ESPN wants huge sum for past presser footage

In an era where almost every press conference is not only officially live-streamed by team or league sources but also recorded by countless reporters and news outlets, it’s wild to look back at moments when that wasn’t the case.

That’s especially interesting with the not-so-distant past of blogging and early social media.

Back then, there were often significantly more moments and quotes from a presser shared in the newspaper-focused earlier days. But not so much when it came to video. You could read about what happened, but not so easily watch it.

As AL.com’s Matt Stahl explored Sunday, one fantastic case in point is a famed press conference from interim Vanderbilt Commodores’ head coach Robbie Caldwell in 2010.

That presser came at SEC Media Days, so this lookback aims to set up this year’s event (which starts Monday in Dallas). As per Stahl’s piece’s headline, Caldwell’s 2010 presser might be “The funniest SEC Media Days moment you can’t watch.” The key takeaway from that piece is that it seems like the only remaining video of this press conference is in the ESPN archives, and they want around $480,000 for it.

What was so remarkable about Caldwell’s presser here? Well, old internet heads will remember, but here’s a quick refresher for those who haven’t seen this gem before. Caldwell played center at Furman from 1974-76, then went into coaching in 1978, and spent 43 years in the college coaching ranks before retiring following the 2021 season (his 11th and final one at Clemson). But all but one of those years was as an offensive line coach.

That year was 2010 when Caldwell suddenly became Vanderbilt’s interim head coach after Bobby Johnson’s surprising July 14 retirement. Eight days later, he took the podium at SEC Media Days, wearing a nametag over his suit. And while some of that ensuing presser was about football, his stories about working on a turkey farm, including turkey insemination, stood out the most. Here are some quotes from the full presser transcript , distributed by ASAP Sports afterward and still fortunately online.

COACH CALDWELL: “I can talk about pouring concrete, farming, being a pipefitter, all those things, working on a turkey farm. But nobody wants to hear that. Those are the things that I did prior to getting into football.”

…QUESTION: “What was it like growing up in Pageland, South Carolina? Are you the first head coach from that town, I guess?”

COACH CALDWELL: “Well, that’s a great question. On the college level, I guess. You had to like watermelon, number one, because it was the watermelon capitol of the word, we proclaimed anyway. You had to like hunting and fishing. Frog gigging. I was scared to death of girls, so that didn’t interest me. And I played ball. We played all sports to get out of work. That was the policy.

If you played a sport, you didn’t have to work during a practice time. That’s why I played basketball. I was probably the worst there’s ever been, but I played it so I wouldn’t have to go pour concrete. That’s a fact, tell you the truth.

My first hourly paying job was on the turkey farm. I don’t know if I could tell you what my job was, but I was on the inseminating crew. That’s a fact. I worked my way to the top. That’s a fact, man. If you don’t believe it, call Nicolas. Of course, I think they’re defunct now. Best job I ever had, got paid by the hour for the first time. That was about ’68, ’69. That’s what we did every afternoon.”

…QUESTION: “Just wondering if your duties on the turkey farm in any way affected your ability to enjoy Thanksgiving?”

COACH CALDWELL: (Pulling his jacket out and showing his large stomach.)

“I knew I was a fat guy, but I didn’t need all these heavy-duty extra springs. This job has been good for me, I’ve lost about seven pounds in the last eight days. No, it hasn’t. You can tell by looking at me. I done it all, too. If I told some of these ladies, what they put in that lipstick right there, oh, my goodness, because I de-beaked, blood tested, vaccinated. I done it all. It was pretty special.”

QUESTION: “Given that first job, do you feel guilty at Thanksgiving?”

COACH CALDWELL: “No, not really, ’cause of some of the headaches I went throughout there. It’s amazing. A wild turkey is one of the smartest animals in the world. But a domestic turkey is the dumbest thing. We had to put sprinklers out there to keep them from smothering out there in the summer when it gets hot. If you don’t believe it, research it. I guess it’s why I worked so well with them. There’s probably a reason (laughter).”

… Question: “Sorry to beat this turkey thing to death. Is it the semination [sic] crew? What is that?”

