The Sport Thread

Ah come on CharlieMouse, dont tease us now!! BBC Sport relaunch in June 2006 then?? (even though I like it the way it is, with a few minor tweaks!)

As for five sports presentation, sorry but its Unibond League compared to BBC Sport. The terrestrials try their best, but there's no competition really.

Well, don't think of it as a "relaunch" - but more of an "update." Due to be put into effect across the output, across the year.

It'll be more dynamic, more 3D, more sophisticated.

Sounds like what the current batch were supposed to be before they forgot or just became too much effort.

Sounds good! Hopefully we're in for an interesting Winter Olympics then!

On a separate note, for the first time ever the ENTIRE Six Nations Championship will be broadcast live on BBC1 this year. Including all the Sunday matches. Obviously BBC2 will be busy in Torino and Melbourne.

I think they should change the sound of the whoosh aswell.

Maybe it should be a 'whhhhhl' instead of a whoosh and make the shorter sound effect more dramatic.I don't know how do describe the sound effect in words!

They do need to sort the 'whoosh' out. It hasnt had as much prominence recently.

It doesnt work in the current Grandstand titles because it doesnt run in sync with the music, the Golf titles just show the sting but dont have the whoosh sound, same with Racing.

Make the graphic a little bigger as well. Hopefully it will become more dynamic as CharlieMouse said.

I hope the BBC go their own way fully for the 2006 WC, just like they did in 2002. Weren't they the first broadcaster to go with their own entire graphics package (replacing the generic version coming out of the international broadcaster centre)? Although the look was a little weak (a gold verison of the MOTD graphics of the time) it was a big step. It will be interesting to see how the BBC go about the task of designing and running the graphics for the 2012 Olympics.

I remember when BBC Sport went through its revolutionary stage, during the season when Liverpool won the UEFA Cup. Each game had a slightly tweaked look, using a blue, beveled look with Gill Sans everywhere. It looked quite good, but there were always problems. When they had one of their red and black looks (the one used for the England Germany 5-1 game), a scoreboard would appear with italicised clock in Gill Sans, and the outer edges of the 2's and 3's were cut off. The solution: take it of screen for about a minute and replace it with a wider version.

I don't think the BBC had a good Euro 2004 graphic wise. Their current look, which slowly evolved since 2002, didn't fit in with the international look which was curved and patterned. ITV done well, mainly because they used a tweaked version of the international graphics, having astons in the studio looking just like the astons used for players in the game. Who know's what rubbish is going to come out of FIFA in Germany, their 2002 silver capsuled look is still in use [Confederations Cup], so perhaps FIFA will go the same way as the IOC and use the same graphics for more than one event [Athens 2004 graphics same as Sydney 2000).

I would love to see BBC Sport go its own way for the World Cup as well. Hopefully they wont use the Match of the Day name this time around. 'World Cup 2002 Match of the Day Live' and 'Euro 2004 Match of the Day Live' were too much of a mouthful. Live matches should be shown as 'World Cup 2006 Live', and use the MOTD name for highlights programmes. Considering Match of the Day is now a permanent weekly fixture again, this might happen. I'd love to see 'World Cup Grandstand' back!

Seeing there has been a fair bit of discussion on this, I'm wondering what everyone regards as BBC Sport's best graphics package/brand period of recent years?

My personal favourite was the 'chunky Fisher Price globe' era launched at Euro 96. The globe ident was changed when the BBC logo was relaunched in 1997, but the same graphics package pretty much continued until 1999. During this period, every sport had its own unique identity and graphics scheme. The Atlanta Olympics were the highlight, IMO.

What does everyone think?

Wasn't that 'Euro 2004 MOTD Live' used due to ITV using 'Euro 2004 Live'? I prefer the MOTD title; as a big football fan myself it would be a travesty to drop that.

The Beeb and ITV both used Euro 96 Live and World Cup 98 Live as titles.

I always reckoned the BBC only started to use the 'Match of the Day Live' title in 2002 and 2004 due to the fact that MOTD wasnt a weekly fixture in the schedules. Therefore they wanted to use the brand as much as they could. Now though, with MOTD branding appearing once or twice a week all year round, it wouldnt do any harm to change it.

It would mean they could produce a graphics package that would 'fit' more nicely with the host broadcaster.

EDIT: Btw by all means still use MOTD for highlights programmes - that makes complete sense. And also bring back 'Cup Final Grandstand'. That always had a special feeling to it!

'MOTD' in the title would not by any means prevent a new graphics package being introduced for major cup events! The BBC have always tweaked or revamped their packages in the run-up to the European or World Championships anyway.

Fair enough, I'll give in to that! Just my own opinion really, I've always thought by branding major events as 'World Cup Grandstand', 'Olympic Grandstand', 'Cup Final Grandstand' etc, it just adds a bit of prestige. Considering Grandstand is supposed be the Beeb's flagship sports programme! Its a personal preference!