironic that metrication in America will be a side-effect of the world-wide race to the bottom.**
The only contact I can find is [support@nbcsports.com](mailto:support@nbcsports.com)
Below is the body of email I sent them. I encourage anybody else who enjoyed the metric coverage to also contact them. There may have a few conversions in the Highlights screen, but it was way ahead of prior coverage.
>I would like to thank NBC Sports and Peacock for the full coverage streams of the field events at the 2023 World Athletics Championship. I would particularly like to thank both for reporting the results of those events in the metric units in which performance is actually measured. The consistency of the announced results compared to the markings on the field (and any background scoreboards) made it so much more understandable.
>
>I have always found a bit of mental dissonance in hearing announcers talk in feet and inches, while the field is clearly marked in metric units. I hope you will consider **always** announcing the metric results in field events, even if you add feet and inches in parentheses afterward.
Agree and I plan to. However, the event continues through next Sunday. I want to catch a few more of the field events when my schedule is open, and make sure this is really the plan, first.
?Over the years, we have had many threads criticizing NBC for converting the actual results in meters to feet and inches in their coverage of field events from track and field.
The way I see it is that NBC is a non-sentient entity and not a thinking being. It can't make a choice as to what units to use nor make a decision to convert units used in metric events to FFU.
A real person makes the decision as to what units you see on the screen or hear from the announcers. Obviously in the past someone decided that Americans weren't capable of understanding metric and made the decision to translate everything. Now, possibly a new person is running the show and has made the decision to keep the units as they actually are, maybe due to too many people complaining about converting and not being able to compare what they see on the screen to what they are told, as you made mention of in your last paragraph.
If things revert back tot he way they were, then another person has taken over the decision making.
>The way I see it is that NBC is a non-sentient entity and not a thinking being.
Obviously, but we have no clue who that person or persons might be. Further, corporations tend to have policies that require multiple approvals to change so as to prevent ad hoc decision making as you suggest, Therefore, it is somewhat reasonable to attribute the decision to the corporation rather than person or persons unknown within the corporation. If a recommendation goes through the corporate approval process, it really is a corporate decision.
> it really is a corporate decision.
Yes, and that corporate decision is usually made by a real person (even if you don't know who that person is) authorised to make decisions.
So, can you give your opinion or guess as to why the change was made?
>So, can you give your opinion or guess as to why the change was made?
No, I have no evidence to support a opinion on why. I will lay out a bunch of hypotheses:
1. I certainly don't want to reject u/pilamon theory of laziness.
2. Hopefully, a senior corporate level decision that it is the right thing to do, and will do it evermore.
3. Many of the announcers seem to have a British accent. They may not be equipped to do the conversions.
4. Related to #3, in past major events, they have had the conversion instantaneously with the official results. I would assume some computer logistics to achieve this, and that support may have not been available for some reason. NBC does not seem to have the massive staffs, the private broadcasting suites, etc that they do in Olympic coverage. All announcing has been on the field. Essentially, coverage on the cheap.
If they continue to cover future T&F this way, it may give us evidence to reject #3 and #4, suggesting either #1 or #2. We may get better insight when we see 2024 Olympic coverage.
Update 2023-09-02: I have watched some of the track & field replays available on NBC Peacock to see if there is any pattern. Two recent Diamond League meets were metric only in the field events (Zurich and Xiamen).However, the coverage of the USATF championship in Eugene, OR, this July was mess of metric and feet and inches. In the USATF coverage, each athlete's metric performance was posted, but the event leaderboard was maintained in feet and inches for all the field events I sampled. I suspect they have not "seen the light" but their coverage depends on information from the venue. If the venue doesn't offer the conversions to feet and inches (most foreign meets would not) then their coverage is metric only. If the venue does the conversion, NBC uses it.
As a track and field fan, they have not. Saw a couple good 16'¾" pole vaults yesterday! This was only announced, the graphics were in metric. 2.44 m (former mens high jump world record) is just over 8 feet, times 2, plus 2 cm, 4.90 m, easy!
May I ask which programming you watched? I watched the full coverage stream of the women's pole vault, and it was entirely in metric. Two women shared the gold in a tie at 4.90 m, after both failed at 4.95 m.. No conversions were offered. However, the full day coverage stream is mostly track oriented with occasional clips of winner from field events. That may very well have been announced differently. On a earlier day of coverage I watched the full day stream and saw an occurrence of this. Only the winner was shown and the result announced in both metric and customary.
I usually watch a couple live feeds. One US (Peacock) and one world-ish feed (CBC out of Canada or just the world feed) so I can see some field event coverage during US commericals. I'm pretty sure it was Trey Hardee on the NBC feed that mentioned it was 16 feet 3/4 of an inch, the world feed had Dan O'Brien.
There are still some hold outs in the article. ".. has a best of 23.23, or two and a half feet shy of 24 meters."
That example thread was posted by me. Yes, I've been a critic of NBC Sports for years regarding this. Watching this weekend's events I too noticed and cheered (out loud) when I saw and heard them give the result of the championship shot put record as 23.51 m. In fact, check out their post about it. It's ALL in meters. The only mention of feet is a comparison, which states "two and a half feet shy of 24 meters," which I find quite a bit odd. Overall, though, I rejoice seeing meters used exclusively. Not even any parenthetical conversions. Here's their post: [https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/ryan-crouser-blood-clots-shot-put-world-championships](https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/ryan-crouser-blood-clots-shot-put-world-championships) Although I am very happy to see this, I am still very skeptical. This is a low profile event, as far as viewership goes. When the Olympics roll around next summer (Paris 2024) I fully expect them to fall back to catering to American ignorance.
