'Exposure' Means Programming for ESPN

With eight games from five states in the next three days, ESPN and its family of networks help kick off high school football season aross the country.

With its "ESPN Rise High School Football Kickoff," the all-sports network presents games from California, Florida, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas. Games will air on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.

According to the official news release: "ESPN RISE represents ESPN’s commitment to engage and elevate high school athletes by providing them with recognition, resources, information and inspiration that can motivate them to improve their skills and achieve their goals to be the best athletes they can."

Eight games in high definition on TV also mean something else for ESPN -- porgramming, which produces advertising revenue, and a chance to both self promote (which ESPN never avoids) and to create some media exposure loyalty with younger sports fans as well as top-notch competitors.

Eight of the teams competing in the televised this game fall in the top-50 rankings compiled by ESPN RISE. Also, seven individual players are ranked among the nation's top 150, according to ESPNU rankings. So, games brought to you by ESPN feature teams and players whose prowess has been verified by ESPN.

In its early years, ESPN did the same thing with its own separate college football rankings. The network eventually adopted Associated Press rankings like most other media outlets because it avoided confusion and was too transparent of an self-promoting act.

With high school football, though, there's no reason ESPN cannot position and promote itself as the authority. What other entity can compete nationally?

People watching the games might be inclined to visit online and check out ESPN's rating sytems or the other ESPN RISE assests -- which include ESPN RISE, GIRL, Hardwood and Gridiron magazines. There's also ESPNRISE.com and more than 160 high school events each year, including Elite 11, Elite 24, ESPN RISE Games, ESPN RISE National High School Invitational, Faster to First, Area Code Baseball and Nike Combines/Nike SPARQ Mini Camps.

Because ESPN televises the games, standout teams and student athletes then will know ESPN loves them and wants to promote them. Perhaps relationships will grow as a result.

Maybe when the recruits bound for Division I schools involved in this weekend's games declare their college intentions, they'll do so as part of a show on an ESPN network. Maybe they'll be featured on "SportsCentral" specials during their pro careers. Maybe they'll get a job as an analyst once their on-field careers end.

That's a big set of what-if dominoes and scenarios, though.

What if ESPN did not televise high school games (in any sport)? Would high school athletes not go to college? And the best of the best not advance beyond that? Or someday find a post-playing career job?

Of course not, on all counts. While ESPN and other outlets will not turn away from high school sports -- expect the growing trend to increase even more in coming years -- that does not mean it's a good thing.

Sure, the competitors get some measure of exposure, but any measurements about who truly benefits from such broadcasts invariably favors the all-sports network itself.