ESPN's 'MegaCast' provides the best kind of excess

It’s excessive, overkill and way too much.

It’s also almost perfection in terms of a sports broadcast.

That’s the MegaCast -- ESPN’s all-hands-on-deck, every-outlet-possible approach to covering the College Football Playoff championship game.

When Alabama and Clemson meet again Monday night (a rematch of last season’s championship game), the MegaCast offers a little bit of everything for just about everybody who has an interest in the final game of the season.

Of course, ESPN provides the traditional game broadcast. The network’s No. 1 on-air team, play-by-play man Chris Fowler and color commentator Kirk Herbstreit, handle the coverage along with sideline reporters Samantha Ponder and Tom Rinaldi.

On ESPN2, there’s a “homers broadcast” with former Clemson QB Tajh Boyd and former Alabama center Barrett Jones. They’ll work the game from the sidelines, and be encouraged to show their bias/enthusiasm as Joe Tessitore handles play by play with contributions from Adam Amin.

Additional options include:

n  “Coaches Film Room” on ESPNEWS, which airs with limited commercial breaks. It’s exactly what it sounds like, coaches watching the game and offering comments. Contributors this year include: Dino Babers, Syracuse; PJ Fleck, Minnesota; Mark Helfrich, formerly at Oregon; Mike CacIntrye, Colorado; and Matt Rhule, Baylor. Analyst Brian Griese joins the coaches.

n  “ESPN Voices” on ESPNU, which has an interesting collection of ESPN analysts and contributors watching the game and commenting, including Michelle Beadle, Keyshawn Johnson, Bill Walton and Marcellus Wiley.

n  “Finebaum Film Room” on SEC Network, with again, more people watching and talking, notably Paul Finebaum and network analysts Greg McElroy and Booger McFarland.

Finally, several options exist on ESPN3 (online), including an announcer-less game, an outlet with up-to-the-minute statistics and data, and even a view from just the stadium SkyCam.

ESPN’s personnel and technological investment in the game is, in general, excessive. That means more than 1,000 staff members on location in Tampa. The network also has more than 90 cameras in the stadium, 35 replay machines and 70,000 feet of cable.

MegaCast is great because it allows fans to control how they consume the content, and more and more people expect and want that.

For ESPN, it’s pretty much a win-win scenario. There’s no counter programming that would work against the national championship game anyway, so it has wisely gone all-in with its approach. And with slightly different approaches to the same thing, there’s an appealing variety.

Sure, some viewers could be confused by the "homers broadcast" if they somehow think that’s the main offering, but the network usually dos a good job of differentiating. And the different options should serve those who consume on multiple screens well.

Really the only thing ESPN could do better would be to tap social media around the game. Consistent on-screen handles and hashtags would help people know how to contribute, feel a part of the conversation and multiply the game’s impact.

Overall, the MegaCast is nearly perfect -- seemingly gluttonous in some ways, but in other ways, so many ways, the future of sports television. This marks the fourth MegaCast. With it, ESPN was the originator of multi-platform offerings for big-time TV sports. It has been copied and grown as a result. Those are good things for sports fans.

So, enjoy the MegaCast on Monday. It’s worth watching, even if you only consume the traditional piece, because that it exists matters.

Maybe, someday, the NFL and the Super Bowl will notice, too.

And, if you're not watching TV, the all-sports network has the game covered on ESPN Radio, too. That's a normal game broadcast with as strong pairing of Sean McDonough and Todd Blackledge.