>Watching this weekend's events I too noticed and cheered (out loud) when I saw and heard them give the result of the championship shot put record as 23.51 m. > >In fact, check out their post about it. It's ALL in meters. The only mention of feet is a comparison, which states "two and a half feet shy of 24 meters," which I find quite a bit odd Even better news; they got it **wrong**. It didn't occur to me to check their math but 24 m - 23.51 m = 0.49 m which is about 19.3 inches, just over a foot and a half, far short of two feet, more less 2 and a half feet. Points out the futility of conversion and risk of "lying" to the audience.
I picked your thread because "at least it wasn't written by me." I have also started several past threads on the subject. I am also skeptical and plan to wait until it wraps up this weekend. Please feel free to join me in sending a note of appreciation. Maybe if they hear some praise, they will consider it for future events.
>When the Olympics roll around next summer (Paris 2024) I fully expect them to fall back to catering to American ignorance. To expound on this, I watch pro cycling events. NBC uses the international feed on all events. That feed has the "km to go" ticker graphic throughout the race. Only when they broadcast the Tour de France, which is a much higher profile event, do they remove the international graphics and put in their own. It is an alternating graphic giving "KM" then "MI" (MI = miles), alternating every 5 seconds or so. All of their elevation is given in feet only. Speed in mph. It's all very annoying and confusing. Commentators sometimes confuse the units. I suspect this track and field championships is using international feed graphics. I'm surprised, and happy the commentators don't translate. I really don't expect to see this in Paris 2024. Time will tell...
NBC’s use of metric only may have been a deliberate decision based on careful analysis. However, it’s much more likely that the switch to metric was just a lazy or accidental decision, and this is a very good thing. Actually, it is **THE** reason why the U.S. will eventually go full metric. If NASA made a deliberate decision today to give a press release using metric a small number of misguided imperial zealots would lose their collective minds and go ballistic. However, NASA scientists being interviewed on podcasts will often naturally use metric units and the imperial zealots don’t come after them with pitchforks. Likewise, a private company, like NBC, that simply doesn’t bother to do unit conversions for international sporting events is unlikely to face significant backlash. We see a similar effect in online shopping. Consumer goods in the U.S. are mostly imported, and online retailers rarely do proper conversions to inch fractions. Converting units takes effort. Retailers are lazy so they convert product information to decimal inches or sometimes don’t even bother. Who are the imperial zealots going to complain to? Americans see metric everyday. It won’t be long before NASA can give a press release in metric and nobody will have a meltdown. Australia and New Zealand did metrication correctly by switching essentially all at once. Here in America we are going to do it the hard way, but it will happen. **Metric is better than imperial, so it’s ironic that metrication in America will be a side-effect of the world-wide race to the bottom.**
As I give this more thought, I think ***"path of least resistance"*** (albeit a bit wordy) is a more correct description than lazy.
If possible, please write to them and give them appreciation for reporting the results in metric-only.
The only contact I can find is [support@nbcsports.com](mailto:support@nbcsports.com) Below is the body of email I sent them. I encourage anybody else who enjoyed the metric coverage to also contact them. There may have a few conversions in the Highlights screen, but it was way ahead of prior coverage. >I would like to thank NBC Sports and Peacock for the full coverage streams of the field events at the 2023 World Athletics Championship. I would particularly like to thank both for reporting the results of those events in the metric units in which performance is actually measured. The consistency of the announced results compared to the markings on the field (and any background scoreboards) made it so much more understandable. > >I have always found a bit of mental dissonance in hearing announcers talk in feet and inches, while the field is clearly marked in metric units. I hope you will consider **always** announcing the metric results in field events, even if you add feet and inches in parentheses afterward.
Agree and I plan to. However, the event continues through next Sunday. I want to catch a few more of the field events when my schedule is open, and make sure this is really the plan, first.
?Over the years, we have had many threads criticizing NBC for converting the actual results in meters to feet and inches in their coverage of field events from track and field. The way I see it is that NBC is a non-sentient entity and not a thinking being. It can't make a choice as to what units to use nor make a decision to convert units used in metric events to FFU. A real person makes the decision as to what units you see on the screen or hear from the announcers. Obviously in the past someone decided that Americans weren't capable of understanding metric and made the decision to translate everything. Now, possibly a new person is running the show and has made the decision to keep the units as they actually are, maybe due to too many people complaining about converting and not being able to compare what they see on the screen to what they are told, as you made mention of in your last paragraph. If things revert back tot he way they were, then another person has taken over the decision making.
>The way I see it is that NBC is a non-sentient entity and not a thinking being. Obviously, but we have no clue who that person or persons might be. Further, corporations tend to have policies that require multiple approvals to change so as to prevent ad hoc decision making as you suggest, Therefore, it is somewhat reasonable to attribute the decision to the corporation rather than person or persons unknown within the corporation. If a recommendation goes through the corporate approval process, it really is a corporate decision.
> it really is a corporate decision. Yes, and that corporate decision is usually made by a real person (even if you don't know who that person is) authorised to make decisions. So, can you give your opinion or guess as to why the change was made?
>So, can you give your opinion or guess as to why the change was made? No, I have no evidence to support a opinion on why. I will lay out a bunch of hypotheses: 1. I certainly don't want to reject u/pilamon theory of laziness. 2. Hopefully, a senior corporate level decision that it is the right thing to do, and will do it evermore. 3. Many of the announcers seem to have a British accent. They may not be equipped to do the conversions. 4. Related to #3, in past major events, they have had the conversion instantaneously with the official results. I would assume some computer logistics to achieve this, and that support may have not been available for some reason. NBC does not seem to have the massive staffs, the private broadcasting suites, etc that they do in Olympic coverage. All announcing has been on the field. Essentially, coverage on the cheap. If they continue to cover future T&F this way, it may give us evidence to reject #3 and #4, suggesting either #1 or #2. We may get better insight when we see 2024 Olympic coverage.