COACH CALDWELL: “Yes, it fertilizes the egg so they produce a better turkey in the hatchery. It’s an interesting process. I’d be glad to show you sometime. We get a Tom in here. Actually it’s a process. I probably shouldn’t be saying that in front of y’all, but… Hey, it was a great job. I really appreciated ’em giving me that. I think the worst part of it was gathering dead turkeys that had been out for a while. That was something. But anyway.”

When this interview happened in 2010, it went wildly viral on Twitter (now X) and in the sports blogosphere. It was hugely popular with the more traditional reporters in attendance as well, with many of those who spoke to Stahl for his piece raving about it. Bob Holt of The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette called it “maybe the best ever” in terms of SEC Media Days sessions, while Jeff Lockridge (then of The Tennessean ) said, “I recall attempting to take notes on my laptop while laughing my butt off during Robbie’s ‘Downhome Southern Tales from the Farm.’ It felt like we were at a Jeff Foxworthy standup special.”

Some recognized the importance of video here right then. Holly Anderson (now of Channel 6, then of Every Day Should Be Saturday ) wrote (in a delightful piece titled “ Robbie Caldwell, Commodore Of Our Hearts ” that called this “the greatest performance we have ever seen at a podium”) that “If you can find video of any of this online, do it.” But, the really interesting part of Stahl’s piece from a media perspective is that no one other than ESPN seems to have that video.

Stahl tried multiple angles of pursuit to get this footage. He talked to many of those reporters who were in attendance, but even those like his current AL.com colleague Michael Casagrande, who regularly film and clip conferences now, weren’t doing that then. He tried to check with Joel Hollingsworth, who did shoot a video of Caldwell’s opening statement but didn’t get a response. He checked with Vanderbilt, which at one point had video from this presser on their site, but was told they don’t have it anymore, and that even when they did post it, they might have “cut out the part that would make it valuable today.” He checked with the SEC on whether they had video but got a “Not that I am aware” response from Director of Communications Chuck Dunlap (who was the moderator for this session and had to cut it off when it ran over time).

But it does seem likely (although it’s not confirmed) that this footage exists at ESPN. While SEC Media Days weren’t as much of a beast then as they are today, and the SEC Network itself was three years from its launch, they aired on ESPNU. ESPN maintains extensive archives, and they regularly put clips of old and new sporting moments up on their various websites and social platforms. But they haven’t done that with this. And Stahl discovered that the outside price to obtain ESPN archive footage is… hefty .

AL.com reached out to ESPN about the press conference video, but received ill tidings. The network charges $6,000 per 30 seconds of footage.

If the 40-minute estimate is right, that’s approximately $480,000. While AL.com is happy to invest in its video product, the legend of Robbie Caldwell will continue to live in the written word for now.

Even if the entire editorial staff went to work, that’s too many hours on the turkey farm.

That’s bizarre. Well, it’s actually somewhat understandable in terms of outside commercial requests for footage, which a.) likely are usually for shorter clips (to use in a documentary or something) and b.) are more monetizable than a news report on that footage. But, at the same time, ESPN has countless avenues to release this footage and profit from it, whether putting it up for free on YouTube and drawing ad revenue or making it available on their website with ESPN subscriber authentication or through their ESPN+ subscription service.

Curiously, they haven’t.

We’ll see if that ESPN approach ever changes down the road and if people will ever be able to experience the glory of watching Caldwell’s SEC Media Days remarks on turkey insemination. But if that doesn’t change, this is still fun to look back on through transcripts and coverage. It’s an important reminder of the value of video and how even those you’d expect to have it don’t always provide it.

Of course, this issue probably wouldn’t happen now. As mentioned above, the media landscape is wildly different these days. Almost everything at the 2024 SEC Media Days will likely be streamed officially by ESPN/SEC Network and less officially by the media in attendance.

It’s notable how press conferences have changed, too, to a point where many leagues and teams are doing some dubious things with them . They’ve also changed from those to the world broadcasts, making these pressers and their coverage so different. (Can you imagine if earlier eras had had media cycles obsessed with a coach cursing around reporters?) Those at the podiums are well aware of the broadcasts and the audience well beyond those in the room, and sometimes they aren’t as open in response, so we might not get this kind of presser ever again. But that adds to the case for looking back at this one and perhaps someday seeing it.

[ AL.com ]

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