[DE88]

This might be bumping the thread but... seriously, was there *that* little interest in SPOTY this year? 

There's certainly no denying that the winner and the runner-up could be seen from a mile away - and it was known before the show began, too, that Messi had won the World Sport Star award and Usain Bolt the Lifetime Achievement award.

But could it be that the whole thing is generally considered boring and formulaic now? Obviously, the days when it was the Sports *Review* of the Year, when Des Lynam hosted, when there were the Funnies and segments such as the one from 1990 below, are in the past and will never be returned to - but what *can* it do to be more exciting in this age?

www.youtube.com 

That was when the programme - when it was Sports Review of the Year - was held at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre and it was there for many years after leaving (BBC) Television Centre.

(In response to the OP who suggested that the programme hosted from Salford for the third year in a row was the first time this happened since the TVC days)

Perhaps I should have said "since it left Television Centre *for good*", because it was held there before *and* after its stint at the QEII Conference Centre. 

It was at TVC from the late '70s through 1987, following a long stint down the road at Television Theatre. It moved to the QEII Conference Centre in 1988, then back to TVC in 1999.

2005 was the last year at TVC. Roger Mosey was the Beeb's Head of Sport at the time, and Steve Williams said this at the old blue place in 2020:

Mosey writes in his book... saying it was really dull and he realised the problem with the invited audience of sports stars and VIPs is that they'd got a bit blasé about the whole thing, so when Pele got a Lifetime Achievement award there wasn't even a standing ovation. So they booked the NEC the very next day.

From then on until Covid broke out, of course, it was held in various arenas around the UK (with the exception of 2011, the first one at Dock10).